Mind Healing Counselling

The good news is that if you are self-aware enough to have this thinking, you are not likely to be insane. That being said, dealing with this type of thought and the feelings that accompany it may be quite difficult. If you feel like you're "losing your mind," there are some things you can do to manage and feel more like yourself again. Common Signs and Symptoms of Too Much Stress

What It Feels Like

"I feel like I'm losing my mind," you say to yourself, isn't simply a notion; it usually comes with a slew of physical and emotional manifestations. Those who have this thinking are usually stressed out, recovering from a trauma, or suffering from an anxiety illness, panic disorder, or another mental health problem.

Symptoms

Everyone expresses the sensation of "losing my mind" in different ways. Many of the symptoms are related to the activation of your stress response ("fight or flight" reaction).

This can be felt in a variety of ways, including:

• Racing, uncontrollable thoughts
• Feeling as though you are in danger, even if you aren’t.
• Rapid heartbeat, strained breathing
• Experiencing headaches and stomach aches
• Feeling detached from yourself, or the world around you
• Feeling a sense of panic or impending doom
• Having the thought that something is wrong with you.
• Having trouble relaxing or concentrating
• Trouble sleeping

Panic Disorder and Your Racing Thoughts

What Causes This Feeling?

There are various reasons why you might be thinking "I feel like I'm losing my mind," just as everyone experiences it differently. These thoughts and sentiments are sometimes prompted by a mix of factors.

For example, you may be feeling more stress than usual in your life, which aggravates your anxiety illness. Increased worry can sometimes cause an episode of depersonalization or derealization, which might seem like "losing your mind."

Stress

A challenging job scenario, family or marital conflict, stress from a health issue, parental stress, or stress from hearing about upsetting world events are all examples of conditions that can cause stress.

We all experience and handle stress differently, but when it is protracted and extremely strong, it can make us feel out of control, as if we are "losing our minds."

Stress causes our bodies to release hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline, putting us on "high alert." This gives us the impression that our thoughts are racing out of control. These hormones also cause our hearts to beat quickly and our breathing to become shallow.

When we are stressed, we react to stimuli differently, and we may flinch at startling noises and overall feel on edge. All of this can lead to the feeling that we are "losing it."

Anxiety

You may have greater anxiety as a result of a particularly stressful circumstance. Anxiety disorders can cause people to become anxious for seemingly no reason. Anxiety and anxiety disorders, in either case, can make us feel out of control and as if we are "going crazy" or losing our brains.

Symptoms of anxiety that are related to a feeling of losing your mind include:

• Obsessive thoughts about death
• Feeling detached
• Racing heart and rapid pulse
• Unable to stop worrying thoughts or unsettling thoughts and images
• Not being able to sit still or concentrate
• A feeling of dread, doom, losing control

Panic Attacks

Having a panic attack can be a terrifying experience. If you are experiencing one for the first time, you may not understand what is going on and may feel as if you are losing your mind. We can all use a break now and then.

One of the reasons panic attacks can make you feel like you're losing your mind is because you may have the impression that something dreadful is happening when it isn't. Therefore, while your rational mind knows that everything is fine, another portion of your mind is convincing you that it is not. This disconnect can make you feel as if you have no control over your thoughts and that something is wrong with you.

Physical signs of panic attacks include increased sweating, difficulty breathing (even hyperventilation), racing heartbeats, nausea, dizziness, and chest pain. Many people who have panic attacks have several of them in a row, which can make you feel out of control and as if your mind is betraying you.

Depersonalization/Derealization

If you have been through a traumatic event or a period of extreme anxiety and/or panic attacks, you may begin to experience depersonalization. Depersonalization and derealization are both dissociative disorders marked by a separation between one's ideas and one's self or identity. Close to 75% of people have experienced dissociation at some point in their lives.

Many of the symptoms of depersonalization and derealization can make someone think, “I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

Symptoms may include:

• Feeling like you are detached from your body
• Feeling as though you are on the outside of your life, looking in
• Feeling numb, emotionless
• Feeling like you don’t know who you are
• Feeling a loss of your identity
• Feelings of anxiety or depression

How to Cope

The most essential thing you can do if you're thinking, "I feel like I'm losing my mind," is to remember that there are numerous perfectly legitimate reasons why you're thinking and feeling this way. Importantly, it's quite improbable that you're going insane. You're probably just having a bad day or are coping with a mental health issue.

Yet, you should not dismiss these thoughts or assume that they will go away on their own. If you feel like you're losing your mind, this could be a sign that you need to address your stress and mental health.

Self-Care for Stress

If you are under stress, your "stress response" has most certainly been activated, and the goal now is to counteract that stress with the "relaxation response." In essence, you want to signal your nervous system that there is no imminent danger and that your body's systems may settle down and relax.

Some simple ways to do this include:

Deep breathing exercises:

To quiet down your nervous system, focus on extending your out-breath.

Meditation:

Download an app, plug up your headphones, and listen—even a few minutes will help. Studies have found that mindfulness meditation reduces stress.

Exercise:

Working-out releases endorphins and other "feel good" hormones into your body.

Talk it out:

Just discussing your feelings with someone you trust (even those "I'm losing my mind" thoughts) might offer you with much-needed relief and make you feel less alone.

Therapy and Medication

If you are experiencing symptoms of anxiety, panic, or depersonalization/derealization, it may be beneficial to seek professional mental health assistance, especially if your experience is intense, interfering with your daily life, or does not appear to respond well enough to self-care and other forms of stress relief.

Anxiety disorders, such as generalised anxiety disorder and panic disorder, respond favourably to a variety of therapies and drugs, including:

• Psychotherapy/talk therapy
• Cognitive-Behavioural therapy (CBT)
• Exposure therapy
• Anti-anxiety medications like benzodiazepines
• Antidepressants (usually SSRIs)
• Beta-blockers

Depersonalization/derealization symptoms also respond well to therapy and medication. Common treatments include:

• Cognitive Behavioural therapy (CBT)
• Dialectical Behavioural therapy (DBT)
• Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)
• Antidepressants