and the new things you could try ...
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| WaysForward Summary |
| It looks like you have had some real problems and worries .. |
| But recently some things have gone better ... |
| I have spent time talking with my girlfriend. A friend from my course has come round and it turns out he has been through something similar. |
| I have been able to sleep a little longer some nights. |
| At least I`m a little better off than I was then. I no longer have thoughts about killing myself. |
| I`mI managing to do more. I talk to people - my housemates, my girlfriend, one or two friends from my course. At one stage i was practically silent, i felt so desperate. |
| Some things are different on the better days ... |
| I feel less anxious. I wake up feeling a bit lighter. I have probably had a bit more sleep that night. I feel able to make some small plans for the day. Just little things. |
| This is what you do that helps things go better ... |
| I decided to invite my friend round. I decided to tell him a bit about what has been happening to me. |
| Making small plans. Doing something to get out of the house, even if its just for a quick visit to the shops. Going for a walk in the park. |
| Making an effort to talk to my girlfriend and my housemates. Forcing myself to come down from my room and hang out with them in the kitchen when they are back from lectures. Just chatting generally. |
| Mostly by pushing myself to talk to people, to tell them a bit about how I was feeling, and letting them be nice to me, which they have been. |
| Going out for walks. Getting into the fresh air. The exercise has helped me sleep better too. |
| Here is more detail about the helpful things you are doing ... |
| I just decided to do it, even though I felt very nervous before he came over. I remember talking myself into it. I waited for a good day when I wasn`t feeling quite so anxious. |
| I tell myself that its important to give myself something to do. I have decided to fight this thing rather than just wait around for it to go away. I know I feel better if i have managed to do something in a day, even if its only a small thing. |
| I feel a bit less cut off, a bit less trapped inside my own head. That generally makes me feel a bit less anxious. Plus I feel better about myself for having achieved something. Sometimes I have to really push myself to do it, but I generally feel better if I do. |
| I felt I owed it to them to at least talk to them, I could see how worried they were about me, and I knew they wanted to help. I sort of forced myself over the initial hurdle, and then it got a bit easier. |
| I know it helps to have something of a routine to hold on to. |
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These are the things you want to keep on doing, and the new things you could try ... |
| All of them! Talking to my girlfriend and housemates, talking to other friends, particularly the ones who might know something about anxiety, having a routine, getting out every day. I could invite a few more friends round. And I could try to read a bit more. |
| On a Scale from 0 to 10 you are at number 3 You are doing these things that are helpful ... |
| Forcing myself to get up, to get out, to go for walks, to come down from my room and talk to people. Being prepared to receive help from my girlfriend and other friends. |
| This is how things will be when you get one step further on the Scale ... |
| I will be able to start reading again - nothing heavy like course books, just the paper. Or even getting all the way through a TV programme, that would be a step. |
| Watching a TV programme all the way through. |
| If you had a bad day, this is what you would like to remember ... |
| Talk to my girlfriend. Come down from my room and be around people. Remind myself that I have picked myself up before. Think about the things I have done that seem to work. |
| This is what you are thinking now about how things are ... |
| I am doing more than I realised, and things have got a bit better, even if there is still a long way to go. |