Hey, im a newbie

[justin56]

Hey guys,

My name is justin im a 19 year old male from sydney australia. I've been having a few problems with, funnily enough, anxiety, and decided id join to see if this would help, having some support.

thanks

[sixpack]

welcome to the  ZONE  I'm glad you found us and look forward to getting to know you better.

[justin56]

cheers sixpack. I guess il just dive right in. Recently I've been having intrusive thoughts that I can't get rid of. Firstly, they involved my girlfriend of two years, who i love very dearly, but one day I thought what if I don't? It set off a chain reaction of negative thoughts that I feel I am constantly battling against.

For no reason the other day, an intrusive thought of 'what if I'm gay?' crept in. I must stress, although I have nothing against homosexuals, I am definately straight; I'm not sexually attracted or aroused to other males and am still very much so to my girlfriend.

 THe fact that I cant control these thoughts causes me a great deal of stress, as I realise they are irrational but I cannot get rid of them. It is truely affecting my enjoyment of day to day activites, as suddenly I have both a relationship and sexual identity crisis, neither of which I actually need to be having. I just really don't know what to do, as the thoughts are almost ever present.

I was wondering if you had any suggestions, or may even be able to identify my anxieties as likely aligned with one particular condition.

thanks

[sixpack]

I have read quite a few posts describing fears very similar to yours.  You would likely find them in the OCD folder or the GAD folder.  We have a great search bar.  Just plug in intrusive sexual thoughts etc and you will these posts.  Or really any intrusive thought---hurting someone, washing obsessively.  They all come from obsessional thinking but don't have any real reason to feel that way.

I know the thoughts are disturbing to you.  But think about it, if you had random thoughts about lollypops, it wouldn't disturb you would it?  Anxiety (I call it BEASTY  ) knows what you fear or would find disturbing.  So it is only logical that BEASTY will pull out the ideas/thoughts that would get the most bang for the buck.  One fellow a while back was having pedophilia thoughts.  He wasn't a pedophile but WOW what a great fear.  It is repugnant.  So it really worried him.  His mother was a psychologist and she assured him that these were obsessional thoughts and nothing more.  Anxiety is a wily beast.  It morphs and learns that is why it is such a tough thing to get through. 

What you may want to do, if the thoughts are really interferring with your life, is see a shrink, MD or ph.d.  You may want to try meds to help get the thoughts under control.  If you think it is only just a bit of a problem, you may want to start with self-help books or hang out around here and see if there are some bits of advice.  I also recommend exercise and hobbies.  They are great distractions--you know keeping yourself immersed in life.