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Work stress; Diazepam

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Sadly the pressures of modern work and the lack of alternatives are the main cause of stress.
The days of many alternative opportunities are long gone.
Before you blame governments etc accept the World is a smaller place and economics and competitiveness rule the World.
You need some luck, be given a chance, have a decent boss and above all deliver results. Not a lot to ask for !!! It's tough, get through each week and a case of survival. Sadly you are on your own and learn to play the game.
The pressure on every day life is immense though.
Above all when out of it learn to switch off. Takes some doing but the best remedy.
 

Skandhaless said:
Mindfulness is first class , I do a lot of it The NHS do the 8 session course free in many areas , I know the Durham one is called Living Mindfully .
You dont have to do mindfulness cross legged on the floor you can even do it walking or eating , anything can be done mindfully .
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Very good. Its all new to me but ill give it ago and see if i can understand what its about.
 
bu-bu-buchanon said:
What does it do mate ?

A pal at work meditates each day. Says it's the best thing ever. He also exercises for 30 mins every day. Have seen his confidence rocket and his stress levels fall through the floor
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It's a bit of a detailed thing but essentially it gets us to recognise that we have an undisturbable true mind . The thoughts and emotions that we experience and which lead to aversive physical feelings of fear, anxiety or depression are not actually the mind going wrong or being in distress , they are just suggestions or temporary visiting states . Once we can recognise the mind that can observe these we see them for what they are .
In this way all thoughts and emotions can be experienced without thinking they are true or have meaning .

SR5 1SU said:
Very good. Its all new to me but ill give it ago and see if i can understand what its about.
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You will love it if you can get into it , not easy and takes practice over time but don't give up it will be worth it I absolutely guarantee you
 
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Skandhaless said:
Cbt is not just about talking , the vast majority of change is caused by direct experience in behavioural experiments . If the unhelpful cognition is identified closely enough and good experiments can be devised it often causes a shift that no amount if talking will.
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Tru dat.

I just think if your truly depressed in your soul nothing will save you long term,
eventually your fate is sealed no matter how long you survive existence.
 
NewAdventuresInWiFi said:
Tru dat.

I just think if your truly depressed in your soul nothing will save you long term,
eventually your fate is sealed.
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Not true brother trust me . Depression us merely the abscence of true self compassion and this can very definitely be cultivated , I have seen it dawn with my own eyes in those who have felt depressed and separate since childhood . Look up Paul Gilbert's work on compassion read it thoroughly ( if your depression allows you such concentration ) with an open mind
 
NewAdventuresInWiFi said:
Tru dat.

I just think if your truly depressed in your soul nothing will save you long term,
eventually your fate is sealed no matter how long you survive existence.
Click to expand...

Not wanting to turn this into a religion conversation, but this statement just sent a shiver of distaste through me. In my opinion, part of the problem in believing humans are "special", "created by God to be the specific person you are at this moment" or have "souls", is that people can believe that the person they are right now is a permanent state, which in my opinion is very dangerous where mental health is concerned.

Scientifically speaking, personalities change on a moment-by-moment basis as you gather new information through experience. From this standpoint, the person you are today is not who you were yesterday, (as true physically as it is mentally), and this plasticity of personality makes it possible to gradually train yourself to be someone "better" or "happier" when you need to. This is the entire basis of CBT - training yourself to be more positive - "accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative" as Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters said, so many years ago.

From personal experience, in the past I've had times when for extended periods of time I've been in the absolute pits of despair and couldn't see a way out. CBT (along with medication) helped put me back on the right track to stop feeling like that, and current work stress aside, I've now managed to rid myself of the absolute blackest of thoughts that used to haunt me constantly back in those darkest of days. I can now spot the thought patterns that used to send me down the despair route, and stop them in their tracks before they send me spiralling downhill like they used to.
 
Skandhaless said:
You will love it if you can get into it , not easy and takes practice over time but don't give up it will be worth it I absolutely guarantee you
Click to expand...

I've been having a bit go this morning with the breathing exercise and i can tell already it will help.

Its basically accepting your negative thoughts for what they are (not reality) and learning to refocus your mind on the here and now.

I can see it makes perfect sense already.
 
SR5 1SU said:
I've been having a bit go this morning with the breathing exercise and i can tell already it will help.

Its basically accepting your negative thoughts for what they are (not reality) and learning to refocus your mind on the here and now.

I can see it makes perfect sense already.
Click to expand...
Great stuff . Initially it starts off as moving the mind to the here and now to be without mental anguish and as practice develops we learn to actually turn towards the disturbing moment ( turning towards the points as the Buddha puts it) , concentrate fully on it and what it brings and accept it as just the moment . That's long term stuff though for now just try and get your mind as present based and still as you can .
One thing I think useful to bear in mind that really helped me personally is another concept . we are all unavoidably struck by arrows in life ( job,relationships , poverty ) but if we are not mindful we are struck by a second arrow ( or more ) that we create ourselves out of unreal meaning about the self ( I am skint therefore I am worthless ) . We can't avoid the skint but we chose the worthless. Mindfulness eventually gets us to recognise the unwise second arrows we are choosing ..most of the time ..eventually ;)
 
fyl2u said:
Presumably we're talking higher amounts of each than a single 2mg diazepam tablet mixed with a couple of small glasses of wine though, are we?
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I am afraid from what I have read over the years that a single tablet and a single drink have caused a fatal reaction. I read about such a fatal reaction in a young woman several years ago. The effect is unpredictable. I am pretty sure that if any GP discovered a patient was mixing the two, he would stop prescribing diazepam immediately. The situation with anti depressants is different but to mix tranquillisers and alcohol is playing Russian roulette. Have a word with your GP. There may be safer treatments.
 
Joe Public said:
Why are there so many unhappy people about right now?
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Baffles the shite out of me like.
I'm trying to educate me self more about these things as I have a good mate who suffers and I want to be more empathetic, but the amount of people on here who seem to suffer depression / anxiety / bipolar etc is truly alarming. Following SAFC can't exactly help like!
 
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fyl2u said:
Not wanting to turn this into a religion conversation, but this statement just sent a shiver of distaste through me. In my opinion, part of the problem in believing humans are "special", "created by God to be the specific person you are at this moment" or have "souls", is that people can believe that the person they are right now is a permanent state, which in my opinion is very dangerous where mental health is concerned.

Scientifically speaking, personalities change on a moment-by-moment basis as you gather new information through experience. From this standpoint, the person you are today is not who you were yesterday, (as true physically as it is mentally), and this plasticity of personality makes it possible to gradually train yourself to be someone "better" or "happier" when you need to. This is the entire basis of CBT - training yourself to be more positive - "accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative" as Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters said, so many years ago.

From personal experience, in the past I've had times when for extended periods of time I've been in the absolute pits of despair and couldn't see a way out. CBT (along with medication) helped put me back on the right track to stop feeling like that, and current work stress aside, I've now managed to rid myself of the absolute blackest of thoughts that used to haunt me constantly back in those darkest of days. I can now spot the thought patterns that used to send me down the despair route, and stop them in their tracks before they send me spiralling downhill like they used to.
Click to expand...

I agree. The relationship between stress and depression is complicated. With stress there is an over active mind but with depression the effect is lethargy. The depression through stress can be reactive depression which is often eliminated if the stress is removed. However, the cause can often be a low level of chemicals in the brain for which anti depressants are more successful. The problem is related to the brain and/or the mind which means a solution can be found.
 
Skandhaless said:
Great stuff . Initially it starts off as moving the mind to the here and now to be without mental anguish and as practice develops we learn to actually turn towards the disturbing moment ( turning towards the points as the Buddha puts it) , concentrate fully on it and what it brings and accept it as just the moment . That's long term stuff though for now just try and get your mind as present based and still as you can .
One thing I think useful to bear in mind that really helped me personally is another concept . we are all unavoidably struck by arrows in life ( job,relationships , poverty ) but if we are not mindful we are struck by a second arrow ( or more ) that we create ourselves out of unreal meaning about the self ( I am skint therefore I am worthless ) . We can't avoid the skint but we chose the worthless. Mindfulness eventually gets us to recognise the unwise second arrows we are choosing ..most of the time ..eventually ;)
Click to expand...

I've never read the book or studied the subject but what you've just posted makes 100% sense to me - far too many love to blame others for ALL of their problems rather than learning from the first and then accepting responsibility for the next.
 
It is also worth remembering that alcohol is a depressant. It's temporary effect my be to forget problems but over time that will diminish and it will cause further problems. It depresses the central nervous system.
 
Can't really add anything new to the conversation, but I can only agree with what others have said. Pack in the weed and booze (even if only until you get yourself right again), give mindfulness a shot, get some exercise and look for a new job. You certainly sound like you have a lot of skills that are needed by many different organisations in all sorts of sectors, take control and don't let the bastards grind you down. I'm a definite believer that work is first and foremost there to supplement the life you want to live, if it's impacting on that then it's time for something new.
 
Tex said:
Baffles the shite out of me like.
I'm trying to educate me self more about these things as I have a good mate who suffers and I want to be more empathetic, but the amount of people on here who seem to suffer depression / anxiety / bipolar etc is truly alarming. Following SAFC can't exactly help like!
Click to expand...

I think this board is probably an accurate reflection of the wider community. Mental health issues are certainly on the increase and I don't think that's all to do with awareness and diagnosis. Trade off of modern lifestyles. Social media, reality television and so on and so forth all give us fairly unrealistic expectations of how our lives should be. That coupled with additional work pressures leads to people feeling inadequate/stressed/anxious and ultimately depressed. We need to readjust our own expectations and set realistic targets for ourselves in my opinion.
 
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