Anyone here clean and sober for 5+ years before being diagnosed?

[lizw]

I got a friend who is 10 years clean and sober (same length as me) and she maybe having some kind of mental breakdown.

It's to do with a guy she's been seeing and she thinks he is following her or getting his friends too, listening to her calls, checking her emails etc...

I spoke to her last night on the phone and she told me she's felt this way for awhile and doesn't even know herself if it is because she is mentally ill or because it is really happening etc...

I haven't clue if she is ill or not too. She sounds pretty sane about everything else in her life. Her family are pretty concerned about her though.

She has had a rough year with a long term relationship ending, having a miscarriage, ending up in the worst job in the world etc...

Anyone got any ESH?

[historyteach]

Only a doctor can diagnose your friend.
I'm sure she is stressed out given her circumstance. And maybe having a therapist to talk to would be a great idea. It would give her perspective and the inroad to a psychiatrist if needed.

My thoughts and prayers are with her as she struggles. Why not give her this website and have her come here herself? We're here to help!

Shalom!

[lizw]

Thanks.

She is going to see one early November.
I'm seeing her today. While I've known her for awhile it is just over the last year we've become good friends.

So many people come on here trying to get sober/clean and this is just the beginning. Life doesn't not happen just because we are clean and sober now eh?

[shutterbug]

it's great to hear she's going to start seeing a therapist. IN MY OPINION ONLY - The paranoia seems a little more to me than what should be 'normal'. If she's looking for possible answers among the mental health field... NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness is a great informational website. So is www.dbsalliance.org

best wishes,
jenna

[Ago]

yes

my therapist suggested I go to a psychiatrist when I had about 5? ish years of sobriety because of anxiety disorders that weren't responding to therapy and were no longer "situationally appropriate".

For a long time the feelings of anxiety were "appropriate" to my stimuli because I worked in a job where I risked my life on a daily basis, then started my own company and had "financial anxiety" and after three years my company had stabilized yet I was still feeling the same feelings.

I had worked the steps a few times, it didn't help this, ultimately, I ran out of "stories" to why I felt the way I did.

Ultimately he diagnosed me with Post traumatic stress disorder, which was in turn caused by what he called "counter phobia" in which since I had had an "unsafe childhood" I spent my life putting my life at risk ( drug use, motorcycle racing, big wave riding, cliff rescue paramedic, big tree remover, climbing the Golden Gate Bridge, etc etc) to put my feelings of fear in front of me in order to control them, and when I was no longer risking my life and self medicating and had "run out of stories" it spun completely out of control.

With therapy and meds it was relieved although it crops up if I don't keep an eye on it.

So, although my diagnosis was different, yes, after a few years of sobriety and working the steps repeatedly on issues that didn't respond to the steps I found that going to a therapist and psychiatrist helped immensely.

This is just for me, and not to dissuade anyone from going to seek professional help but I repeat, for me, I got more benefit from therapy and seeing a psychiatrist after a thorough working of the steps because I ran out of "stories" as to why I felt the way I did. I went to therapy in early sobriety, I just didn't derive as much benefit from it because I was so out of touch with who I was if that makes sense, after I worked the steps I had a lot less denial and was much more in touch with my emotions and "who I was".

When I got sober there was aversion among many "old timers" to seeking professional help and many was the time I went to an old timer and stated I thought I was suffering from "clinical depression" and quite often they "minimized" my feelings and suggested what I was feeling was just "normal feelings" not covered up from alcohol.

After I worked the steps three times and it didn't change how I felt about certain issues, I sought "professional help".

I can and do suffer from clinical depression periodically, as well as anxiety disorders on occasion, working the steps, exercise, sleeping well, sunlight, a support group, etc. help keep these in check, but for me, seeking a professional opinion saved my life IMO and I am again on meds and it has helped more then I can say.

After awhile of course I said to myself, these aren't working, I don't feel any different...a few weeks after I stopped taking them I got what I would consider a pretty good wake up call, and now take my pills like a good little boy.

So, the short answer is yes.