Stress Center Peer Support

I must admit I feel like I have a better control over myself and my anxiety lately but I have this thought bothering me. I worry that I am not "normal" and that I have some psychotic problem that hasn't been diagnosed. I just have some of the weirdest thoughts and get scared and question myself and worry about reality and all kinds of stuff. I have had anxiety for 8 years and am worried that it has made a mental effect on me. Sometimes I get in this "who cares" attitude and can blow it off and say its anxiety, and other times I fill my mind with all these thoughts that maybe I am weird and so on. I am worried that I am the only one that has these thoughts. Please reply if you have experienced this. Thank you!!

Dear Ethan's Mommy,
I certainly don't believe that just because you have "weird" thoughts you have a mental condition.
Anxiety can distort our thinking, but it doesn't cause or lead to what you are fearing. I have been a co-teacher of the Family to Family class with NAMI in which symptoms of the major mental illnesses are discussed. You would need several major symptoms to even be considered as needing treatment for a mental illness. Please relax about this. Just two nights ago on the chat line, I asked if I had been "crazy" when I ran away many times from stressful situations. I asked this because Session Two spoke of feeling like needing to run away, but I didn't hear that others actually did it! From the time I was first married, I would jump in the car and drive & drive when there was an argument between us.
Once I drove a couple hours north when we lived in Canada, I was so upset and anxious about my husband bringing a person into our home to live indefinitely, but turned around when I remembered that our baby needed a bottle! (The elderly lady who came to live with us for several months turned out to be a huge blessing for all of us.)
Once I was going to drive our car into a lake and I even got close to the lake when reason took over, praise God, and I turned around and went home (in the middle of the night!). Once I made my husband stop the car and I spontaneously jumped out and ran far into the woods. I could give you other examples of my running. The wonderful thing was that on the chat center, two people told me I wasn't crazy! Just fearful and fears don't make you crazy. I think that it was some weird thinking on my part that caused me to do some potentially harmful things. But God has kept me and I know He can do the same for you. Turn your fear and "weird" thoughts over to Him; keep using the relaxation CD - it is wonderful; and do write in your journal. Writing things down helps to get them out of our head. And Please Don't Worry about this anymore! You are normal!!! I really hope this has been helpful, Ethan's Mommy!