Don’t go out like this
Some followers of Freud believe that psychoanalysis can cure everything even measles!Freud himself was less certain.I had to laugh one night when I was reading about someone getting better after 8 years of 4 times a week therapy.Not completely better.Just a bit.
I wonder who was paying.And of you are already quite old ,8 years is a long time.Maybe it is a substitute for life.
Look at it differently.
In any image, there is a figure and a ground.Therapy is about you, the figure.
But if you change the ground the image will change.To me. that implies that the environment might be making a person suffer.If they can change their surroundings then their anxiety might decrease.
It is easier when you are young as you may be able to go to college, ideally a long way from your home.
I found that made a difference to me.I am sure you can think of other ways
Don’t let people hurt you, tell you that you lack the intelligence to get a degree or be a doctor or a bricklayer.If you can speak, read and write then you can with hard work get your degree especially if you have one or two friends who will study with you.Nobody knows how to measure intelligence.Self-belief is very valuable.Many people do degrees as mature students,probably now at the OU
Eat and get fresh air.We are bodies!
Stop ruminating if possible and wash up instead
Will you wet yourself at the party?Will you go red? How dreadful it will be to have everyone laughing at you.
Believe me, you will cope with whatever happens,,,, eventually
It might take a long time, you may never be anxiety free but in this world, I imagine you are not alone.We are all more simply human than otherwise
How my heart speaks 