Racing Thoughts & Anxiety
Not everyone with depression has problems with racing thoughts and anxiety, but I happen to be one of the lucky ones that do. I get the racing thoughts first and then the anxiety, which can lead to insomnia, trembling and general crankiness. The strangest things can set my mind off into these unstoppable whirlwinds of thoughts. Yesterday, it was doing a post on YouTube Digger about David Berkowitz.
I Hate David Berkowitz
He’s a serial killer, arsonist, animal killer and ordained Born Again minister. I was very young when Berkowitz terrified the East Coast as the “Son of Sam” or “the 44 calibre killer”. He also displays several symptoms of insanity, such as hearing voices. I thought it would be interesting to do a couple of posts about him as I was takng the month of March to look at clips about madness. (March Madness. Get it? Oh, never mind.)
For some reason, I’d always assumed that Berkowitz had been executed. He was caught in 1977, remember. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that not only is he alive and doing quite well having his every need catered for him in prison, but that he has a thriving ministry and is a successful book author.
And, for some reason, I was filled with fury at the unfairness of life and that set off my racing thoughts.
Trying to Cope
One the thoughts begin to race, I have very little success reeling them in. The only way I can cope is by either distracting myself with work or television until I eventually drop unconsius from exhaustion.
Now, I’m trying to laugh at myself by making up little tunes like
I hate David Berkowitz
Doo-dah
Doo dah
I hate David Berkowitz
Oh, dee doo dah day.
Anything to keep one mentally healthy, I guess.
November 26th, 2009 at 4:35 am
Hey - great site.
A piece of advice I’d give (as a music graduate) is to not make up songs about things you don’t want to think about.
Music is a great way of building strong mnemonics and will make it harder to distance yourself from a thought
December 18th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
i have a blog of my own and posts like that can start up my writers block. depression can be very disabling disorder and some claim it will be the major health issue in the future. as i stated a “health” rather than a “mental health”