meditation and mental health

[LilyPhoenix]

I meditated for the first time in a while my voices are normally too loud for me to do that i need help with mindfulness my OCD is taking over my life right now
i cant go anywhere without my husband as too scared that i will hurt someone because i keep thinking there influencing my thoughts and reading my mind
i know mindfulness should help me and i know that i should learn more about i have the books for dummies Buddhism and Mindfulness i have read them yet i still dont understand it
My husband ( he is an atheist) says i have to tell myself that am ok weather its a stressful thing or calm things

i panic when there are people around me i must hold my husband hands when am on the bus people that i dont know must not touch me
i have only been on the bus on my own once in 6 months and i was so triggered by it

i love meditating and listening to Buddhism music
its made me feel calmer
its just being that calm in stressful situations that i need to learn

 

[Secret Chief]

Hi,
Have you managed to get any assistance through therapy via your GP?

Meditation may help, but not the only answer. Practice with a teacher (perhaps at the Kagyu Samye Dzong Buddhist centre) could be better than sitting on your own.

Best wishes.

 

[Twilight Hue]

There is a saying to run at what scares you the most.

Have you used your condition as a meditative focus?

Let it be noisy.

 

[Kalidas]

So I may not be a Buddhist but I am a Hindu(Buddhisms older brother) and I hope the Buddhists take mercy on me commenting here.

First I would seek professional help (unless you already have)

Next I do think meditation can help you. As Nowhere man said though its not about fighting the voices but letting them fade away. At first most people who meditate will hear voices and experience a swirling vortex of thoughts. The trick is to let it happen, let them come and go. Don't fight it because they will fight back. Just let them come but don't hold on, just watch them flow away from you like a river.

 

[no-body]

Perhaps you should try DBT?

Dialectical behavior therapy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It would be helpful with a therapist. Usually if you hear voices (other than "the mind") you need medication.

 

[DreadFish]

I would really recommend seeing a therapist and maybe a psychiatrist if you aren't currently doing that.

When you say your voices are normally too loud, are you saying you hear voices, or that your thoughts are just too loud and distracting to focus? If you hear voices and feel like others can hear your thoughts, as well as feeling like people are influencing your thoughts, meditation alone won't be the help you need. These are possible signs of psychosis, especially hearing voices, which needs to be treated properly with medication and therapy.

 

[LilyPhoenix]

Am waiting to see a therapist ( NHS ) I also am on medication for the voices and i still hear them with the medication
Am on two anti psychotics one anti depressant and one anti anxiety
witch is a lot of medication
i have been waiting 9 months for therapy i got a letter the other day from them saying that it might be a few months more before they can see me
i hope it will not be too long

My therapy is for OCD obsessive thoughts but also hear voices as well ( not thoughts )

Thank you all so much

 

[Secret Chief]

Waiting times no doubt vary round the UK; I had to wait about 3 months from when I first spoke to the GP. It might be worth phoning or calling in to see if you can get seen soon. I generally find organisations need regular prods.

 

[DreadFish]

Am waiting to see a therapist ( NHS ) I also am on medication for the voices and i still hear them with the medication
Am on two anti psychotics one anti depressant and one anti anxiety
witch is a lot of medication
i have been waiting 9 months for therapy i got a letter the other day from them saying that it might be a few months more before they can see me
i hope it will not be too long

My therapy is for OCD obsessive thoughts but also hear voices as well ( not thoughts )

Thank you all so much

Ok, cool . Well, since you got all that taken care of, I definitely recommend meditation in addition to it.

I have clinical depression and anxiety, as well as some mild obsessions/compulsions, and meditation has helped a great deal with dealing with these things. The meditation is not about stopping thoughts or making yourself peaceful, or making yourself anything, any effort like that just creates more tension and thoughts. I make a division between thoughts and thinking . To me, thoughts happen on their own, but thinking is our internal monologue that we actively engage in in response to arising thoughts and feelings. This active engagement with our thoughts and feelings, judging, attaching, rejecting, is what we learn to reduce.

The key is to just relax, feel your body, follow your natural breathing, and learn to observe thoughts and feelings without getting involved with them. It's really hard to think or feel a certain way and not grab on to it and feel like it defines your whole existence, but with practice, it's much easier to let things flow. Any thought or voice comes and goes and you just observe, hands off. Watch with the intention to understand, not judge. With time, this creates a sense of internal space and you don't feel quite so claustrophobic with all the feelings and thoughts. This helps every day life and further meditation because, when there's more space, it's easier to just let thoughts and feelings go without feeling like they are right in your face poking you and you have to do something about it.

Just imagine having an open hand, things pass over it, things are set in it and taken away, and you do not try to grab any of it or push it away. The more passive you become in observing and letting things go their way, the more naturally relaxed and focused you become and the more open you feel.

Mental illness is crazy hard to deal with, but I think I would be in a much worse place if I didn't know about meditative practice.

Last, I leave you with some words of advice from the Mahasiddha, Tilopa:

Don’t recall.
Don’t imagine.
Don’t think.
Don’t examine.
Don’t control.
Rest.

Expanded to mean:

Let go of what has passed.
Let go of what may come.
Let go of what is happening now.
Don’t try to figure anything out.
Don’t try to make anything happen.
Relax, right now, and rest.