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Northern Wyoming Mental Health Center Inc.

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Psychotherapy and Mental Health questions

Am I Crazy?

I am 33 years old. I have had issues with depression before but choose to work through things in my mind without medications. I usually do not have a problem with this but lately my thoughts have been a little harder to control. I am constantly afraid something bad is going to happen. I have a huge fear of dying or someone that I love is going to die. I have definitely been under a lot of stress in the last year. From the passing of my step-daughter, to my father being sick, to moving from two different states, to starting school for a master's degree, to having my step-grandchildren move in. However, I am starting to have physical symptoms. My heart has been palpitating and I was recently seen in the E.R. and they did all kinds of tests and determined that it was stress-related. It is hard for me to understand that stress could cause my heart to do that. My question is: Could my constant fear that something bad is about to happen really just be stress? What if it isn't? How do I distinguish abnormal thoughts from a premonition?

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  • Dr. Schwartz responds to questions about psychotherapy and mental health problems, from the perspective of his training in clinical psychology.
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