I wanted to start this blog for a while now but didn’t know where to start, but I guess I’ll start from the beginning.

My name is Bethany and I’m 27 years old, I’ve had anxiety noticeably since I was 8 & panic attacks since I was 10. Because I didn’t know what I was experiencing I couldn’t get the help I needed which inevitably lead to further problems. By the time I was 21, I had began to develop OCD tendencies. I know people tend to jump to cleanliness when OCD is mentioned, but that’s not always the case. For me at that time in my life it meant that I could only wear certain clothes on certain days & had ‘routines‘ I had to do to in order to avoid getting a panic attack. By 22 I had to follow specific routines which took over my life. I started to get better & face my fears, but while I did make progress I also took steps back. Whenever I took a bad panic attack I would go back to square one. I didn’t have the help I needed

Roll on to April 2019 & I had one of my worst panic attacks ever, causing me to spiral downwards going back into doing my ‘routines‘ to calm myself. Which again took over my life & lead me to depression.

I can now say that I’m in treatment, I’m taking antidepressants & I’m in CBT face-to-face appointments with a strong support network behind me. I am hoping this is the start of my recovery so I can live my life again.

This blog is my story…….