What are these intense emotional 'tantrums'?

thanks, and its not over anything whatsoever it just starts with an empty feeling. Its happened on good days, on bad days and every type of day in between. I just feel like its a short circut, and if I don’t just let it happen it builds up until some scary stuff happens. It is like there is a pissed of child in my head but the more I fight with it the more it just screams. sometimes I have to hold it in if I am around others but it all comes out once I am alone. Its scary.

I kinda know what you mean.. I know this is gonna sound insensitive, but you have to ignore the feeling and force yourself to smile, cause Ive gone through something like this before.. You just have to act like its not happening. Treat it like a voice, ignore it. Also, an emptiness? Maybe a new hobby or sport or special person or pet can fulfill this?

It would help if you understood the cause of these ‘tantrums’ as you could then decide what to do or how to go about stopping them. Does it happen when you are doing a certain thing? Maybe when you are in a certain place or around a certain person? Try to determine the cause.

they aren’t caused by anything, I think my panic attacks and suicidal ideation just decided to team up one day :/ I see a new doc next week so well see how that goes. my last doc told me it was all in my head I was like ‘really…i wouldve never guessed *sarcasm”

I try, boy have I tried. Most of the time its after I have just gotten done hanging with friends, doing art, exercising. And it basically is a voice screaming at me to just die. I can handle any suicidal thought like a pro but not when it feels foreign and is screaming. Its a total loss of control, had a few close calls…but i know that the er would just tell my family which is not at all acceptable and send me to a therapist and a doctor which I already see.

Seek professional help….someone to assist you getting things in perspective….wish you the best !

thank you niky!

“I think my panic attacks and suicidal ideation just decided to team up one day” “It is like there is a pissed off child in my head but the more I fight with it the more it just screams.” “And it basically is a voice screaming at me to just die. “ “I can handle any suicidal thought like a pro but not when it feels foreign and is screaming. “

Next time you’re with your therapist, try telling her you want to try taking the following approach during your session:

Acknowledge that there is a pissed-off child in your head, and that child is you. (Or you can think of the child as a part of you, if that works better for you.) Instead of trying to fight it off, or contradicting it, or shifting your attention away from it (as you might do with a suicidal thought), try inviting that voice - that child-self - into the session with you for some conversation. Tell it that you want to hear what it has to say, and ask it to please not scream. Then really listen to it - whether it speaks out loud in some version of your voice, or silently in your head (which you can then repeat to your therapist).

Does it feel panicky? Or suicidal? (Those may be the same one child-voice, but if they turn out to be different and distinct inner voices or parts of you, ask them each to wait their turn.) What does it care about? How is it trying to serve you? What does it need or want?

After you have spent some time listening, feel free to reply - to ask for clarification or other questions, to express your own feelings toward it, to make requests, to negotiate, to make commitments, whatever feels right.

I obviously can’t predict the outcome of this, but I’m pretty certain you will at least learn more about what is going on for you. It may give your therapist some ideas for how to proceed, too.

If you experience another such incident before your next therapy session, you could try the same approach. In that case, your top priority should be to get some distance from that inner child-voice by stepping back to listen to it, even if it refuses your request to stop screaming. The inner distance you can get simply by the act of identifying it as a voice within you (rather than identifying with it as who you really are in that moment) may help you feel less vulnerable to it, less overwhelmed. But don’t wait for such an occasion if you have a chance to engage with it first in the presence of your therapist.