Art, Anxiety and Attention Span

[Pseudo Sanity]

Hello people of Art Discussion I'm in need of your advice. I'm not sure this post may fit better in another forum but since it deals with drawing and art I figured it belonged here.

I've been drawing since I was a teenager and slowly my skills have gotten better over time, but there are a lot of long breaks in between the times times where I did a lot of drawing. The reason for this is my anxiety, life in general and attention span.. I've tried working on these things but sometimes I still run into a wall with them so I was curious how do you guys deal with these things?

I think my anxiety comes from when I was younger, I had one parent who told me my art was wonderful, even if I knew it was s**t and then the other parent told me all my drawings where worthless and I should give up and stop thinking about doing any drawing. This confused me I think, I was abused by the said parent who told me I was worthless and s**t so I think I was more inclined to believe them, it also made me very defensive about my skill and I didn't improve for a while after that, it also make me horrified to show my work to anyone even today.. I think I'm getting better at this, I welcome general criticism but I still feel uncomfortable about it and it's been slow.

The other thing I have a problem with is my attention span is short so while I do a lot of practice studies I never get around to finishing a drawing, this is a major issue I have sometimes I do not know how to deal with it, I may have ADD for all I know, but it could also be a mixture of other problems, I get about partway through and I just cannot seem to focus and it seems very hard for me to get back on track if I stop and then start drawing again.

I was wondering if anyone had any tips on this or had run into these issues themselves? Is finishing just a matter of habit is it something I can push my way through? Any tips for someone unable to focus as well, or someone who's struggling with self defeating thoughts or anxiety when it comes to drawing, any advice would be much appreciated and thank you for taking the time to read my Tl;dr

[Glowstick Overdose]

I can't say I have any advice but I would suggest looking into an art therapist. I know this is an expensive and time consuming plan but it sounds like a lot of your problems extend well past art as well as being over a long time. I think someone being able to help over time will be better than getting advice once and hoping for the best.