Any tips/help on overcoming anxiety?

sillysasauge

hello, i feel crippled by constantly worrying about things, i am always worried what people are thinking of me, how i should act, worried about everything. i just cant seem to relax in any social setting without constantly overthinking things in my head. its actually getting worse than it was because my friends are commenting that i am always on edge. I sometimes suffer from panic attacks and used to suffer bad from depression badly although it has improved a lot recently.

I was just hoping someone who has been in a similar situation would be able to offer any advise or recommend any good books on this, because it's really making me unhappy. drinking just seems to make it worse and i don't want to rely on taking valium all the time.

Zillah

Apparently Xanax is quite effective. If it's a bad as you say talk to your GP about seeing a professional to help you deal with it.

Nervous Wreck

First question is, do you have any close friends that you've talked to about this? If not, pick one of your closer friends and just let them know how you're feeling. I've got one male friend who I can speak to about anything like this and I've often found it really easy to talk to my female friends about this kind of thing as well. You need a comfort zone. Start this small by relating to a close friend or two. They will then have your back in social situations and you'll always feel slightly more at ease having them around. Gradually, you can use that feeling of ease to expand your comfort zone as you will feel more confident and outgoing having someone there to back you up.

You do need to find it in yourself as well though. Try to identify what it is that makes you feel uncomfortable and address it directly. Give us examples perhaps?

m83

You NEED to get these tapes:

http://www.socialanxietyinstitute.org/audioseries.html


PM for more info.

eskimo

Hey,

Basically, anxiety is there as a natural coping mechanism in your body to help you deal with any danger you might be in. When you are not in any danger and the anxiety is still there, you have an anxiety problem. Panic attacks are a definite sign of an anxiety problem.

Whether there is a certain issue or issues in your life that you think could be causing your anxiety, or even if you have absolutely no idea what might be causing it, you should speak to a GP you trust (not one who is overly fond of handing out drugs. Maybe ask your friends for a recommendation). A good GP will discuss your own personal situation with you and decide what the best course of action is. For example, here is my own personal story...

My GP referred me to a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist. Basically, the CBT studies your own personal history in detail and tries to pinpoint exactly where the anxiety could be stemming from (it can be multiple different sources), and from there retrains the brain not to use anxiety to deal with situations that don't require anxiety. CBT is a very popular and internationally accredited method by psychologists and has an extremely high success rate particularly dealing with anxiety, depression and panic attacks. (It is NOT a "tell me your problems and we'll have a good cry" kind of therapy. It works a different way.)

My GP also put me on a low dose of Lexapro, which basically increases your brain's store of serotonin, your body's natural happy chemical. It is a non-addictive substance and is easy to stop taking with your GP's advice and assistance.
Chemically, anxiety is caused by a lower-than-normal level of this serotonin. The Lexapro helps your body to increase its store of serotonin and this way dramatically decreases your anxiety so that you can function at a normal level again, anxiety-free. This gives you back the strength you need to fight the anxiety and kill it off once and for all. But you need to combine this with psycho-therapy such as CBT because you can't stay on this drug forever (although some people do choose to stay on it long-term, and that's okay) but also because the underlying issue(s) causing your anxiety will still exist. For me the Lexapro have made me feel 90% better.

Nerve-relaxants such as Xanax and Calmax are short-term quick fixes which will lower your anxiety for about 6 hours at a time. My GP said no doctor will prescribe them more than once to any one patient. They are helpful in that they will kill off any nasty panic attacks temporarily, but they are not helpful in the long-run whatsoever.

Panic attacks are a sign that the anxiety has gotten to a very bad stage and you need to get this sorted because as you clearly realise the anixety and panic attack are really horrific and horrible experiences. It is extremely treatable, you just need to be pro-active and get the help needed.

When panic attacks get really bad, you are at a high risk of developing depression. Your GP and therapists will stop this happening and get you back to yourself again. It takes time and money, but your health is the most important thing so don't give it a second thought. Just do it.

When my own panic attacks became disabling for me in December last year, I started a thread here. Loads of people replied with their own stories too. Hopefully it'll help you:

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055441818

Remember the important thing is to realise that this WILL all be over, given time. I'm proof of that. I know it's extremely difficult to remain positive, I know. Well, it was for me anyway. I'm not 100% better but I feel 90% better and I am so grateful to feel normal most of the time again. Just find the strength somewhere, anywhere, and you will be so glad you did. Best of luck.

E.T.

There's a book called the Anxiety and Depression workbook for dummies, and I think there's an Anxiety for Dummies book too - they're like big manuals with a yellow and black cover. I have the first one and I've found it very useful. I got them on amazon.com.

Craft25

Ground yourself!!

If ever your getting in a panic, or your thoughts are going all over the place, just feel your feet standing where they are on the earth, take a breath, maybe take note of a bit of nature a tree or something.. say to yourself "i am x person, standing here in x place, and everything is ok."

Try to feel your body instead of thinking your thoughts. flex a couple of muscles, then strengthen through your core as if in yoga or pilates and just feel yourself in the spot for a moment.

It's your habitual thinking patterns taking you down the same old route, so try break them by just stopping for a moment and becoming aware of reality around you.

Craft25

eskimo wrote: »

Hey,

Basically, anxiety is there as a natural coping mechanism in your body to help you deal with any danger you might be in. When you are not in any danger and the anxiety is still there, you have an anxiety problem.

spot on!!
one is still feeling the danger when it's not really there anymore, and it's purely out of force of habit.. maybe in school or somewhere else there was a need to be on guard all the time, ready for danger.

now theres no need .. so take a moment look around & realise there really is none, break the habit.

iredia

Hi there,

I found in my experience whenever I experience anxiety it was usually a result of lack of awareness and a lack being present in the moment.

A few things I found really useful were asking myself these questions;

When do I scare myself?

Why do I scare myself? and

How does it serve me to scare myself?


Essentially all anxiety is result of fear of something....FEAR stands for False Evidence Approving Real.

A useful technique that I found very empowering was EFT...you can find out more about it on www.emofree.com

another thing is not to Identify with the "anxiety"....just view it as an experience and don't label or judge it........the more you resist something the more it persists!

Develop an attitude of curiosity when it happens rather than an attitude of judgement.

Hope this helps!

If you have any other questions just let me know!

LegacyUser

You should also try giving mindfulness meditation a try. Be serious with it for a few weeks. Just remember, emotions are simply movements of energy through the body. When the mind labels it is "anxiety", suffering arises. Mindfulness allows an opening/space where that energy can be identifed as something else (perhaps "excitement" would be a better label for my emotion I am feeling now) or just simply not labelling at all.

Here are some articles on how to integrate mindfulness into life:

http://www.shinzen.org/Articles.htm

Put yourself out there, the more you use it, the easier it gets.

Good luck!

pseudonym1

Meditation is good advice -try Yoga.
Also look at your diet - a friend of mine suffered for years with them and by changing her diet - cutting out caffine sweets etc helped her no end!