I came across a story which I thought might interest readers. Often anxiety sufferers look for evidence that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Too much of the medical establishment views anxiety as a condition akin to something like diabetes which is with you all your life. It is easy to get stuck in one of the negative thought cycles which so often define anxiety disorders.
There is no cure for anxiety, I will never get over it
This thought is not true, but it is completely understandable. Anxiety is eminently treatable, and although no therapies, drugs, anti-anxiety programmes or techniques work for everyone, something will work for you. Just as a little encouragement I wanted to tell you about a writer called Stef Penney. If you are not big on literature it is understandable that you haven’t heard of her as she is relatively early on in what looks like becoming an illustrious literary career. She has just won the prestigious Costa award in the UK. She used to be agoraphobic. As an article about her in the Scotsman shows, she has battled her condition for years and been frustrated by various therapies. But she has won, succeeded, traveled by plane and achieved a lot in her professional career.
What is more is that she is nothing special. She is flesh and blood like you and me. If she can do it so can you. It took her twenty years, it might take you only twenty days, who knows. The important thing is that therapy and medicine have never been so advanced, there has never been so much insight, and there has never been such a range of alternative therapies as there is right now. So, being wary of gimmicks, get out there and do it.
Hi. I thought I would post something due to the fact that not only am I an anxiety sufferer hedetarily, but I’m also a neuropsychologist. I’ve peruzed the internet to see what kind of information the main stream media has provided the ‘self’ diagnosers or arm-chair ruminators…the prognosis is rather negative-there is no miracle cure, and the nature of every disorder is subjective. Here are some tips proven by science as to what will work for most anxiety sufferers. Also, I will answer some simple questions that various anxiety sufferers have asked me before.
Anxiety, firstly is a natural much needed evolutionary response to our surroundings. It is and has been coined the ‘fight or flight’ response. To help you understand this I will draw upon a simple analogy- 10,000 years ago a tiger would jump out of the woods and attack a human, the only thing a human can do is either fight or flight (run). This is what happens in a neurological perpective: the locus cereuleus becomes activated beyond normal functioning and thus causes the brain to be on ‘overdrive’. This signal tells certain parts of the brain to do certain things, including the limbic system, which is comprised of many areas but we’ll focus on one that is called the amygdala. The amygdala is the centre for emotional response in humans. So basically the LC activates, the amygdala gets too much signal and the sufferer feels a strange emotion. (Many other things occur, but for simplicity sake I’ll keep it short, this isn’t a class). Combined with certain neurotransmitter functions and other variables the body gets heightened signals from outside stimuli and thus responds. This is where todays anxiety comes in: we have anxiety disorders for many reasons but the reality is that if it is a problem it is occuring out of place. Instead of tigers, we have credit card bills and screaming children….we have traffic and violent imagery on television. We move too fast and do not take care of our bodies. We have accepted that SSRI’s and benzodiazepines are the answer….so here are some common sense methods to stop this neurological function and begin to rehabilitate.
Firstly- Our bodies have not adapted to our surroundings in an evolutionary perspective to the speed technology and our surroundings have. We have too many things to think about. What happens in this scenario is that the average person does not exercise and meditate. Cardiovascular exercise is paramount in eliminating symptoms of anxiety. Why? Well its this simple- exercise relaxes the skeletal muscular system and thus relaxes the brain by proxy. If you have a relaxed body, you’ll have a relaxed mind.
2-Food- Dont eat too much, dont eat unhealthy, and remember to eat. Sometimes when blood glucose concentrations are low a person will expereince similar sensations as anxiety….eat right and avoid this.
3- No smoking, no drugs, no alcohol. Just because everyones doing it makes you cool if you decide to pass on it and be yourself.
4- Existential Crisis- We are all going to die….lifes one certainty. Scary huh? Well heres the real deal- we dont know what happens afterwords so why do we assume its so bad? Turn the negativity into positivity.
5-Deep breathing- if you breathe in all the way to the bottom of your belly (slowly) and then release at half the rate of inhalation for 5-10 minutes…you wont have anxiety…youll be sleepy and relaxed. This activates the para-sympathetic nervous system which makes it hard for its opposite (sympathetic) to become aroused.
I hope you all find your way and make good decisions about your anxiety. Remember- the label isn’t who you are, you can control it and you will….it is always worse when you are experiencing it, when its gone its a faint memory. Focus on keeping busy and happy things and you will beat the cycle.
hi anonymous,
i just saw your comment and i know it was posted about a year ago, but hey, i will leave a little blurb anyway…
i thought it was very positive and a very nice reminder that anxiety can be overwhelming but is just as much treatable. i have been learning about my body for about three years now. by this i mean that i had my first panic attack then, but at this time i feel blessed that i have been given the chance to really get to know my body, what works and what doesn’t. so anxiety is not always a bad thing.
good article, i found it very refreshing compared to the other negative things you can find on the world wide web!!
Just to say try to stay positive ..my anxiety came through the loss of partner and parents very suddenly.and I had no siblings to share that loss.
..its been a long hard climb back but I AM GETTING THERE!!.i know how dark the anxiety can make you feel but i just try hard to remember to think of the worst case senarios when Im presented with a situation …it works..
Whats the worst thing that can happen to me …i may have to leave the shopping and leave it til later ……..SO WHAT!!!!!!!
When i’m in the ‘LOOP’ of intrusive thoughts i count everything blue in the room or everything yellow etc etc it helps me to focus and redirect the negative thoughts that come during an attack….as you begin to get better they do lessen …PROMISE!! If like me you wake feeling anxious DONT LAY THERE GET UP!!!!
Overcoming anxiety for me is all about EXPOSURE EXPOSURE EXPOSURE!..its hard but you can do it!! …set yourself a LITTLE goal each day…..washing the pots or maybe going out to the shops if you are at the stage where you are able … be in there just 15 mins then get out and back into the car …go locally at first until you feel stronger and more in control…if you know the layout its great ..just get what you need and do the breathing if theres a queue!!!ha ha!(chocolate croissants were my staple every lunch time ..because i knew where they were in the shop and i knew i HAD to eat something!!
Dont be afraid to say to people “I have anxiety disorder” there’s no shame in it and its amazing how many out there are sufferers!
Vitamin D is great..either in capsule form or just eat plenty of nuts!…vitamin c is good too and if you have trouble eating properly because of the nervous stomach.Ginger tea helps and cammomile tea too!
…… just know YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!!
Good luck!
Maggie!!! Your comment made me giggle as thats exactly what im like LOL…I rush things so i can sit back down but ive found when i do things properly and just push myself a little bit more i feel tons better….And if you have a bad day, so what, tomorrow is usually brighter, don’t go to bed that night thinking “tomorrows going to be worse” its usually not, try reading a book in bed to relax you and focus your mind on something else…Don’t give up! I’;m not 😀
Hey I just want to say that I have extreme anxiety and I always worry about having a heart attack when I am really not. My mind tells me that I am going to die so it is a fight I live with almost everyday! I usually stay calm and I haven’t had a panic attack in a while but what I see out of my anxiety is that I learn to cope and to control my mind even more! I become mentally stronger and many things are not an issue anymore. I used to be afraid of Halloween stuff but when I started having anxiety, I started to not be afraid of anything. I have had it for about 7 years and I’m glad I have it. The positive side is that I think more deeply in a subject or whatever I’m doing and I feel as if I can see the world in a different way than a “normal” person would. I take notice to thing people don’t usually care about. I’m not sad I have anxiety, I am grateful that I have it and it strengthens me mentally.