nblomgren
2006-02-26 22:29:29 UTC
FAQ for alt.recovery.panic-anxiety.self-help
posted weekly
also available at http://fussychicken.com/arpash/
Maintained and copyrighted (c) by Gary Bradski
for alt.recovery.panic-anxiety.self-help
Permission granted to copy and quote from this document for any use
commercial or private as long as this copyright notice is printed with
it.
=====================================================================
A.O INDEX:
A.1 WHO THIS NEWSGROUP IS INTENDED FOR
A.2 EXPECTED ETIQUETTE:
A.3 COMMON THEMES OF PEOPLE WHO MIGHT LIKE THIS APPROACH
B.1 RESOURCE LISTS
C.1 HOLISTIC APPROACH
D COPING TECHNIQUES
* D.1 Calming Breaths, or "Deep Breaths"
* D.2 Act as if
* D.3 Relaxation Skills
* D.4 Performance anxiety at work
* D.5 Public Speaking
* D.6 Shyness and social phobia
* D.7 Panic -------
* D.8 Stress
* D.9 Fear of Insanity
* D.10 Pounding and/or Skipping Heart
* D.11 Ego Reduction
* D.12 Fear of Flying
* D.13 Claustrophobia, Fear of Elevators
* D.14 Fear of Driving
* D.15 Worry
* D.16 Compulsions
* D.17 Scary Thoughts and Impulsives
* D.18 Taking Responsibility
* D.19 Using One's Will and Muscles
* D.20 Changing One's Language
* D.21 Setbacks
* D.22 No hopeless case -- what makes for a disorder
E.1 ATTITUDES OR SCHEMAS THAT MAY LEAD TO PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS
F.1 SYMPTOMS LIST
G.1 DESENSITIZATION TECHNIQUES
H.1 MEDICATIONS
I. WORKING THEORY
Z. DEFINITIONS and ACRONYMS
=====================================================================
A.1 WHO THIS NEWSGROUP IS INTENDED FOR:
This newsgroup is intended for those who are suffering from, or who
have
recovered from anxiety disorders, panic attacks, post traumatic stress
disorder, or other stress disorders
AND
whom have CHOSEN (or who want to investigate) a path that ACCEPTS an
active, directional, cognitive-behavioral, self-help type approach.
THAT IS:
This group IS specialized towards an outlook that you are responsible
for and able to effect in large degree the course of your disorder and
your recovery. Not that you are to "blame" for your disorder, just
that your propensities and/or the vagaries of life led you here, but
you
can effect in large measure your own healing and subsequent emotional
and spiritual growth.
We are modeled somewhat loosely after the Recovery groups developed by
Dr. Abraham Low. We have *NO* relationship with Recovery Inc., just
respect for their techniques. SO:
=====================================================================
A.1 EXPECTED ETIQUETTE:
(0) You've had a physical check up to rule out physical causes
(1) We do not discuss or compare medications.
(2) We do not dwell on symptoms -- whatever you've got, we had
it once too, you can and will recover from it. If you're
new to the group and need some reassurance, OK. See symptom
list below.
(3) We encourage
examples of coping
coping techniques
cognitive reframing/restructuring
success stories
humor
lists of resources
scientific findings, conference meetings
positive attitude, optimistic outlook
emotional and spiritual development
"what I learned from that"
"looking back" long time recoveries
(4) Do not proselytise your religion
(5) Do not push products
(6) All posts are considered to be one's own opinion
(7) Respect for others and willingness to communicate
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
If you want to discuss or explore a wider range of anxiety approaches,
or to discuss and compare medications, a good group for this is
alt.support.anxiety-panic
=====================================================================
A.3 COMMON THEMES OF PEOPLE WHO MIGHT LIKE THIS APPROACH
Below are beliefs and assumptions *often* held by people
whom may benefit or like the approach this newsgroup takes:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(1) Robust recovery is achievable. You aren't responsible for
having a weakness towards anxiety, you are responsible to
learn to manage this weakness and stay well.
(2) Thoughts lead moods; Assumptions lead thoughts
Training can change both and lead towards healing and growth
(3) Setbacks are for practice
WILLINGNESS TO:
(4) Give and receive positive directive coping techniques and
support -- an encouraging "kick in the pants", keep moving,
approach
(5) Face one's fears
(6) Train to restructure one's thoughts and assumptions
(7) Train a Positive Outlook and Attitude
(8) Train acceptance and patience, ego reduction
(*) A determination to persist and persist, not just to "try"
AND OFTEN:
(**) A drive not just to recover, but to be transformed.
To find one's life purpose and the courage to live it.
To turn one's pain into an engine of growth --
to enter into a deeper realm of ethical, emotional, and
spiritual maturation. To develop one's "higher" self,
to loose some of one's "ego" self.
To become grateful and thankful for all this.
=======================================================================
UNDER CONSTRUCTION:
=====================================================================
B.1 RESOURCE LISTS
Books, tapes, institutes:
http://cns-web.bu.edu/pub/bradski/calm.html
=====================================================================
C.1 HOLISTIC APPROACH
diet
exercise
meditation
ignoring symptoms
replacing negative thoughts
positive attitude
acceptance
spirituality
=====================================================================
D.1 COPING TECHNIQUES.
* D.1 Calming Breaths, or "Deep Breaths"
-------------------------------------------
(1) Inhale slowly through your nose filling your belly, *not* your
chest
for five seconds.
(2) Hold for about 5 seconds.
(3) Blow air out slowly through your lips, as if you are blowing out
cigarette smoke.
(*) Repeat the process 3-5 times.
* D.2 act as if
------------------
This is one of the best overall techniques -- your brain both observes
and drives your body. You can best break bad internal cycles by
using your muscles to disrupt the pattern. Act as if you are brave
and strong. Act kind and confident. Put on an act until it is
no longer an act but a habit. This can work. Not all the time, but
practice makes perfect eventually.
* D.3 Relaxation Skills
--------------------------
Meditation. There are many types of this:
Progressive muscle relaxation
Mental relaxation
Autonomic relaxation
Visualizations
PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION
is where you close your eyes and start from your head or toes and
first tense a muscle, then let it go and try learn the feeling of the
muscle letting go and relaxing. Do for all major muscle groups,
especially neck and head. Do this for 2-3 weeks straight until you
learn it, then sporatically thereafter. Don't do it so much that you
train yourself to strain to relax.
MENTAL RELAXATION
follows progressive. Once you learn the feeling of letting go, let
muscles go without first tensing them. Do this for 2-3 weeks and once
a day for life. An image that sometimes helps (don't now why) is if
you find a muscle that's real hard to relax, view a kind of large
glowing cotton ball rotating in space above the tense muscle. See each
of the cotton fibers kind of pulling at the muscle to loosen it up as
the ball turns.
AUTONOMIC RELAXATION
Slow your heart down, shift blood to your limbs, dilate blood
vessels. This must be done indirectly. First, 10 deep breaths, then
mentally relax, then try saying and gently feeling "my heart is slow
and smooth" over and over. "My limbs are heavy and warm", "My skin is
limp and loose", "My breathing is calm and rhythmic" are other phrases
to use. Can induce deep deep stages of relaxation.
VISUALIZATIONS
This can be done to music or to anything. 10 deep breaths, mentally
relax then:
MINI VACATIONS
imagine yourself playing your favorite sport; dancing for God or
creation; flowing as water down a stream; lying in the warm surf;
you surrounded by friends at a fun beach party; dancing with someone
you love; go to a favorite place etc. Can be quite fun.
ANTI-STRESS
go to a favorite place in your imagination and get calm. Then switch
to the first part of the stress scene and see yourself acting
calm and successfully there with confidence. If you feel stressed,
return to the calming scene until you're calm, then try again.
Do this again and again until you can go through your whole
"stress scene" feeling calm and confident. May take days or
weeks sometimes. Use well before any major life changes
SUCCESS
view yourself succeeding at a task or goal over and over in realistic
detail.
* D.4 Performance anxiety at work
------------------------------------
Let's say you get nervous "because you don't know if you can do a
good enough job", or because you need to run a meeting, or discuss
something with your boss, or interview someone that wants a job,
or interview to get a job. Or any other job related performance.
Fear of this often stems from a preoccupation with *self*.
Your*self*. "I have to succeed", "I may fail", "They may find out
about the true me" and other bull shit. Instead, take some of your
"self" out of it. Realize that in reality, we all serve higher causes.
Instead of viewing yourself as being "on the line", view yourself as a
servant of your company's purpose, your coworkers, the product/service
-- a higher cause. In most industries it is possible to go much
beyond this -- say in telecommunications, you can also view yourself
as playing a role in making information freer, helping people
communicate, on up to helping further the evolution of life as the
world links up. Thus, it's not "YOU" that is on the line, you are
only a servant of "the cause", serving it the best you can, no better.
If your boss criticizes you, this is good, because it is the cause
that is important, if you can learn to serve it better in any way,
that's good.
* D.5 Public Speaking
------------------------
First, realize that the only real way to overcome this fear is to
face it and do it many times. Many people move slowly from a fear
of speaking to a love of it. As in Performance anxiety at work, a
common component of this fear is that you view your*self* as
being on the line. But if you take some of your "self" out of
it, it can become easy as follows: View yourself as a servant
of the TOPIC. It isn't you that is on the line after all, you
are just helping the TOPIC make itself clear for the benefit of
your fellow creatures. Serve the topic as best you can and no
better than that. If you get questions from the audience, this
is good because it helps you help the topic to clarify itself
better. It is the topic that is on line, but for a good purpose
-- to enlighten the audience. You are its assistant, just as
it may have many other assistants in other places and times.
* D.6 Shyness and social phobia
----------------------------------
Again, this will tend to fade away with repeated exposure as you "act
as if" you are calm and confident. Don't view it so much as *YOU*
interacting socially, but that you interact to further the cause of
peace, learning and teaching. There are lessons to be learned, and
lessons to teach -- this is in a sense "Gods work" however you define
God. Do your work...sometimes unexpected adventures or opportunities
present themselves in a single word or smile. If you get tense,
practice relaxation skills. It may take a year or even two before you
can rid yourself of habitual tensing. These phobias especially just
take a willingness to face short term discomfort for long term
comfort and increased social functioning. Force yourself (cause
your muscles to act) to talk with strangers cheerfully -- you aren't
just doing it for yourself, you are doing it for the other(s) to
increase community etc. Make someone's day instead of worrying about
your internal feelings.
* D.7 Panic -------
----------------------
To cope with and eliminate panic and the fear of panic is the crux of
healing. It takes time because you are caught in a cycle. You may
consider medications for this, but many have stopped panic without
medications -- listen to yourself, you'll know what's right for you
eventually. The panic coping skills are necessary to learn in either
case.
The approach to stopping panic is to lose your fear of it. To view
panic in your gut as just a behavior that you do, to recognize and
not fear or regret it. Once the fear of panic is gone, so is the
panic. But I do not know how to tell you how to lose the fear, it's
an experiential thing.
A good technique for minimizing panic is "grounding oneself" --
switch to deep breathing, and then cycle through your senses slowly,
naming or even pointing to each sensory datum: what are you seeing,
hearing, smelling, tasting, smelling. Cycle again and again. Don't
judge, just record and notice. Or alternatively add an "that's good"
after each sense is named. Don't hurry away from a situation
that invokes panic -- that just triggers a more intense conditioned
response later. Try and stay there and calm down, or else leave
slowly
acting "as if" you are calm.
My basic way of overcoming panic was to not fight the panic at all,
just to let 'er rip, but to minimize the build up and after effects.
That is, I'd just let myself panic, then play a game that I called
"BOUNCE BACK". That is, see just how fast you can return to normal
post attack. "Back to normal" also means not beating up on yourself
for having an attack -- panic is just a part of the natural world,
don't
blame or pity yourself for it. As I was able to "bounce back" faster
and faster, I began to worry less and less about the attacks. When
attacks would only last a minute, I began to not fear them and
they stopped. They turned into longer, less intense non-reality
feelings, then those faded too since nonreality responds best to just
carrying on with your tasks at hand.
Expect lots and lots and lots and lots of setbacks along the way.
These are to be viewed as "practice sessions" for getting better
at bounce back. Look at a graph of the stock market. There are
lots of ups and downs, but the trend is up. Same with recovery.
* D.8 Stress
---------------
Think of 3 situations:
(1) You use your arm almost never
(2) You lift weights and then rest every day working on different
muscles
(3) You try to curl 25 lbs over and over without stopping for days.
The effects of this physical stress are (1) your arm withers from too
little
stress, (2) You get stronger and stronger, (3) your muscle gets
injured and/or
breaks down.
The same holds true for emotional or mental stress. Too little and
your stress tolerance weakens, too much and you break down. Stressful
conditioning can occur if say a stress occurs, then you associate what
lead up to it as stress and then what lead up to what lead up to it
etc. Cure is to relax and take attitude of safety and competence and
then desensitize to your stress associations.
Everyone has a weak point that will break or weaken. Our weakness
happens to be with anxiety -- that's lucky because it serves as a
guide and early warning system. Some people without early warning
systems show no stress signs until they die of heart failure or
stroke.
We must take path (2), to toughen up our stress response.
Mostly this means facing our fears, taking on stress, but relaxing
more too -- in cycles of stress-relax stress-relax. Adopt a tough
attitude. Learn to screen out, not listen to or be scared by
negative thoughts. Learn and practice relaxing so that you do it
well. Learn to listen to yourself so that you can undertake mental
or emotionally stressing activities, but know when to relax. The
average stress relax cycle is something like 60-90 minutes "on",
relax for 20, repeat. Get enough sleep -- manage yourself for
health -- you have no choice. Result is greater than average
happiness.
* D.9 Fear of Insanity
-------------------------
A big one for panic disorder suffers, but a silly one. Anxiety does
not lead to Insanity. No one was anxious and paniced for years and
then slowly (or suddenly) went insane. Anxiety waxes and wanes over
all time scales; insanity is a constant, enduring misperception of
reality. If *you* notice that you are "crazy", you are not. If one
is insane, it is other people who will notice it, not you; If you are
anxious, *you* will notice it, other people may or may not. This fear
is deeply tied into the sense of vulnerability that leads to panic:
Ego death. You aren't afraid of going insane, you are afraid that
your ego will stay rational while the ego (you) watchs and suffers the
effects of the insanity. This is horse shit. Fear does not lead
to anxiety, just to more fear. And secondly, when you let go of
your ego, you also often let go of fear and your ego becomes more
stable.
"..., people with phobias aren't crazy. In fact, they seem almost
immune
to insanity." Phobics can't and won't go insane, Dr. (Alan)Goldstein
(director of Temple University's Agoraphobia and Anxiety Program)
says.
"It's not as if there were some sort of continuum, with panic attacks
leading into insanity. They are completely separate conditions."
* D.10 Pounding and/or Skipping Heart
--------------------------------------
A very common and annoying symptom.
To reduce one's fear about this, one can try to experiment with
the symptom. Move more, wave your hands, walk run. Note that
you don't and will not die.
To reduce the beating heart here's some tricks:
(*) Do slow calming breaths as above
(*) Tense and release your thigh muscles -- this burns adrenaline
(*) Massage below one ear (not both) -- changes blood pressure to
brain, can trigger slower beats.
(*) Splash cold water on your face -- triggers a diving, reduce energy
response
(*) Exercise to burn the adrenaline
(*) Do autonomic meditations above "my heart is smooth and slow"...
* D.11 Ego Reduction -- Higher Self
------------------------------------
A deep source of lasting relief. Many times one's problems
come from just being too embedded in one's demanding ego. What's
more,
the ego is fairly small, but can be so monotonously and grandiosely
demanding that it can make one loose one's zest for the world. But
it is not the world that has gone stale, it's the ego.
How to reduce one's ego is impossible to describe -- though books on
it fill libraries -- because the knowledge is experiential and must be
slowly, patiently trained to stick. The goal is to expand
one's sense of belongingness to the world, identifying one's
personality with all things and somehow seeing one's personality as
separate from one's ego. But the ego cannot be destroyed -- such an
expansive maturing process will inevitably come back to encompassing
one's ego with the same love and zest one develops towards others and
the world while maturing. Pain often drives this process since no one
can make you undertake it. It is this that people who have recovered
mean when they say they are "thankful that they had panic disorder or
anxiety problems". Paraphrasing Hugh Downs in "Potential", you can no
more make someone undertake ego reduction than you can make them
exercise by moving their arms for them. You or they must find a way
to motivate themselves to start moving enought to start building
endurance
until they discover pleasure in the act of exercise. The same is
true with reducing one's ego.
The rewards for ego reduction/personality expansion are endless. For
myself, one of the stressors that I took stress from was a resentment
for having to work for someone else -- a corporation. This resentment
caused in part a hate of my job, denied me of some of the many things
I could have learned from the job and eventually the internal stress
from fighting myself resulted in panic. But panic comes to teach.
Had I dropped the resentment, I could have served my coworkers,
shareholders and customers better. I did not necessarily like the
"purpose" of this corporation, but there is much good in any social
system nevertheless. By letting go of the "I", accepting and
flowing, the resulting freeing up of one's energy can help one learn
more and better -- possibly leading to enough competence to see and do
some side business that would ultimately result in working for
oneself. This paradoxical pattern of giving up and thereby getting is
infused in all of life. Directly fight panic and you'll panic all the
more; accept panic and panic ends.
Often through the training, acceptance, meditation and healthier life
changes one goes through to overcome panic, one also gains the sense
of a "higher" or greater "world-self" -- a kind of spirituality that
gives one the gift of ego reduction. Such a state do not last
continuously, but one lives in this state longer and longer, and
returns to it more frequently over time.
* D.12 Fear of Flying
----------------------
MAINLY WRITTEN FOR PEOPLE WHO'S FEAR IS OF CRASHING, NOT JUST
CLAUSTROPHOBIA OR FEAR OF PANIC AND NOT BEING ABLE TO "GET AWAY"
Often, when people say they are afraid of crashing, what really
bothers them is the anticipation of the fear and horror of the last
few moments as they plummet from the sky. This fear then extends to
the whole flight because they fearfully anticipate the fearful
anticipation from every bump and grind felt on the flight. So the
whole flight either is, or is feared to be one long anxiety attack.
It is this, rather than some fear of death that is really the cause of
discomfort.
This type of downward cycle has to be broken and can be. The main way
to break a cycle is to face the fear, accept it, flow with it and ACT
AS IF you were calm and confident while using relaxation and breathing
skills to stay as calm as possible. This breaks up the bad
association chain that the brain makes since a brain that starts to
fear observes that the body doesn't react and the brain starts to
calm.
With repetition, the brain learns the new pattern -- this is what
desensitization is. It can take from 1 to 100 exposures to fully
desensitize.
The problem with flying is that it's a bit expensive to do a proper
desensitization. So, you have to short cut it a little bit:
First some facts:
Rather than the imagined horror, crashing actually tends to be
peaceful
-- endorphines kick in. I have a friend who's a pilot who's
crash-landed twice (the engine went out on vintage bi-planes he flew,
and once in a stunt show where he stamped on right rudder and the
cable
broke) -- he said the fear of crashing is much worse than crashing.
During a real crash, time kind of slowed down and he was too busy to
really notice any fear.
Turbulence is not dangerous. The worst turbulence that nature
produces
is about 2-3 G's worth. Modern Jets are built to withstand 6-7 Gs.
So, shaking and grinding, dropping and rising is of not of consequence
to
Jets.
It's best to educate yourself on aspects of the flight:
TAKE OFF:
Flaps are extended, wheels down. As you lift off, these are
retracted causing sounds and bumps. The plane may then start to
do "senseless maneuvers" -- circling up, flying in different
directions:
the pilot is just following directions from the tower to get to
his/her
assigned airspace.
MID FLIGHT:
Planes follow "corridors" in the sky and so may have to maneuver
to stay in them. The pilot will also maneuver to try and find the
least bumpy ride -- not for safety, just for your comfort. This
is true especially if you hear the engines throttling -- it means
the pilot is adjusting altitude based on reports he hears from other
pilots.
LANDING:
Maneuvering and slowing down based on air traffic. Flaps down (plane
can fly slower) -- this causes more wing turbulence making things
bumpy. Wheels down -- big bump, air feels much more turbulent. Flaps
further extend -- landing speed, roaring sound. Plane can bounce
around in turbulence -- no problem since during the last 50 feet or
so, "ground effect" kicks in and the plane lands on a smooth cushion
of it's own air trapped between the ground and it's wings. Touch down
-- airbrakes turn on, engine thrust is diverted forward -- loud
roaring sound. Then wheel brakes go on. Lost luggage is your biggest
fear now.
Flight is of course safe -- Yea you've heard it before. But what you
have to do is to believe it. You are not especially more vulnerable
than anyone else, you are highly likely to live even if you fly 1000
times. The vast majority of airline pilots *Retire*. They do not die
in
accidents. Why should your odds be any different? But you feel
you are somehow more vulnerable than average. You are not.
Then, to desensitize cheaply, do visualizations. Here, "do" means at
least 2X a day for up to 3 weeks:
Get relaxed, close your eyes, find a calming scene. When calm imagine
the steps of flight one by one. See yourself calm and successful in
these scenes. If you get anxious, go back to the calming scene, get
calm and then try again. Do this until you can visualize the whole
flight calmly. You can cheat by making a summary "movie" of the
flight in your head after awhile. Alternately, if a part of the
flight upsets you, view that scene while doing a distraction task such
as moving your eyes back and forth rapidly while viewing.
When you finally get to the flight "ACT AS IF" you're an old time
pilot and loving the R&R of just having to sit there. Also,
bring a walkman along and listen to relaxation, motivational or
books on tape.
* D.13 Claustrophobia, fear of Elevators
-----------------------------------------
The only way I know to calm this one down is by graded exposure
-- desensitization. Learn relaxation skills first so you can
use them. Then cause your muscles to strongly face the situation
with graded exposure while ACTING AS IF you are calm and optimistic.
For example, if you don't like elevators, first just go in and press
the button for an elevator, then walk slowly away. Next time, go
and get in and out. Next time, go up one floor, then walk down.
Next time up and down and so forth until the fear is erased
(and it will be eventually). Don't beat up on yourself if it's
hard at first, just talk to your poor scared limbic system as you'd
talk to calm a scared 3 year old. You can also step through the
process using visualization for desensitization.
* D.14 Fear of Driving
-----------------------
Learn relaxation skills, then go through a systematic desensitization
and visualization procedure as described in D.13. One of the best
things to do while driving is listen to anti-anxiety, motivational,
comic or books on tape cassettes. Can make you look forward to it
and is an excellent way to distract yourself. After awhile the tapes
won't be necessary.
* D.15 Worry
-------------
This is one of the root causes of panic, and a compulsive activity to
boot. Worry cycles over and over consuming energy, pumping stress
hormones into the body and making you miserable. Stopping this bad
habit takes a long time until you arrive experientially at a less
sensitive "so what, let it roll" stage -- Ego reduction (see above)
is extremely useful for this.
TECHNIQUES TO STOP IT ARE:
Write out your worry sentences, these usually number no more than
6 and then they cycle, changing forms occasionally.
EITHER
then just check the sentences off as they repeat. And then say
"whew" got it all down, don't have to remember it in my head anymore
OR
then write realistic rational replies to the worries
Work on getting over the compulsive notion that you have to think
about a bad or scary situation. This can seem very very weird at
first, even send you into unreality. But it's true. Beyond initial
planning, worry just grinds you. You don't have to think about even
very real bad situations. Learn this and you've learned one of life's
most precious lessons -- takes practice, so don't waist your worry
modes, use them for PRACTICE! Reward yourself for *any* improvement,
even if you just worry a minute less a day, small changes make
large improvements over time.
Accept the worst and think of small improvements
Make plans, *make decisions*, don't look back and implement them
Expect less, accept more
* D.16 Compulsions
-------------------
These can be of two types or a mix: mental or physical.
PHYSICAL: excessive hand washing, excessive checking
(the locks, the stove ...), having to set things up just perfect
or any other whacky rituals.
TREATMENT: Cause your muscles *NOT* to do this action. Do
not check. Write out or chart your growing anxiety while refusing
to do the ritual. It will go up then down, sometimes fast, sometimes
in hours. But if you can wait it out, sometimes even one time,
you are free. Free yourself.
MENTAL: Worry (see above), counting rituals, excessive prayers
TREATMENT: Write it out, distract yourself, refuse to count or
pray, chart your anxiety until it's gone.
MIX: Thinking you've run over someone and having to check.
Same as physical. Cause yourself not to do it. After awhile,
the anxiety will die down. Time is your friend. Write out
horrible situation "Yes I ran someone over" exaggerate it,
end in catastrophe (death row for you). Write this out more and
more, exaggerate more and more until it's funny. This exposure
will lower the anxiety response over time.
* D.17 Scary Thoughts and Impulsives
-------------------------------------
These are thoughts like you'll loose control and start stabbing your
loved ones, your kids, yourself. Impulse to hit, kill, jump out of a
window, drive into oncoming traffic. Such impulses are never acted
on. Violent or suicidal people are not anxious about their actions,
just the opposite. They may be anxious about not getting caught, but
not about doing the action.
WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN:
Your brain calculates the possibilities in each situation, the
natural affordences. For a knife, you can bend it, break it,
slice vegetables, or stab you neighbor with it. Since your
anxiety sensitizes your brain for danger, the "danger" part
of these unconscious affordences pops into consciousness, you
resist it and the adrenaline surge locks it in. Also serves
as a distraction mechanism from your other anxieties.
TREATMENT:
Write out the scary thought or impulse in full, gory detail. Do this
2X a day, each day exaggerating it more and more. Write the thing
that makes you most anxious "killing your kid, gutting your wife,
boiling your gold fish". Do it in detail. Face your fear, and the
fear will flee, flee your fear and it will chase you.. Do it every
day
until it seems silly and no longer causes much anxiety. You are free
at that point. Occasional setbacks may occur for awhile, just repeat
the treatment.
* D.18 Taking Responsibility
-----------------------------
There tends to be confusion between being blamed for one's condition
and
taking responsibility for it. My metaphor for this is a poker game.
We've been dealt some cards and have to play them. Those who've been
dealt a good hand can play sloppy and still do OK. Those who've been
dealt a more challenging hand have to take the responsibility to learn
to play the game well if we are to do well. If you whine about the
unfair hand, how you can't help but do poorly -- you will do poorly.
If you lower your poker visor, smile and double the ante you'll have
fun playing and might just win.
You may be born more sensitive to stress, born with thoughts more
difficult to control or let go of, born with a greater tendency to
worry. You may be mentally more stable and rational than people
with half your emotional difficulties...but tough shit. Play your
hand. You still can habituate more positive thinking patterns, you
can learn not only stress management, but stress toughening. You can
learn to accept and flow through fear, you can learn to react less to
your sensitivity and thereby reduce it. You can learn to cause your
muscles to act against your fears and worries. It does take persistent
work and effort, far and above what the "average" person can dream of,
but the resulting gains in emotional maturity are well worth it. No
robust recovery is possible without taking responsibility. Take it.
* D.19 Using One's Will and Muscles
------------------------------------
This is a concept taken from Dr. Abraham Low who founded Recovery Inc.
It is both a simple method to bring about desensitization, and a
deeper concept as well. Examples of using this would be if you get
afraid to go somewhere to cause your muscles to take you there anyhow.
If you engage in negative "one upmanship" talk with a friend, to
cause your vocal muscles to stop it. If you have a compulsion to
check the door or stove, cause your muscles not to do it. When
anxious, cause your muscles to move slowly and breath deeply. This
concept is simple enough to carry out even when you're in a tizzy.
On a deeper, neurological level, all senses that we have are active.
There's a feedback circuit between muscles and the brain. There's a
famous psychology experiment called "Kitty in the Carosel". In this
experiment, new born kittens were kept in a dark room. Every day
kitty A would be put in a yoke that translated it's exact movements to
a little box, or "Carosel". Kitten B would be put in the carosel. A
patterned screen was placed in front of both the yoke and the carosel
so that the visual scene was exactly the same for both kittens. The
lights were turned on and kitty A could move around and explore, kitty
B then saw the exact same things as kitty A, but saw them passively --
it could move its feet, but only inside of the carosel. The result
was that the Kitty in the carosel never learned to see! E.g. it
formed no depth perception, no real notion of objects. In order to
learn to see, a kitty has to be able to move through it's environment
under it's own power!
The above is just somewhat suggestive of the feedback between muscles
and brain. If you feel anxious, but you cause your body to ACT AS IF
its calm, your brain will notice this and over time reduce your
anxiety to match your body.
* D.20 Changing One's Language
------------------------------
You listen to yourself. Certain language you use has bad effect
since it engages your limbic system in a negative way.
DON'T ENGAGE THE EGO (the vulnerable self):
Minimize "to be" forms in the language
You can't BE a success or a failure, you can only succeed or fail.
You can't BE in danger, you can only experience danger
You ARE not good or bad, you only behave in those ways.
BUILD TEMPER DOWN
CHANGE:
I'm angry -> I'm miffed
I'm scared -> I'm aware
I'm nervous -> I'm excited or anticipating
Dangerous -> Annoying
Stupid, hopeless, dumb -> human
DON'T PUT IMPERATIVES ON YOURSELF
CHANGE:
should -> could
Must -> would be nice if
Need -> would like
DON'T SCARE YOURSELF:
CHANGE:
what if -> so what if
oh no -> oh so
panic attack -> out of sorts
DON'T LIMIT YOURSELF
CHANGE:
but -> and
I cant -> I don't want to
trapped -> chose
CHANGE YOUR DEFINITIONS
Failure is only if you didn't learn
Success if if you learned anything, or learned why you didn't learn.
-- Set up your definitions so that it's easy for you to "win" in
life
* D.21 Setbacks ----------------
Setback are a necessary condition of recovery. Everything fluxes and
flows, waxes and wanes, and cycles in life. Straight lines usually
mean
illness. Look at a chart of the stock market -- it goes up and down,
sometimes radically down, but the trend is always up...this is the
best metaphor for the recovery process.
In the book "Emotional Intelligence" it mentions that practicing
calming skills might actually be strengthening inhibitory circuits
from your frontal cortex to your amygdala, or fear center. Just as in
learning any new skill, sometimes you get better (think of learning
tennis) only to get seemingly worse the next day. It helps to
practice correctly, that's what this newsgroup is for, but it mostly
helps to practice. And that is how you should view setbacks --
wonderful opportunities to practice. And...just like in learning
tennis, you may get seemingly worse for awhile, but you never really
forget the skills you learn. As you get better and better, sometimes
at faster and sometimes at slower rates, there comes a point when you
realize that you are no longer a beginner, but now intermediate, and
later advanced. There is no real limit on how well you can get, even
far surpassing your former, pre-anxiety state of emotional maturity.
Don't worry about sporadic returns of anxiety -- it happens. If you
practice hard, you will never go back to where you were. Just relax,
let it flow and practice. In some ways, setbacks might even be
triggered by your mind for review -- a natural healing process.
* D.22 No hopeless case -- what makes for a disorder
-----------------------------------------------------
In order to break out of the anxiety disorders, it helps immensely
if you believe you can, since it will often seem as if you can't.
For my journey out, I stuck an "affirmation" on the wall
"persist persist persist, that is how the way is won" and then
took it as an article of faith that I could find my way out.
I did. You will.
To me, there are two spirals or "cycles": one going up, the other
going down. In life we continually step back and forth between these
two spirals. When we enter a disorder, it's because we're stuck on the
downward spiral: panic --> worry about panic --> more panic -->
hypersensitizing --> more panic --> avoidance --> low self-esteem
--> low confidence --> more panic etc. The same is true of depression
-- less activity --> lower mood --> less socializing --> lower mood
etc. It is this which makes one stuck in a cycle, not as some
therapists and motivational speakers postulate: that you get something
out of the behavior. It's just that the behavior itself is
self-entrapping.
To exit a disorder, you must act against the inclination of the cycle
that you are on -- face the thing you most want to fearfully avoid, do
that which you feel unmotivated to do. By doing this, you step onto
the positive cycle, and that positive cycle will carry you out in time
as surely as the negative cycle carried you in. A positive cycle for
panic might be: facing a fear, overcoming it --> higher confidence
--> less fear --> less panic --> more confidence etc. After
experiencing this, you might just want to ride the positive cycle to
new heights! In real life of course, we will always dance between the
up and down cycles, but we want to move towards staying on the
positive cycle longer and longer on average. This I think is almost a
law of life, it matters not where you are, you can always step onto
the cycle of your choice more often than not -- there is no hopeless
case.
Rather than strive for *a* cure, take curative steps -- the cycle
will then carry you to cure in and of itself.
=====================================================================
E.1 ATTITUDES OR SCHEMAS THAT MAY LEAD TO PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS
Often what leads us into trouble, is when ingrained attitudes conflict
with reality. This is deeper than meer negative thoughts, this is
deep seated, "fighting the world or self". I had tons of stress that
set off my PD episode, but it was really my attitudes that caused
me to hate my job that ate at me until panic occured.
CONTINUED, TAKEN FROM BOOK BY JEFF YOUNG ....
Feeling Can't do it, it's chemical
=====================================================================
F.1 SYMPTOMS LIST
Someone suffering from high states or anxiety with or without panic,
also tend to suffer from some of the following. All quite normal
and boring -- none of these are dangerous, only annoying:
Feeling you are going to die
Feeling you are going to go crazy
Feelings of unreality
Feeling "I can't cope"
Feeling stressed
Feeling like wanting to crawl out of one's skin
Feeling of doom or that "something may happen"
Feeling that one has a disease such as cancer
Excessive attention to sounds,
Excessive attention to health matters like one's skin
Excessive attention to self
Hot or cold sweating
Muscle tension, especially in forehead, shoulders or throat
Can't get enough breath
Dizzyness
Confusion
Visual blurring, darkening, distortion
Seeing as if stuck inside a fishbowl or in cellophane
Pounding heart
Skipping heart
Sharp pains in chest, neck, limbs
Rushing noises in ears
Sleep too much, not restful
Sleep too little (hard to get asleep and or early moring waking)
Headache
Fatigue
Irritability
The runs from nervousness
Constipation
Frequent Urination
Dry mouth
Cold hands
Sweaty palms
Back pain -- tense muscles lead to easy injuries
Sensory distortions -- legs feel closer
Impulses to hit, crunch etc, not acted on
Scary thoughts such as violent images, jumping out of windows etc
Don't worry, they all go away as you relax and learn how not to react.
None of these symptoms are dangerous, they are just annoying. You
never act on scary thoughts, just scare (distract yourself) with them.
Violent or suicidal people are not anxious about their actions, just
the opposite.
Anxiety does not lead to Insanity. No one was anxious and paniced for
years and then slowly (or suddenly) went insane. Anxiety waxes and
wanes over all time scales, insanity is a constant, enduring
misperception of reality. If *you* notice that you are "crazy",
you are not. If one is insane, it is other people who will notice
it, not you; If you are anxious, *you* will notice it, other people
may or may not.
=====================================================================
G.1 DESENSITIZATION TECHNIQUES
visualization for desensitization
facing, accepting floating
Graded exposure
EMDR
=====================================================================
H. MEDICATIONS UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Whether to use medications or not is a personal choice between you and
your physician. If you've joined this newsgroup, you probably have
also decided to use an active, directive, positive self-help approach
which will help you achieve a full recovery in ways that medications
cannot provide, and will also insulate you against relaps. In this
view, medications can be used as a tool to help in the recovery
process. You have to listen deeply to yourself to decide what is
right for you. Don't let anyone tell you that you must have
medications for you to recover -- medications did not work on me, but
I recovered nevertheless, same for many others. But also, don't let
other's tell you not to use them if you feel they are right for you.
Part of getting out of anxiety is developing the courage and
conviction to follow a path that fits with you.
Each of the medications have their side effects, most pretty mild, but
may seem "bad" to someone sensitized by panic. For anxiety sufferers,
it may be best to ramp up to dose slowly. Some doctors are
insensitive to this. If you do decide to take medications -- take
them!
Antidepressants may be hard for the first 2 weeks, but the side
effects
vanish or get much more tollerable after this.
To get off medications, NEVER JUST STOP TAKING THEM. All continuous
medication have to be tapered down slowly, the slower the better in
consultation with your doctor. There is no rush. This is particularly
true if you are taking tranquilizers continuously since rapid withdraw
can trigger relaps.
Medications won't work with everyone. If a medication doesn't work
for you, consult your doctor about getting off it. Surprisingly many
people will continue with a medication even if it doesn't work for
them because they're afraid they'll be worse, or will then be somehow
"unprotected" without it. Don't be silly -- to justify staying on a
medication, it should make a substantial difference for you.
Medications
may loose effectiveness with time -- your brain adapts to them -- but
that's why you are in this newsgroup -- to learn other ways that will
help you recover in any case.
H.1 Anti-Depressants
====================
SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors)
----------------------------------------------
Blocks serotonin absorption at synapse connection increasing
availible supply of serotonin. Fairly safe. Common side effects,
some of which fade with use: Heightened anxiety for first 2 weeks
(so taper up to dose), sexual slowing or arousal difficulties, vivid
dreams, insomnia (so take during mornings).
Prozac
------
Paxil
-----
MAO Inhibitors
--------------
Tri-cyclics
-----------
Weird dreams at first. Some phantasmagoric
Imipramine
Desipramine
H.2 Benzos
==========
Valium
Klopin
Xanax
=====================================================================
I. WORKING THEORY
positive and negative spirals
circuits not chemicals
=====================================================================
Z. DEFINITIONS and ACRONYMS
The definitions are not exact, just as I see them
Agoraphobia
There are many definitions of this, probably the most common one is
being so afraid of panic that one becomes house bound. My and other's
definition is simply a fear of fear -- being so afraid of that
uncomfortable
feeling of fear, that one fears to feel it and does anything to avoid
the discomfort. Common also is a simple fear of one's thoughts "what
if?!!".
IMHO
In my humble opinion
NG
Newsgroup
PD
Panic Disorder. In my view, this is due to giving yourself PTSD to
panic itself. Otherwise it will stop of it's own -- my view.
PTSD
Post traumatic stress disorder. A reaction triggered by a traumatic
event that one feels powerless in. Common to war and rape. Seems
to hypersensitize the brain so that it can replay the scene in
flashbacks
which are viewed in fear and panic.
posted weekly
also available at http://fussychicken.com/arpash/
Maintained and copyrighted (c) by Gary Bradski
for alt.recovery.panic-anxiety.self-help
Permission granted to copy and quote from this document for any use
commercial or private as long as this copyright notice is printed with
it.
=====================================================================
A.O INDEX:
A.1 WHO THIS NEWSGROUP IS INTENDED FOR
A.2 EXPECTED ETIQUETTE:
A.3 COMMON THEMES OF PEOPLE WHO MIGHT LIKE THIS APPROACH
B.1 RESOURCE LISTS
C.1 HOLISTIC APPROACH
D COPING TECHNIQUES
* D.1 Calming Breaths, or "Deep Breaths"
* D.2 Act as if
* D.3 Relaxation Skills
* D.4 Performance anxiety at work
* D.5 Public Speaking
* D.6 Shyness and social phobia
* D.7 Panic -------
* D.8 Stress
* D.9 Fear of Insanity
* D.10 Pounding and/or Skipping Heart
* D.11 Ego Reduction
* D.12 Fear of Flying
* D.13 Claustrophobia, Fear of Elevators
* D.14 Fear of Driving
* D.15 Worry
* D.16 Compulsions
* D.17 Scary Thoughts and Impulsives
* D.18 Taking Responsibility
* D.19 Using One's Will and Muscles
* D.20 Changing One's Language
* D.21 Setbacks
* D.22 No hopeless case -- what makes for a disorder
E.1 ATTITUDES OR SCHEMAS THAT MAY LEAD TO PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS
F.1 SYMPTOMS LIST
G.1 DESENSITIZATION TECHNIQUES
H.1 MEDICATIONS
I. WORKING THEORY
Z. DEFINITIONS and ACRONYMS
=====================================================================
A.1 WHO THIS NEWSGROUP IS INTENDED FOR:
This newsgroup is intended for those who are suffering from, or who
have
recovered from anxiety disorders, panic attacks, post traumatic stress
disorder, or other stress disorders
AND
whom have CHOSEN (or who want to investigate) a path that ACCEPTS an
active, directional, cognitive-behavioral, self-help type approach.
THAT IS:
This group IS specialized towards an outlook that you are responsible
for and able to effect in large degree the course of your disorder and
your recovery. Not that you are to "blame" for your disorder, just
that your propensities and/or the vagaries of life led you here, but
you
can effect in large measure your own healing and subsequent emotional
and spiritual growth.
We are modeled somewhat loosely after the Recovery groups developed by
Dr. Abraham Low. We have *NO* relationship with Recovery Inc., just
respect for their techniques. SO:
=====================================================================
A.1 EXPECTED ETIQUETTE:
(0) You've had a physical check up to rule out physical causes
(1) We do not discuss or compare medications.
(2) We do not dwell on symptoms -- whatever you've got, we had
it once too, you can and will recover from it. If you're
new to the group and need some reassurance, OK. See symptom
list below.
(3) We encourage
examples of coping
coping techniques
cognitive reframing/restructuring
success stories
humor
lists of resources
scientific findings, conference meetings
positive attitude, optimistic outlook
emotional and spiritual development
"what I learned from that"
"looking back" long time recoveries
(4) Do not proselytise your religion
(5) Do not push products
(6) All posts are considered to be one's own opinion
(7) Respect for others and willingness to communicate
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
If you want to discuss or explore a wider range of anxiety approaches,
or to discuss and compare medications, a good group for this is
alt.support.anxiety-panic
=====================================================================
A.3 COMMON THEMES OF PEOPLE WHO MIGHT LIKE THIS APPROACH
Below are beliefs and assumptions *often* held by people
whom may benefit or like the approach this newsgroup takes:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(1) Robust recovery is achievable. You aren't responsible for
having a weakness towards anxiety, you are responsible to
learn to manage this weakness and stay well.
(2) Thoughts lead moods; Assumptions lead thoughts
Training can change both and lead towards healing and growth
(3) Setbacks are for practice
WILLINGNESS TO:
(4) Give and receive positive directive coping techniques and
support -- an encouraging "kick in the pants", keep moving,
approach
(5) Face one's fears
(6) Train to restructure one's thoughts and assumptions
(7) Train a Positive Outlook and Attitude
(8) Train acceptance and patience, ego reduction
(*) A determination to persist and persist, not just to "try"
AND OFTEN:
(**) A drive not just to recover, but to be transformed.
To find one's life purpose and the courage to live it.
To turn one's pain into an engine of growth --
to enter into a deeper realm of ethical, emotional, and
spiritual maturation. To develop one's "higher" self,
to loose some of one's "ego" self.
To become grateful and thankful for all this.
=======================================================================
UNDER CONSTRUCTION:
=====================================================================
B.1 RESOURCE LISTS
Books, tapes, institutes:
http://cns-web.bu.edu/pub/bradski/calm.html
=====================================================================
C.1 HOLISTIC APPROACH
diet
exercise
meditation
ignoring symptoms
replacing negative thoughts
positive attitude
acceptance
spirituality
=====================================================================
D.1 COPING TECHNIQUES.
* D.1 Calming Breaths, or "Deep Breaths"
-------------------------------------------
(1) Inhale slowly through your nose filling your belly, *not* your
chest
for five seconds.
(2) Hold for about 5 seconds.
(3) Blow air out slowly through your lips, as if you are blowing out
cigarette smoke.
(*) Repeat the process 3-5 times.
* D.2 act as if
------------------
This is one of the best overall techniques -- your brain both observes
and drives your body. You can best break bad internal cycles by
using your muscles to disrupt the pattern. Act as if you are brave
and strong. Act kind and confident. Put on an act until it is
no longer an act but a habit. This can work. Not all the time, but
practice makes perfect eventually.
* D.3 Relaxation Skills
--------------------------
Meditation. There are many types of this:
Progressive muscle relaxation
Mental relaxation
Autonomic relaxation
Visualizations
PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION
is where you close your eyes and start from your head or toes and
first tense a muscle, then let it go and try learn the feeling of the
muscle letting go and relaxing. Do for all major muscle groups,
especially neck and head. Do this for 2-3 weeks straight until you
learn it, then sporatically thereafter. Don't do it so much that you
train yourself to strain to relax.
MENTAL RELAXATION
follows progressive. Once you learn the feeling of letting go, let
muscles go without first tensing them. Do this for 2-3 weeks and once
a day for life. An image that sometimes helps (don't now why) is if
you find a muscle that's real hard to relax, view a kind of large
glowing cotton ball rotating in space above the tense muscle. See each
of the cotton fibers kind of pulling at the muscle to loosen it up as
the ball turns.
AUTONOMIC RELAXATION
Slow your heart down, shift blood to your limbs, dilate blood
vessels. This must be done indirectly. First, 10 deep breaths, then
mentally relax, then try saying and gently feeling "my heart is slow
and smooth" over and over. "My limbs are heavy and warm", "My skin is
limp and loose", "My breathing is calm and rhythmic" are other phrases
to use. Can induce deep deep stages of relaxation.
VISUALIZATIONS
This can be done to music or to anything. 10 deep breaths, mentally
relax then:
MINI VACATIONS
imagine yourself playing your favorite sport; dancing for God or
creation; flowing as water down a stream; lying in the warm surf;
you surrounded by friends at a fun beach party; dancing with someone
you love; go to a favorite place etc. Can be quite fun.
ANTI-STRESS
go to a favorite place in your imagination and get calm. Then switch
to the first part of the stress scene and see yourself acting
calm and successfully there with confidence. If you feel stressed,
return to the calming scene until you're calm, then try again.
Do this again and again until you can go through your whole
"stress scene" feeling calm and confident. May take days or
weeks sometimes. Use well before any major life changes
SUCCESS
view yourself succeeding at a task or goal over and over in realistic
detail.
* D.4 Performance anxiety at work
------------------------------------
Let's say you get nervous "because you don't know if you can do a
good enough job", or because you need to run a meeting, or discuss
something with your boss, or interview someone that wants a job,
or interview to get a job. Or any other job related performance.
Fear of this often stems from a preoccupation with *self*.
Your*self*. "I have to succeed", "I may fail", "They may find out
about the true me" and other bull shit. Instead, take some of your
"self" out of it. Realize that in reality, we all serve higher causes.
Instead of viewing yourself as being "on the line", view yourself as a
servant of your company's purpose, your coworkers, the product/service
-- a higher cause. In most industries it is possible to go much
beyond this -- say in telecommunications, you can also view yourself
as playing a role in making information freer, helping people
communicate, on up to helping further the evolution of life as the
world links up. Thus, it's not "YOU" that is on the line, you are
only a servant of "the cause", serving it the best you can, no better.
If your boss criticizes you, this is good, because it is the cause
that is important, if you can learn to serve it better in any way,
that's good.
* D.5 Public Speaking
------------------------
First, realize that the only real way to overcome this fear is to
face it and do it many times. Many people move slowly from a fear
of speaking to a love of it. As in Performance anxiety at work, a
common component of this fear is that you view your*self* as
being on the line. But if you take some of your "self" out of
it, it can become easy as follows: View yourself as a servant
of the TOPIC. It isn't you that is on the line after all, you
are just helping the TOPIC make itself clear for the benefit of
your fellow creatures. Serve the topic as best you can and no
better than that. If you get questions from the audience, this
is good because it helps you help the topic to clarify itself
better. It is the topic that is on line, but for a good purpose
-- to enlighten the audience. You are its assistant, just as
it may have many other assistants in other places and times.
* D.6 Shyness and social phobia
----------------------------------
Again, this will tend to fade away with repeated exposure as you "act
as if" you are calm and confident. Don't view it so much as *YOU*
interacting socially, but that you interact to further the cause of
peace, learning and teaching. There are lessons to be learned, and
lessons to teach -- this is in a sense "Gods work" however you define
God. Do your work...sometimes unexpected adventures or opportunities
present themselves in a single word or smile. If you get tense,
practice relaxation skills. It may take a year or even two before you
can rid yourself of habitual tensing. These phobias especially just
take a willingness to face short term discomfort for long term
comfort and increased social functioning. Force yourself (cause
your muscles to act) to talk with strangers cheerfully -- you aren't
just doing it for yourself, you are doing it for the other(s) to
increase community etc. Make someone's day instead of worrying about
your internal feelings.
* D.7 Panic -------
----------------------
To cope with and eliminate panic and the fear of panic is the crux of
healing. It takes time because you are caught in a cycle. You may
consider medications for this, but many have stopped panic without
medications -- listen to yourself, you'll know what's right for you
eventually. The panic coping skills are necessary to learn in either
case.
The approach to stopping panic is to lose your fear of it. To view
panic in your gut as just a behavior that you do, to recognize and
not fear or regret it. Once the fear of panic is gone, so is the
panic. But I do not know how to tell you how to lose the fear, it's
an experiential thing.
A good technique for minimizing panic is "grounding oneself" --
switch to deep breathing, and then cycle through your senses slowly,
naming or even pointing to each sensory datum: what are you seeing,
hearing, smelling, tasting, smelling. Cycle again and again. Don't
judge, just record and notice. Or alternatively add an "that's good"
after each sense is named. Don't hurry away from a situation
that invokes panic -- that just triggers a more intense conditioned
response later. Try and stay there and calm down, or else leave
slowly
acting "as if" you are calm.
My basic way of overcoming panic was to not fight the panic at all,
just to let 'er rip, but to minimize the build up and after effects.
That is, I'd just let myself panic, then play a game that I called
"BOUNCE BACK". That is, see just how fast you can return to normal
post attack. "Back to normal" also means not beating up on yourself
for having an attack -- panic is just a part of the natural world,
don't
blame or pity yourself for it. As I was able to "bounce back" faster
and faster, I began to worry less and less about the attacks. When
attacks would only last a minute, I began to not fear them and
they stopped. They turned into longer, less intense non-reality
feelings, then those faded too since nonreality responds best to just
carrying on with your tasks at hand.
Expect lots and lots and lots and lots of setbacks along the way.
These are to be viewed as "practice sessions" for getting better
at bounce back. Look at a graph of the stock market. There are
lots of ups and downs, but the trend is up. Same with recovery.
* D.8 Stress
---------------
Think of 3 situations:
(1) You use your arm almost never
(2) You lift weights and then rest every day working on different
muscles
(3) You try to curl 25 lbs over and over without stopping for days.
The effects of this physical stress are (1) your arm withers from too
little
stress, (2) You get stronger and stronger, (3) your muscle gets
injured and/or
breaks down.
The same holds true for emotional or mental stress. Too little and
your stress tolerance weakens, too much and you break down. Stressful
conditioning can occur if say a stress occurs, then you associate what
lead up to it as stress and then what lead up to what lead up to it
etc. Cure is to relax and take attitude of safety and competence and
then desensitize to your stress associations.
Everyone has a weak point that will break or weaken. Our weakness
happens to be with anxiety -- that's lucky because it serves as a
guide and early warning system. Some people without early warning
systems show no stress signs until they die of heart failure or
stroke.
We must take path (2), to toughen up our stress response.
Mostly this means facing our fears, taking on stress, but relaxing
more too -- in cycles of stress-relax stress-relax. Adopt a tough
attitude. Learn to screen out, not listen to or be scared by
negative thoughts. Learn and practice relaxing so that you do it
well. Learn to listen to yourself so that you can undertake mental
or emotionally stressing activities, but know when to relax. The
average stress relax cycle is something like 60-90 minutes "on",
relax for 20, repeat. Get enough sleep -- manage yourself for
health -- you have no choice. Result is greater than average
happiness.
* D.9 Fear of Insanity
-------------------------
A big one for panic disorder suffers, but a silly one. Anxiety does
not lead to Insanity. No one was anxious and paniced for years and
then slowly (or suddenly) went insane. Anxiety waxes and wanes over
all time scales; insanity is a constant, enduring misperception of
reality. If *you* notice that you are "crazy", you are not. If one
is insane, it is other people who will notice it, not you; If you are
anxious, *you* will notice it, other people may or may not. This fear
is deeply tied into the sense of vulnerability that leads to panic:
Ego death. You aren't afraid of going insane, you are afraid that
your ego will stay rational while the ego (you) watchs and suffers the
effects of the insanity. This is horse shit. Fear does not lead
to anxiety, just to more fear. And secondly, when you let go of
your ego, you also often let go of fear and your ego becomes more
stable.
"..., people with phobias aren't crazy. In fact, they seem almost
immune
to insanity." Phobics can't and won't go insane, Dr. (Alan)Goldstein
(director of Temple University's Agoraphobia and Anxiety Program)
says.
"It's not as if there were some sort of continuum, with panic attacks
leading into insanity. They are completely separate conditions."
* D.10 Pounding and/or Skipping Heart
--------------------------------------
A very common and annoying symptom.
To reduce one's fear about this, one can try to experiment with
the symptom. Move more, wave your hands, walk run. Note that
you don't and will not die.
To reduce the beating heart here's some tricks:
(*) Do slow calming breaths as above
(*) Tense and release your thigh muscles -- this burns adrenaline
(*) Massage below one ear (not both) -- changes blood pressure to
brain, can trigger slower beats.
(*) Splash cold water on your face -- triggers a diving, reduce energy
response
(*) Exercise to burn the adrenaline
(*) Do autonomic meditations above "my heart is smooth and slow"...
* D.11 Ego Reduction -- Higher Self
------------------------------------
A deep source of lasting relief. Many times one's problems
come from just being too embedded in one's demanding ego. What's
more,
the ego is fairly small, but can be so monotonously and grandiosely
demanding that it can make one loose one's zest for the world. But
it is not the world that has gone stale, it's the ego.
How to reduce one's ego is impossible to describe -- though books on
it fill libraries -- because the knowledge is experiential and must be
slowly, patiently trained to stick. The goal is to expand
one's sense of belongingness to the world, identifying one's
personality with all things and somehow seeing one's personality as
separate from one's ego. But the ego cannot be destroyed -- such an
expansive maturing process will inevitably come back to encompassing
one's ego with the same love and zest one develops towards others and
the world while maturing. Pain often drives this process since no one
can make you undertake it. It is this that people who have recovered
mean when they say they are "thankful that they had panic disorder or
anxiety problems". Paraphrasing Hugh Downs in "Potential", you can no
more make someone undertake ego reduction than you can make them
exercise by moving their arms for them. You or they must find a way
to motivate themselves to start moving enought to start building
endurance
until they discover pleasure in the act of exercise. The same is
true with reducing one's ego.
The rewards for ego reduction/personality expansion are endless. For
myself, one of the stressors that I took stress from was a resentment
for having to work for someone else -- a corporation. This resentment
caused in part a hate of my job, denied me of some of the many things
I could have learned from the job and eventually the internal stress
from fighting myself resulted in panic. But panic comes to teach.
Had I dropped the resentment, I could have served my coworkers,
shareholders and customers better. I did not necessarily like the
"purpose" of this corporation, but there is much good in any social
system nevertheless. By letting go of the "I", accepting and
flowing, the resulting freeing up of one's energy can help one learn
more and better -- possibly leading to enough competence to see and do
some side business that would ultimately result in working for
oneself. This paradoxical pattern of giving up and thereby getting is
infused in all of life. Directly fight panic and you'll panic all the
more; accept panic and panic ends.
Often through the training, acceptance, meditation and healthier life
changes one goes through to overcome panic, one also gains the sense
of a "higher" or greater "world-self" -- a kind of spirituality that
gives one the gift of ego reduction. Such a state do not last
continuously, but one lives in this state longer and longer, and
returns to it more frequently over time.
* D.12 Fear of Flying
----------------------
MAINLY WRITTEN FOR PEOPLE WHO'S FEAR IS OF CRASHING, NOT JUST
CLAUSTROPHOBIA OR FEAR OF PANIC AND NOT BEING ABLE TO "GET AWAY"
Often, when people say they are afraid of crashing, what really
bothers them is the anticipation of the fear and horror of the last
few moments as they plummet from the sky. This fear then extends to
the whole flight because they fearfully anticipate the fearful
anticipation from every bump and grind felt on the flight. So the
whole flight either is, or is feared to be one long anxiety attack.
It is this, rather than some fear of death that is really the cause of
discomfort.
This type of downward cycle has to be broken and can be. The main way
to break a cycle is to face the fear, accept it, flow with it and ACT
AS IF you were calm and confident while using relaxation and breathing
skills to stay as calm as possible. This breaks up the bad
association chain that the brain makes since a brain that starts to
fear observes that the body doesn't react and the brain starts to
calm.
With repetition, the brain learns the new pattern -- this is what
desensitization is. It can take from 1 to 100 exposures to fully
desensitize.
The problem with flying is that it's a bit expensive to do a proper
desensitization. So, you have to short cut it a little bit:
First some facts:
Rather than the imagined horror, crashing actually tends to be
peaceful
-- endorphines kick in. I have a friend who's a pilot who's
crash-landed twice (the engine went out on vintage bi-planes he flew,
and once in a stunt show where he stamped on right rudder and the
cable
broke) -- he said the fear of crashing is much worse than crashing.
During a real crash, time kind of slowed down and he was too busy to
really notice any fear.
Turbulence is not dangerous. The worst turbulence that nature
produces
is about 2-3 G's worth. Modern Jets are built to withstand 6-7 Gs.
So, shaking and grinding, dropping and rising is of not of consequence
to
Jets.
It's best to educate yourself on aspects of the flight:
TAKE OFF:
Flaps are extended, wheels down. As you lift off, these are
retracted causing sounds and bumps. The plane may then start to
do "senseless maneuvers" -- circling up, flying in different
directions:
the pilot is just following directions from the tower to get to
his/her
assigned airspace.
MID FLIGHT:
Planes follow "corridors" in the sky and so may have to maneuver
to stay in them. The pilot will also maneuver to try and find the
least bumpy ride -- not for safety, just for your comfort. This
is true especially if you hear the engines throttling -- it means
the pilot is adjusting altitude based on reports he hears from other
pilots.
LANDING:
Maneuvering and slowing down based on air traffic. Flaps down (plane
can fly slower) -- this causes more wing turbulence making things
bumpy. Wheels down -- big bump, air feels much more turbulent. Flaps
further extend -- landing speed, roaring sound. Plane can bounce
around in turbulence -- no problem since during the last 50 feet or
so, "ground effect" kicks in and the plane lands on a smooth cushion
of it's own air trapped between the ground and it's wings. Touch down
-- airbrakes turn on, engine thrust is diverted forward -- loud
roaring sound. Then wheel brakes go on. Lost luggage is your biggest
fear now.
Flight is of course safe -- Yea you've heard it before. But what you
have to do is to believe it. You are not especially more vulnerable
than anyone else, you are highly likely to live even if you fly 1000
times. The vast majority of airline pilots *Retire*. They do not die
in
accidents. Why should your odds be any different? But you feel
you are somehow more vulnerable than average. You are not.
Then, to desensitize cheaply, do visualizations. Here, "do" means at
least 2X a day for up to 3 weeks:
Get relaxed, close your eyes, find a calming scene. When calm imagine
the steps of flight one by one. See yourself calm and successful in
these scenes. If you get anxious, go back to the calming scene, get
calm and then try again. Do this until you can visualize the whole
flight calmly. You can cheat by making a summary "movie" of the
flight in your head after awhile. Alternately, if a part of the
flight upsets you, view that scene while doing a distraction task such
as moving your eyes back and forth rapidly while viewing.
When you finally get to the flight "ACT AS IF" you're an old time
pilot and loving the R&R of just having to sit there. Also,
bring a walkman along and listen to relaxation, motivational or
books on tape.
* D.13 Claustrophobia, fear of Elevators
-----------------------------------------
The only way I know to calm this one down is by graded exposure
-- desensitization. Learn relaxation skills first so you can
use them. Then cause your muscles to strongly face the situation
with graded exposure while ACTING AS IF you are calm and optimistic.
For example, if you don't like elevators, first just go in and press
the button for an elevator, then walk slowly away. Next time, go
and get in and out. Next time, go up one floor, then walk down.
Next time up and down and so forth until the fear is erased
(and it will be eventually). Don't beat up on yourself if it's
hard at first, just talk to your poor scared limbic system as you'd
talk to calm a scared 3 year old. You can also step through the
process using visualization for desensitization.
* D.14 Fear of Driving
-----------------------
Learn relaxation skills, then go through a systematic desensitization
and visualization procedure as described in D.13. One of the best
things to do while driving is listen to anti-anxiety, motivational,
comic or books on tape cassettes. Can make you look forward to it
and is an excellent way to distract yourself. After awhile the tapes
won't be necessary.
* D.15 Worry
-------------
This is one of the root causes of panic, and a compulsive activity to
boot. Worry cycles over and over consuming energy, pumping stress
hormones into the body and making you miserable. Stopping this bad
habit takes a long time until you arrive experientially at a less
sensitive "so what, let it roll" stage -- Ego reduction (see above)
is extremely useful for this.
TECHNIQUES TO STOP IT ARE:
Write out your worry sentences, these usually number no more than
6 and then they cycle, changing forms occasionally.
EITHER
then just check the sentences off as they repeat. And then say
"whew" got it all down, don't have to remember it in my head anymore
OR
then write realistic rational replies to the worries
Work on getting over the compulsive notion that you have to think
about a bad or scary situation. This can seem very very weird at
first, even send you into unreality. But it's true. Beyond initial
planning, worry just grinds you. You don't have to think about even
very real bad situations. Learn this and you've learned one of life's
most precious lessons -- takes practice, so don't waist your worry
modes, use them for PRACTICE! Reward yourself for *any* improvement,
even if you just worry a minute less a day, small changes make
large improvements over time.
Accept the worst and think of small improvements
Make plans, *make decisions*, don't look back and implement them
Expect less, accept more
* D.16 Compulsions
-------------------
These can be of two types or a mix: mental or physical.
PHYSICAL: excessive hand washing, excessive checking
(the locks, the stove ...), having to set things up just perfect
or any other whacky rituals.
TREATMENT: Cause your muscles *NOT* to do this action. Do
not check. Write out or chart your growing anxiety while refusing
to do the ritual. It will go up then down, sometimes fast, sometimes
in hours. But if you can wait it out, sometimes even one time,
you are free. Free yourself.
MENTAL: Worry (see above), counting rituals, excessive prayers
TREATMENT: Write it out, distract yourself, refuse to count or
pray, chart your anxiety until it's gone.
MIX: Thinking you've run over someone and having to check.
Same as physical. Cause yourself not to do it. After awhile,
the anxiety will die down. Time is your friend. Write out
horrible situation "Yes I ran someone over" exaggerate it,
end in catastrophe (death row for you). Write this out more and
more, exaggerate more and more until it's funny. This exposure
will lower the anxiety response over time.
* D.17 Scary Thoughts and Impulsives
-------------------------------------
These are thoughts like you'll loose control and start stabbing your
loved ones, your kids, yourself. Impulse to hit, kill, jump out of a
window, drive into oncoming traffic. Such impulses are never acted
on. Violent or suicidal people are not anxious about their actions,
just the opposite. They may be anxious about not getting caught, but
not about doing the action.
WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN:
Your brain calculates the possibilities in each situation, the
natural affordences. For a knife, you can bend it, break it,
slice vegetables, or stab you neighbor with it. Since your
anxiety sensitizes your brain for danger, the "danger" part
of these unconscious affordences pops into consciousness, you
resist it and the adrenaline surge locks it in. Also serves
as a distraction mechanism from your other anxieties.
TREATMENT:
Write out the scary thought or impulse in full, gory detail. Do this
2X a day, each day exaggerating it more and more. Write the thing
that makes you most anxious "killing your kid, gutting your wife,
boiling your gold fish". Do it in detail. Face your fear, and the
fear will flee, flee your fear and it will chase you.. Do it every
day
until it seems silly and no longer causes much anxiety. You are free
at that point. Occasional setbacks may occur for awhile, just repeat
the treatment.
* D.18 Taking Responsibility
-----------------------------
There tends to be confusion between being blamed for one's condition
and
taking responsibility for it. My metaphor for this is a poker game.
We've been dealt some cards and have to play them. Those who've been
dealt a good hand can play sloppy and still do OK. Those who've been
dealt a more challenging hand have to take the responsibility to learn
to play the game well if we are to do well. If you whine about the
unfair hand, how you can't help but do poorly -- you will do poorly.
If you lower your poker visor, smile and double the ante you'll have
fun playing and might just win.
You may be born more sensitive to stress, born with thoughts more
difficult to control or let go of, born with a greater tendency to
worry. You may be mentally more stable and rational than people
with half your emotional difficulties...but tough shit. Play your
hand. You still can habituate more positive thinking patterns, you
can learn not only stress management, but stress toughening. You can
learn to accept and flow through fear, you can learn to react less to
your sensitivity and thereby reduce it. You can learn to cause your
muscles to act against your fears and worries. It does take persistent
work and effort, far and above what the "average" person can dream of,
but the resulting gains in emotional maturity are well worth it. No
robust recovery is possible without taking responsibility. Take it.
* D.19 Using One's Will and Muscles
------------------------------------
This is a concept taken from Dr. Abraham Low who founded Recovery Inc.
It is both a simple method to bring about desensitization, and a
deeper concept as well. Examples of using this would be if you get
afraid to go somewhere to cause your muscles to take you there anyhow.
If you engage in negative "one upmanship" talk with a friend, to
cause your vocal muscles to stop it. If you have a compulsion to
check the door or stove, cause your muscles not to do it. When
anxious, cause your muscles to move slowly and breath deeply. This
concept is simple enough to carry out even when you're in a tizzy.
On a deeper, neurological level, all senses that we have are active.
There's a feedback circuit between muscles and the brain. There's a
famous psychology experiment called "Kitty in the Carosel". In this
experiment, new born kittens were kept in a dark room. Every day
kitty A would be put in a yoke that translated it's exact movements to
a little box, or "Carosel". Kitten B would be put in the carosel. A
patterned screen was placed in front of both the yoke and the carosel
so that the visual scene was exactly the same for both kittens. The
lights were turned on and kitty A could move around and explore, kitty
B then saw the exact same things as kitty A, but saw them passively --
it could move its feet, but only inside of the carosel. The result
was that the Kitty in the carosel never learned to see! E.g. it
formed no depth perception, no real notion of objects. In order to
learn to see, a kitty has to be able to move through it's environment
under it's own power!
The above is just somewhat suggestive of the feedback between muscles
and brain. If you feel anxious, but you cause your body to ACT AS IF
its calm, your brain will notice this and over time reduce your
anxiety to match your body.
* D.20 Changing One's Language
------------------------------
You listen to yourself. Certain language you use has bad effect
since it engages your limbic system in a negative way.
DON'T ENGAGE THE EGO (the vulnerable self):
Minimize "to be" forms in the language
You can't BE a success or a failure, you can only succeed or fail.
You can't BE in danger, you can only experience danger
You ARE not good or bad, you only behave in those ways.
BUILD TEMPER DOWN
CHANGE:
I'm angry -> I'm miffed
I'm scared -> I'm aware
I'm nervous -> I'm excited or anticipating
Dangerous -> Annoying
Stupid, hopeless, dumb -> human
DON'T PUT IMPERATIVES ON YOURSELF
CHANGE:
should -> could
Must -> would be nice if
Need -> would like
DON'T SCARE YOURSELF:
CHANGE:
what if -> so what if
oh no -> oh so
panic attack -> out of sorts
DON'T LIMIT YOURSELF
CHANGE:
but -> and
I cant -> I don't want to
trapped -> chose
CHANGE YOUR DEFINITIONS
Failure is only if you didn't learn
Success if if you learned anything, or learned why you didn't learn.
-- Set up your definitions so that it's easy for you to "win" in
life
* D.21 Setbacks ----------------
Setback are a necessary condition of recovery. Everything fluxes and
flows, waxes and wanes, and cycles in life. Straight lines usually
mean
illness. Look at a chart of the stock market -- it goes up and down,
sometimes radically down, but the trend is always up...this is the
best metaphor for the recovery process.
In the book "Emotional Intelligence" it mentions that practicing
calming skills might actually be strengthening inhibitory circuits
from your frontal cortex to your amygdala, or fear center. Just as in
learning any new skill, sometimes you get better (think of learning
tennis) only to get seemingly worse the next day. It helps to
practice correctly, that's what this newsgroup is for, but it mostly
helps to practice. And that is how you should view setbacks --
wonderful opportunities to practice. And...just like in learning
tennis, you may get seemingly worse for awhile, but you never really
forget the skills you learn. As you get better and better, sometimes
at faster and sometimes at slower rates, there comes a point when you
realize that you are no longer a beginner, but now intermediate, and
later advanced. There is no real limit on how well you can get, even
far surpassing your former, pre-anxiety state of emotional maturity.
Don't worry about sporadic returns of anxiety -- it happens. If you
practice hard, you will never go back to where you were. Just relax,
let it flow and practice. In some ways, setbacks might even be
triggered by your mind for review -- a natural healing process.
* D.22 No hopeless case -- what makes for a disorder
-----------------------------------------------------
In order to break out of the anxiety disorders, it helps immensely
if you believe you can, since it will often seem as if you can't.
For my journey out, I stuck an "affirmation" on the wall
"persist persist persist, that is how the way is won" and then
took it as an article of faith that I could find my way out.
I did. You will.
To me, there are two spirals or "cycles": one going up, the other
going down. In life we continually step back and forth between these
two spirals. When we enter a disorder, it's because we're stuck on the
downward spiral: panic --> worry about panic --> more panic -->
hypersensitizing --> more panic --> avoidance --> low self-esteem
--> low confidence --> more panic etc. The same is true of depression
-- less activity --> lower mood --> less socializing --> lower mood
etc. It is this which makes one stuck in a cycle, not as some
therapists and motivational speakers postulate: that you get something
out of the behavior. It's just that the behavior itself is
self-entrapping.
To exit a disorder, you must act against the inclination of the cycle
that you are on -- face the thing you most want to fearfully avoid, do
that which you feel unmotivated to do. By doing this, you step onto
the positive cycle, and that positive cycle will carry you out in time
as surely as the negative cycle carried you in. A positive cycle for
panic might be: facing a fear, overcoming it --> higher confidence
--> less fear --> less panic --> more confidence etc. After
experiencing this, you might just want to ride the positive cycle to
new heights! In real life of course, we will always dance between the
up and down cycles, but we want to move towards staying on the
positive cycle longer and longer on average. This I think is almost a
law of life, it matters not where you are, you can always step onto
the cycle of your choice more often than not -- there is no hopeless
case.
Rather than strive for *a* cure, take curative steps -- the cycle
will then carry you to cure in and of itself.
=====================================================================
E.1 ATTITUDES OR SCHEMAS THAT MAY LEAD TO PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS
Often what leads us into trouble, is when ingrained attitudes conflict
with reality. This is deeper than meer negative thoughts, this is
deep seated, "fighting the world or self". I had tons of stress that
set off my PD episode, but it was really my attitudes that caused
me to hate my job that ate at me until panic occured.
CONTINUED, TAKEN FROM BOOK BY JEFF YOUNG ....
Feeling Can't do it, it's chemical
=====================================================================
F.1 SYMPTOMS LIST
Someone suffering from high states or anxiety with or without panic,
also tend to suffer from some of the following. All quite normal
and boring -- none of these are dangerous, only annoying:
Feeling you are going to die
Feeling you are going to go crazy
Feelings of unreality
Feeling "I can't cope"
Feeling stressed
Feeling like wanting to crawl out of one's skin
Feeling of doom or that "something may happen"
Feeling that one has a disease such as cancer
Excessive attention to sounds,
Excessive attention to health matters like one's skin
Excessive attention to self
Hot or cold sweating
Muscle tension, especially in forehead, shoulders or throat
Can't get enough breath
Dizzyness
Confusion
Visual blurring, darkening, distortion
Seeing as if stuck inside a fishbowl or in cellophane
Pounding heart
Skipping heart
Sharp pains in chest, neck, limbs
Rushing noises in ears
Sleep too much, not restful
Sleep too little (hard to get asleep and or early moring waking)
Headache
Fatigue
Irritability
The runs from nervousness
Constipation
Frequent Urination
Dry mouth
Cold hands
Sweaty palms
Back pain -- tense muscles lead to easy injuries
Sensory distortions -- legs feel closer
Impulses to hit, crunch etc, not acted on
Scary thoughts such as violent images, jumping out of windows etc
Don't worry, they all go away as you relax and learn how not to react.
None of these symptoms are dangerous, they are just annoying. You
never act on scary thoughts, just scare (distract yourself) with them.
Violent or suicidal people are not anxious about their actions, just
the opposite.
Anxiety does not lead to Insanity. No one was anxious and paniced for
years and then slowly (or suddenly) went insane. Anxiety waxes and
wanes over all time scales, insanity is a constant, enduring
misperception of reality. If *you* notice that you are "crazy",
you are not. If one is insane, it is other people who will notice
it, not you; If you are anxious, *you* will notice it, other people
may or may not.
=====================================================================
G.1 DESENSITIZATION TECHNIQUES
visualization for desensitization
facing, accepting floating
Graded exposure
EMDR
=====================================================================
H. MEDICATIONS UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Whether to use medications or not is a personal choice between you and
your physician. If you've joined this newsgroup, you probably have
also decided to use an active, directive, positive self-help approach
which will help you achieve a full recovery in ways that medications
cannot provide, and will also insulate you against relaps. In this
view, medications can be used as a tool to help in the recovery
process. You have to listen deeply to yourself to decide what is
right for you. Don't let anyone tell you that you must have
medications for you to recover -- medications did not work on me, but
I recovered nevertheless, same for many others. But also, don't let
other's tell you not to use them if you feel they are right for you.
Part of getting out of anxiety is developing the courage and
conviction to follow a path that fits with you.
Each of the medications have their side effects, most pretty mild, but
may seem "bad" to someone sensitized by panic. For anxiety sufferers,
it may be best to ramp up to dose slowly. Some doctors are
insensitive to this. If you do decide to take medications -- take
them!
Antidepressants may be hard for the first 2 weeks, but the side
effects
vanish or get much more tollerable after this.
To get off medications, NEVER JUST STOP TAKING THEM. All continuous
medication have to be tapered down slowly, the slower the better in
consultation with your doctor. There is no rush. This is particularly
true if you are taking tranquilizers continuously since rapid withdraw
can trigger relaps.
Medications won't work with everyone. If a medication doesn't work
for you, consult your doctor about getting off it. Surprisingly many
people will continue with a medication even if it doesn't work for
them because they're afraid they'll be worse, or will then be somehow
"unprotected" without it. Don't be silly -- to justify staying on a
medication, it should make a substantial difference for you.
Medications
may loose effectiveness with time -- your brain adapts to them -- but
that's why you are in this newsgroup -- to learn other ways that will
help you recover in any case.
H.1 Anti-Depressants
====================
SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors)
----------------------------------------------
Blocks serotonin absorption at synapse connection increasing
availible supply of serotonin. Fairly safe. Common side effects,
some of which fade with use: Heightened anxiety for first 2 weeks
(so taper up to dose), sexual slowing or arousal difficulties, vivid
dreams, insomnia (so take during mornings).
Prozac
------
Paxil
-----
MAO Inhibitors
--------------
Tri-cyclics
-----------
Weird dreams at first. Some phantasmagoric
Imipramine
Desipramine
H.2 Benzos
==========
Valium
Klopin
Xanax
=====================================================================
I. WORKING THEORY
positive and negative spirals
circuits not chemicals
=====================================================================
Z. DEFINITIONS and ACRONYMS
The definitions are not exact, just as I see them
Agoraphobia
There are many definitions of this, probably the most common one is
being so afraid of panic that one becomes house bound. My and other's
definition is simply a fear of fear -- being so afraid of that
uncomfortable
feeling of fear, that one fears to feel it and does anything to avoid
the discomfort. Common also is a simple fear of one's thoughts "what
if?!!".
IMHO
In my humble opinion
NG
Newsgroup
PD
Panic Disorder. In my view, this is due to giving yourself PTSD to
panic itself. Otherwise it will stop of it's own -- my view.
PTSD
Post traumatic stress disorder. A reaction triggered by a traumatic
event that one feels powerless in. Common to war and rape. Seems
to hypersensitize the brain so that it can replay the scene in
flashbacks
which are viewed in fear and panic.