How do YOU cope with Anxiety?

originally posted by: ChefSlug
I'm a anxious guy. I suffer. Every now and then I get panic attacks. Constantly, I feel obsessed with my past. I went through a bit of post tramautic stress disorder. I'm an anxious guy.

I have to cope with anxiety everyday. We need to discuss strategies to cope. Right now, my major coping mechanism is alcohol. It's not healthy.

I also have my dog. He keeps me sane. How do you cope with your anxiety issues?

Sometimes we get depressed and anxious in our lives, due to certain issues and problems which can't be released from our minds, then meditation is the only thing which can help in coping with it. I usually meditate at least for 10 min when I get depressed, and read books which are of my interest. It really works, just try this.

For me it's almost like I put a barrier up. But I've come to a point where I can't have the barrier up, I need to let it down or have a crack and let some people in due to being extremly lonely. Sure I have my sig other and my son(which is pretty much the only two people I let in besides my counselor and my Aunt.) But it gets taxing.... I can't stand to be around people, it feels chaoctic whenever someone else is around, I don't like going outside much but I learned how to put up a barrier(which is like tunnel vision... there can be someone I know right in front of me but I can't see them. It once took a friend I used to have who ran into me at the store saying my name over and over again and I just had no clue until my sig other told me and pointed her out. I just said hi and walked away. I just sense people. For some reason my sig other and son don't feel cahotic to me. They feel calm.) So anyway I can go someplaces... but I cannot be surronded by people or touched. I have trouble with looking people in the eyes... sometimes I literally freeze and can't talk for a few seconds when I do.

How have I overcome some of this? Practice from years of dealing. Still not doing so great, but I've learned over the years that when I feel a panic attack coming on deep breaths help me a lot... plus I find I have a mantra going over and over again in my head. 'I'll be fine, relax, don't lose it, you can lose it later when your home' is what goes through my head. Sometimes it works, a fair amount of the time it dosen't. I try to meditate daily and that seems to help a bit. Also when I have family events or whatever I have a tendancy to take waaaay to many pictures. It's kinda my coping mechanism, it gives me something to focus on, but yet I can still kind of interact without really interacting. Also I go visit my Aunt whenever I can because she knows a lot of what I go through and she has issues of her own. Plus she lives in the middle of nowhere on a farm and for some reason when I'm out there I am truely relaxed... I don't have this constant almost like a buzzing in my ears, it dosen't feel chaoctic all the time, etc. Also I know some people will groan at this, but I talk or pray to my loved ones who have passed on and ask for help from them and God, or whatever is out there, cuz no offense I beleive something is watching over us, helping us in ways we can't. Mainly I think it's our loved ones. Anyway, that's getting slightly off topic. Coping with Anxiety/depression/mental illness is hard to do, but I beleive if we can just work at getting up in the morning and making it to bedtime without giving up complety and surviving it's a good day.

Alcohol is not a good coping mechanism, for a start. A dog on the other hand, that's great I experienced severe anxiety until I was 15 years old. I experienced a closed adoption and to this day, I still have anxiety about people (like my parents) leaving my life. I was on anti-depressants and anxiety medications. I would forget to breathe and pass out and have panic attacks during school. What worked best for me? First, I realized that anxiety is a normal thing and that it's a part of life but I realized the extent of my anxiety was not normal. I went to counseling, and I slowly weaned off of the medications, though if I had a set back, I bumped it back up. I told myself that I wanted to learn to cope without medications and wanted to live a holistic lifestyle. I started meditating, as I do not like yoga (but I tried it). I listened to relaxation videos on my way to bed, I made a solid group of friends, I found things that I loved and revolved my energy around them. As I grew up, my mom always said two things to me, "one step at a time" and "Are you okay in this very moment? Chances are, you are okay. If you're okay now, you're going to be okay in the next moment in time." I relied heavily on those two things she said honestly, they helped me a lot. But what did it all come down to as I grew up? The daily struggles and anxieties...I realized that life is too damn short to be in constant fear, or constant worry. Love the people around you, love yourself, and realize, are these anxieties worth it? Likely not. Likely, they're just emotionally draining and are anxieties that in that moment, you have no control over. Why worry about something you have no control over? The biggest coping skill I learned was letting things go that aren't in my control. And also, realizing life is too short for all these worries and anxieties. They weren't going to affect my life in the long run, so why worry?

Honestly friend....I am medicated but mostly due to clinical bipolar with anxiety as a secondary issue

For me their is a weird issue I have...I take Depakote for mania and Seroquel for rebound depression. Now here's the catch

the mania I have has all but diminished once we found my dose. Amazing....The depression also need Wellbutrin to help as well

Now...my anxiety disappeared in three weeks using Seroquel....I mean like gone. But there is a problem and that is that Seroquel can be very helpful with anxiety, panic disorder and even ASD/PTSD....and yet one of the side effects are spectacularly frightening and near-psychotic dreams...and I do get once or twice a month. It's weird because I admit I hate the dreams and yet each day I wake up with no anxiety

so that's mine clinically speaking

on the other hand I also practice a general form of personalized meditation....nothing fancy but just some awareness and such. I avoid drugs and rarely drink....otherwise I try to avoid caffeine as much as I can

that's pretty much it for me other than I have my own analyst