Help! I have horrible Anxiety.

a reply to: Timely

He cant because of the wall .

a reply to: hutch622

If the division bell was not there ... it would differ !

a reply to: Richsac89

...I would love for anyone here to help me with any advice on keeping my anxiety in check.

Start by realizing its not 'your' anxiety. More rightly, worry is conditioned into our minds over time by engaging the suggestion in the first place. Like you say you wake up and start spinning...

the first suggestion of the day to begin to worry about something...

what about...? what if...?

check.

Today, I won't respond, no matter what.

For a while the 'voices' will get louder, like a drill sergeant that is trying to control your mind. Just listen to him bark and don't react. Sit on your hands until it passes.

Good luck, you have been trained to worry and can't help it. Your day would be incomplete without anxiety.

I'm bored, I think I'll worry about some useless stuff. You're a worry addict, like an alcoholic, you have to reach for your bottle of worry. And wheres it got you? What good is worry?

God forbid we should stop the drama.

a reply to: Timely

Nevermind , it was just a momentary lapse of reason .

Note to mods . This is called diversion therapy .

a reply to: hutch622

shine on you crazy diamond.

originally posted by: DAVID64
Here's the best advice you're going to get : Stop looking for answers from a bunch of strangers on the internet and Go. See. A. Doctor. Stop looking for a quick fix or miracle cure. Treating the symptoms does not fix the cause.

Doctors can make it worse. Here take this psychotropic drug, thats better, now you are numb to life, a suppressed worry wart, and a drug addict.

a reply to: hutch622

He should be comfortably numb by now ..

a reply to: Timely

A saucerful of secrets will make anyone numb .

a reply to: hutch622

That would be the final cut !

a reply to: Richsac89

I can't help commenting because this coincides with an experience I had just this week.

I am hypersensitive, and have always suffered anxiety attacks under pressure. I have the "rabbit in headlights" response- I freeze up, and basically, it is like my brain leaves on vacation. I can't tell you what my own name is.
In school it was a terrible handicap during tests- no matter how prepared I was, I would go blank.

I went to hypnotherapist who helped set up key words to help me put myself under hypnosis before stressful events, and give myself suggestions to help me cope. I used that into adulthood, and it got me even through three births with no drugs.

But in unexpected events, I revert to the rabbit waiting to die mode.

The last ten years or so, I have been through some truly brutal environments. In horse back riding, I had instructors who would greet me with screaming, yelling and telling me I am a waste of human flesh on this earth. Left me crying for days (and in those cases, even bleeding buns as well).
Then I worked in a kitchen for three years as a cook. Especially here in France, they are notorious for the abuse you go through there. It was horrible. I cried at night often.
I could not perform under those circumstances at first. I would be rendered completely dumb and useless.

I got out of there, and decided to go back to school and start a new career. At the end of my studies, I had to do an internship in a company. I somehow got accepted into a big company well know here, that is considered a very desirable place to work at, and very hard to get in. They pay very well, but are extremely exigent.

It became quickly clear that the work is stressful, and the ambiance electric. After two months, I was told I am valued because I bring peace and calm to everyone in the office.... even though I had a competative women enter at the same time and try to provoke me- I was able to distance myself emotionally. Fights and arguments broke out.. I stayed calm.

I was called in for interviews several times and told I was being considered for a job.
Then two days before the end of my internship, a meeting was scheduled between my tutor, the manager, and my teacher from school.
I got to the office and nobody would look at me, everyone was quiet and I kept catching some sympathetic and sad looks sneaking up at me. I didn't know what was going on. They did not have the right to warn me.

I got into the office for the meeting, and what followed was a nightmare. Questions being flung at me at a shot gun pace, and then arguing with me, saying nonsense. They would tell me I was wrong about something totally basic and I thought I was suddenly lost in wonderland or something! They mocked and laughed at me, they elbowed each other and humiliated me in extreme. I was trying to respond , trying to make sense of this, and I started to get stressed, but was determined because I was sure there was some sort of mistake in translation (This is in France, I am american...).

Then they let me out. I had ten minutes before a scheduled meeting with this manager to get the final word on whether I would be hired. In those ten minutes, I say down and worked furiously, rewriting a report. Still no one talked to me.

I was called back in. She said, So... how are you?
I said, well, stressed a bit, as would be expected. But okay. I got moving, I am using the energy constructively, and it's a good stress then. (I had just accepted that I would not be hired and part of me was relieved).

She smiled. This was the last test, she said. We need to know how emotionally resiliant you are. This can be a stressful and violent place. We needed to know if you can bounce back.

When I came out, everyone came to see if I was okay. They all knew what was going to happen, and they were all concerned for me. The last intern came out destroyed and completely failed his licensing exams.

Now, this sounds horrible. And if I had known beforehand this was going to happen, I would have left the place earlier. I am still used to thinking of myself as emotionally fragile and prone to anxiety. But I guess... it is healed?
I don't know. I actually did not lose my mind, and I did bounce back. In fact, I now have a surge of positive energy that feels great.

I suspect that these past experiences must have forced me to learn to be resiliant and emotionally stronger.
I don't know if it would work for everyone, but it seems that trying to take drugs, or protect yourself from stressful experiences isn't necessarily the only road to take. Just something to consider!

-oh and I was hired.

a reply to: Timely

Tell Me more .

a reply to: hutch622

You got high hopes ...

a reply to: Timely

maybe if he got a a fat and psychopathic wife, that thrashed him to a inch of his life, he could move on, maybe to the dark side of the moon

a reply to: Timely

I guess i have , it's just like an endless river .

a reply to: hounddoghowlie

The he wolud complain about him and his friends ..
The gripe being the old chestnut ...

We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control .. yada yada ..

I've found that a judicious balance of SSRIs, meditation and cannabis reduces my anxiety by about 95%. Too much of the latter though seems to have the opposite effect.

a reply to: Timely

The piper at the gates of dawn wants to know is it albums or songs .

Anxiety and depression. Make sure you don't go down the road that my brother went down. Drink, drugs and self destructive behaviour.

Acute anxiety is a mental illness. You can be taught strategies to cope depending on the cause and the presentation. A qualified clinician could help diagnose and solutions could be cognitive behavioural therapy or medication. Personally, I would attempt to find strategies without medication, but that's me.

Good luck.

a reply to: hutch622

You should seek the wisdom of the scarecrow ...

a reply to: Timely

I hear the scarecrows mother has a heart the size of an atom .