Posted by JohnX on March 7, 2001, at 4:47:22
In reply to OVERCOMING ANXIETY, hope my story can help!, posted by dsmark on March 7, 2001, at 1:35:17
> I have had a long problem with anxiety, but I have finally overcome it! This is the way I solved my Anxiety problem. I had a very severe case of anxiety, I was nervous all the time and I could not sleep for like nine months. It was living hell! I had this problem in the past and it would die away and resurface out of nowhere. And during this terrible time, I sought help using the Internet and books on anxiety. And the longer it persisted, the more earnestly sought help using these sources, and I found that it only got worse. I really wanted to see a shrink but I was too embarrassed by the stigma that would entail. I was really torn between the decision. I made some appointments and canceled it at the last moment. I prayed and hoped God would somehow take this away from me. I prayed for so long, I wondered if God actually heard me. I tried every avenue of hope, short of going to the shrink.
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> Finally in my ninth month of this problem I stopped fighting the anxiety and started to just enjoy life anyway. As I focused on having a good time, I noticed that my anxiety was slowly decreasing. My sleep got better and now I can sleep like a log anywhere and the anxiety is no more. Anxiety is a real tricky predicament to overcome, the more you try to get rid of it the worse it becomes. So instead of fighting it, I acknowledged it, and went about enjoying life. This resulted in my anxiety lifting. So if you are suffering from anxiety, don't fight the anxiety, instead focus on enjoying life. Listen to music you like, watch your favorite movie, watch some TV. Treat yourself to a good restaurant, and just enjoy life!! You will find out that the anxiety lifting. But if you are always monitoring your anxiety level, and realizing your anxious and trying to figure out how to get out the grip of anxieties strong hold, you'll find yourself deep in the pit of anxiety. When you find yourself trying to escape the anxiety, just acknowledge that the anxiety is there and still do something you enjoy. Don't try to fight the anxiety by doing the enjoyable event, you will find that will only increase the anxiety.
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> The key is to STOP fighting anxiety, STOP trying to run away, no matter how heavy the anxiety seems. Just acknowledge it, and say that the anxiety is OK!!
> Then you need to something that you enjoy, fill your mind with things you like to do, enjoyable events.
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> If you wait for the anxiety to subside in order to get back to your life, it will never go away. Immediately get back into life and start doing things you enjoy and are safe,
> you will find that anxiety will automatically subside. The mistake I made that resulted in the nine months of anxiety hell was in trying to get rid of anxiety. When I focused on enjoying life, the anxiety was no more!!
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> -MARK DS.
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> manager@zerg.com
Hi,Great to hear such a success story! Sounds like you were suffering primarily from situational anxiety (non-genetically related). You are dead on about how obsessing about anxiety just makes the anxiety worse. Had you seen a good therapist for counseling, they probably would have used an approach called Cognitive Therapy whereby you would have been asked questions like "So what if this or that goes the wrong way, will it end your life?" and you would change your thought patterns as you have described to end the circle of anxiety.
Heres a question for you: why didn't you look for counseling? So what if you have issues with anxiety? Heck about 1/4 people have an anxiety disorder. There's no stigma. What if you had a blood pressure problem instead? Would you not seek professional attention for that due to the stigma of having a poor diet or genetic issue? What's the difference?
Some psychiatrists would try to tackle the problem from the other direction. Give medication to relieve the anxiety, and then the patient will quickly end the circlular chain of worrying and after a short while can discontinue the med and move on with their life.
Your story is encouraging. Best to you.
-John
poster:JohnX
thread:55802
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010302/msgs/55818.html