Posted by Alara on November 15, 2002, at 19:48:21
In reply to Anxiety roller-coaster, posted by Guy on November 14, 2002, at 23:30:30
> Today, I feel almost normal...same meds, same amount of sleep, no external pressures. What goes???
Hi Guy,
From the sound of it, your anxiety levels lie within the `normal' range when you're not subjected to external stress. This suggests that your anxiety is less generalised and more situationally specific. The first step is to identify the situations that are causing you to become anxious in the first place.
I have very similar tendencies and have lately been working on reducing the number and severity of `high anxiety days' by exploring the relationship between my anxiety and particular types of stressors. Believe me, it helps!
The first thing that I do is to make a note of every situation in which I feel myself feeling stressed. Meanwhile I breathe slowly and deeply to give myself a sense of added security. Later, when I have time, I analyse both the stressful situation and my reactions to it.
Here's an example: The boss at my temp job interrupts my concentration with a request for extra work. Meanwhile a customer calls with a barrage of questions. I feel the pressure rising. All of a sudden the noise of the photocopying machine becomes intolerable and the lights in the office become too bright. My boss, who usually comes across as a kind, friendly person, suddenly looks threatening in my eyes..Fast forward about 10 seconds and my breathing and heart rates have increased. I feel as though I'm about to lose my mind!
In this situation I would take a walk at lunch time and analyse the situation: The stressors in this case were approaching deadlines, interruptions, and too much environmental stimulation (lights and noise). The stress resulted in uncontrollable anxiety due to the following additional factors: the initial rise in blood pressure (not within my control); my rapid shallow breathing (within my control); my thoughts about the situation (within my control); and environmental stimulation (not within immediate control).
You see, we can control our anxiety levels more than we think we can because we can control some of our reactions to stimuli and events. In my case, I could avoid too many repeats of the above anxiety attack if I: 1. breathe calmly and deeply 2. tell myself that a person can only do her best and that my boss has probably not noticed my agitation 3.choose a permanent job in a quieter environment with more pleasant lighting etc. The more times you analyse your reactions to stressful situations, the better you will become at identifying those situations. As a consequence your coping skills will improve and you'll have fewer of those `high anxiety' days. Eventually, you won't need to do all the analysing: These coping skills will become automatic.
I am working on this kind of approach and it is definitely working for me. :-)
Good luck,
Alara
poster:Alara
thread:127711
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021108/msgs/127857.html