Posted by Larry Hoover on October 20, 2003, at 13:46:42
In reply to Re: anxiety caused by bullying in youth. any cure? » zeugma, posted by Wolf Dreamer on October 20, 2003, at 6:56:14
> All this change of diet, getting exercise, taking supplements... none of it is really going to work? That sucks. I guess it is for people with other causes.
No, you can definitely obtain benefits from nutritional supplementation. Part of the reason you developed your symptoms as an adult (rather than way back then) is due to the chronic impact of a diet insufficient to meet your stressed-out needs.
> There is a new treatment said to work for anyone with anxiety or phobia caused by something in their past. It is called Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing.
EMDR works. It did for me. However, you need to be able to recall clearly what happened to you. And, it can be dangerous (psychologically) unless you are well-prepared by a skilled trauma therapist.
> I'm trying to find a good webpage that explains it.I'll take a look around, too.
> To try to make money off of this, many other steps were added in, and if you search the net you will find many horrible people trying to make money from you.There are always people trying to make a buck. You need to learn how to find the wheat amongst the chaff.
> While thinking about whatever it is that bothers you, you distract yourself with external stimilation, either watching a flashlight move back and forth in front of you, or simple tapping your hands. Apparently it doesn't matter. Your brain can not make you feel anxiety/panic while being distracted by something like that. That is odd isn't it?That's not what happens. The rhythmic stimulus unblocks your emotions, so that you can finally feel the powerful emotions that have been suppressed. It is cathartic, not distracting.
> Many people I talked to on an anxiety forum mentioned that they did all sorts of things to distract themselves whenever their mind was racing with unpleasant thoughts. Perhaps there is something to it.
That's avoidance. That's denial. That's not what EMDR is all about.
> One person said they got better by putting a rubber band around their arm and smacking the daylights out of themselves whenever they had anxiety.
That works when the obsessive thinking is based on inappropriate or distorted thoughts. Trauma work is quite the opposite. It is designed to release the terror which has been skillfully denied.
> After stopping the thoughts from happening for a reasonable number of days at all, they stop coming altogether.
That's an application of what's called operant conditioning.
> I'm going to try this. Whenever I have the thoughts I don't want, I'll do something, anything at all to distract myself. If it works, I'll report back here.
That can work for thoughts that are inappropriate, i.e. ones that do not reflect reality. It won't help you deal with suppressed feelings arising from unresolved trauma.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:270738
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20031003/msgs/271137.html