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Ask HN: How to break anxiety/fear-avoidance cycle?

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Re: Ask HN: How to break anxiety/fear-avoidance cycle?

#201

Post by ketzo »

albrewer wrote: post #187
insickness wrote: post #6

The best solution to getting past the anxiety/fear-avoidance cycle is to take small, manageable actions while accepting the feelings that go along with those actions. Start with the smallest steps possible. Maybe that means opening the assignment and saving it to your computer. Then put it down and walk away. Come back in a little while and take another small step, such as reading over the assignment or making an out…

This is what I try and do with my kids. They're elementary school age - if you tell them "go clean your room", they will melt down because the problem is too big for them to understand how to fix it. Conceptually, they know they just need to put one thing away at a time, but often their emotions kick in first and short circuits rational thought. I help them through this by sitting in the room with them and just calli…

I mean, there are lots of adults who don’t develop that separation. Most of us fail at it at least sometimes.

Seems like an excellent skill to practice so early. Love that.

Re: Ask HN: How to break anxiety/fear-avoidance cycle?

#203

Post by idiotsecant »

ceobytefed wrote: post #198

I had massive issues like these in the past until I spoke with a person who provides therapy for these specific problems. The first day, he gave me a book on the topic and said that it had valuable info up to about chapter 4. In a nutshell, and from that book, who's title eludes me, I created the FU technique. I know, it sounds ridiculous but it totally works for me. Aside from diet leading to your issues, the best s…

This sounds really unhealthy?

Re: Ask HN: How to break anxiety/fear-avoidance cycle?

#205

Post by thealig »

FranklinMailot's comment is good advice I think. Getting professional help would be best here. I also face similar symptoms like how you describe - persistent procrastination with tasks (initiation, or even continuing from where you left). I faced them since i became an adult through college, and after I started a job. it became pretty clear that there is something seriously off when I underperformed for a good amount of time. Then 2 year ago, I got repetitive panic attacks. Had to take leave for a month. started seeing a psychiatrist.

Then took a test recently, turns out i have Avoidant Personality Disorder. Made a lot of sense, since I struggled with interpersonal relationships - difficulty in getting help from people, more prone to tolerating misbehaviour from other people out of avoidance of conflict, interpreting peoples signs and events naturally in an exaggerated negative fashion thus making me self sabotage etc. I sort of survived through probably because I scraped through when it was dire.

Re: Ask HN: How to break anxiety/fear-avoidance cycle?

#208

Post by fuzzylightbulb »

ghostbrainalpha wrote: post #159
pc86 wrote: post #152

I nearly failed out of college because of this. I would have a paper due in n days, and would absolutely refuse to do it, in hindsight because I didn't want to spend weeks working on it just to get a D (who does?). I would literally get to ~24 hours before due date and have a 20 page paper to write with zero done. No reading, no research, I'd be lucky to even have a topic. I'd then regurgitate some garbage that barel…

I'm just like you but a little worse. I did fail out of college because of exactly that. I felt such shame at having done D work that I often wouldn't even turn it in, and then get the F. I struggled for years after dropping out with this, and still do to some extent. But came up with a crazy strategy to kind of get myself addicted to completing tasks on my To Do list. I think today I'm probably significantly more pr…

I'd also be interested to hear your strategy!

Re: Ask HN: How to break anxiety/fear-avoidance cycle?

#209

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

bowsamic wrote: post #197
ghostbrainalpha wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever tried something more extreme to cope, like Ayahuasca? I went from being a majorly depressed person and suicidal to being a lightly depressed, non suicidal person and I think Ayahuasca contributed to that.

I tried LSD and it made me severely suicidal. I had to take up a religion to not kill myself. On the dysthymia front, I’ve had it constantly since age 9 and am now 27. It’s not something I expect to change. Most people who have dysthymia learn coping mechanisms rather than trying to actually cure it. Major Depression on the other hand (which in my case would be a double depression) is more severe and more treatable D…

Ya, I would definitely have guessed LSD would be a terrible idea.

Ayahuasca is an entirely different kind of thing.

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