Personal anecdote. Just a few days ago, when I was feeling anxious, I just stayed firm at my desk, and firmly approaching the situation without the thought of giving up, even if I couldn't solve the problem, I felt, I could control my anxiety a little better.
Anxiety is in your body, not your mind
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Re: Anxiety is in your body, not your mind
#32What a pleasant surprise to find this article at the top of HN! Minutes ago I finished a workshop on a somatic therapy technique. It's a relief to see these ideas gaining mainstream attention after so many years of making little progress on my own anxiety, depression, and procrastination.
For other relevant scientific perspectives, I recommend looking into the theory around "memory reconsolidation."
- Kaj Sotala does a good job of summarizing an important book in the field here: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/i9xyZBS3qzA8nFXNQ/book-summa...
- How Emotions are Made also provides a perspective from neuropsychology on what's going on: https://www.amazon.com/How-Emotions-Made-Lisa-Barrett/dp/132....
- The Polyvagal Theory stuff mentioned in the article is also great, and some classic accessible books on the overall topic include The Body Keeps the Score and Waking the Tiger.
I'm personally a fan of a technique called Emotional Resolution (EmRes), which is notably simple and effective, and that you can learn to apply to yourself after a 90 minute course, but there are many other approaches: Organic Intelligence, somatic experiencing, cranio-sacral therapy, bioenergetics and core energetics, and many more. Effective self-therapy methods include Core Transformation, Focusing, and "self-therapy".
Keywords to search for are: "somatic therapy," "body work," "energy work" or "energy medicine."
Re: Anxiety is in your body, not your mind
#33I noticed as young adult that I didn’t really worry or consciously stress, but my body had somewhat predictable reactions to situations that I would realize, in hindsight, were highly stressful. Those physical reactions sucked, and as they got worse over time, it really concerned me. At some point I was encouraged to go to CBT, which I did, but honestly it made things worse. I became hyper aware of how anxious I was…
> I just realized that there was nothing I could really do about anxiety or the physical symptoms that came along with it. I decided to mostly try to quit noticing and thinking about it. And that really helped. I think this is mission accomplished from your mindfulness practice, you realized that you're not really doing anything and that anxiety just appears, you accepted it and it felt better.
There are some problems with that type of approach - there are some things that won't vanish, if you stop thinking about them.
Re: Anxiety is in your body, not your mind
#34I noticed as young adult that I didn’t really worry or consciously stress, but my body had somewhat predictable reactions to situations that I would realize, in hindsight, were highly stressful. Those physical reactions sucked, and as they got worse over time, it really concerned me. At some point I was encouraged to go to CBT, which I did, but honestly it made things worse. I became hyper aware of how anxious I was…
>I’ve concluded that the best advice is to learn not to worry about things Any tips with doing this? The thoughts I try to avoid end up in my dreams even if I try my best to distract myself during the day
you're not supposed to repress your thoughts, just change your relationship with them, like john nash at the end of a beautiful mind.
Re: Anxiety is in your body, not your mind
#35I noticed as young adult that I didn’t really worry or consciously stress, but my body had somewhat predictable reactions to situations that I would realize, in hindsight, were highly stressful. Those physical reactions sucked, and as they got worse over time, it really concerned me. At some point I was encouraged to go to CBT, which I did, but honestly it made things worse. I became hyper aware of how anxious I was…
Recent mentions of mindfulness have made it obsolete as it is something that akkktually does not work and it should not be advised as something that works(for everyone). Well, the reason here is that I tried mindfulness(because I was probably extremelly stressed out from what was going on around me at that time) and it was not working and here is why(from REAL expert): https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/do-the-r…
I think mindfulness here is meant as a synonym for a particular type of meditation. This article is broadly correct from my perspective—we should approach meditation with some caution, because it is not a well-defined self-therapy modality. It's quite possible, with the wrong practice instruction, to end up hurting yourself, or just getting nowhere.
Meditation—and even just mindfulness meditation—is a domain of practice as broad as "exercise."
If you are interested in engaging with this type of practice, I recommend working with a qualified teacher in a spiritual tradition. These practitioners will have extensive training (at least decades) and will be drawing from a few thousand years of careful study of the effects of meditation (as found in Buddhist and Yogic/Hindu documents and oral traditions).
For working on emotional issues without dedicating years to practice, therapeutic modalities developed in the West are faster, more reliable, and safer.
Re: Anxiety is in your body, not your mind
#36I was almost 30 when I had my first ever panic attack. I was alone and convinced it was a heart attack, called 911, and felt fine by the time the ambulance reached the hospital. Embarrassed, I was ready to brush it off, but instead saw a therapist for the first time. She took out a stopwatch and had me breathe through a narrow straw. Within seconds, my face and limbs went completely numb; I couldn't move, and was amazed that I could form words. I sat with my head in my hands for what felt like forever. Eventually it passed, I felt utterly exhausted, and she asked what I thought the stopwatch said. "I dunno, 10-15 minutes?" Nope, 90 seconds. That experience made me start taking my mental health seriously.
Re: Anxiety is in your body, not your mind
#37Who in their right mind would take their psychological advice from a fiction writer?!? First, no, anxiety is not in your body. Fear, just like any other emotion is in your brain. You might get physiological responses in the form of chemicals in your body. That is an effect, not a cause. Second, neocortex is not "thinking brain," its role is to manage social interactions. Cognition is a small part of that. Third, mind…
> It is an ego-depletion technique proven to be detrimental to people suffering from anxiety and depression.
Got any recommended reading on this bit?
Re: Anxiety is in your body, not your mind
#38So good to see a story about the physical aspects of anxiety at the top of hacker news!
I’ve struggled with anxiety my whole software career and finally found something that really worked for me —- identifying the triggers of my anxiety, and focusing on my physiological sensations after I recall them, much as described by Pat Ogden in the article.
Another software engineer friend and I are starting a company to help software engineers reduce stress and anxiety! We’d love to hear from any of you.
Tinyurl.com/happyhackers
Re: Anxiety is in your body, not your mind
#39I noticed as young adult that I didn’t really worry or consciously stress, but my body had somewhat predictable reactions to situations that I would realize, in hindsight, were highly stressful. Those physical reactions sucked, and as they got worse over time, it really concerned me. At some point I was encouraged to go to CBT, which I did, but honestly it made things worse. I became hyper aware of how anxious I was…
>I’ve concluded that the best advice is to learn not to worry about things Any tips with doing this? The thoughts I try to avoid end up in my dreams even if I try my best to distract myself during the day
I don’t really have any advice, but what I can say is it’s not really about distracting myself or avoiding thoughts, it’s more like changing how I think about things. For example, when I get some random aches and pains, it worries me a little. But in the past I would fixate on things, try to treat them, see a doctor etc. After a certain amount of grappling with my own mortality, I kind of realized that sometimes my body will just hurt, and there’s nothing I can do about it, and so I have to sort of say, “ok, I have this pain, that’s fine,” and then just move on to whatever else I need to do. Although sometimes it may mean the opposite, accepting that I can’t just power through. “I’m just not going to be able to do all the things I wish I could do today, I need to rest instead. That’s fine.”
It’s still hard for me. But I think the biggest difference is that I have shifted my focus more towards the things that are here and now, and that I can actually control, and focusing attention on those things naturally means spending less time thinking about things that are far away or beyond my control. (Ie, applying attention elsewhere is not the same as distraction.)
Not super coherent, but I hope some part of that is helpful.
Re: Anxiety is in your body, not your mind
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I just realized that there was nothing I could really do about anxiety or the physical symptoms that came along with it. I decided to mostly try to quit noticing and thinking about it. And that really helped. I think this is mission accomplished from your mindfulness practice, you realized that you're not really doing anything and that anxiety just appears, you accepted it and it felt better.
There are some problems with that type of approach - there are some things that won't vanish, if you stop thinking about them.
There is a big difference between having anxiety about something and the thing itself. Your anxiety can go away without the thing you are worrying about going away or not. So it doesn't matter whether or not something goes away, you can still lessen your anxiety about it.