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Anxiety: Nothing to Do but Embrace the Dread

opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com

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Re: Anxiety: Nothing to Do but Embrace the Dread

#11

Post by zachcb »

softbuilder wrote: post #6

Personal history for anyone suffering from serious anxiety: Anxiety destroyed my 20s. It kept me home-bound. I rarely went out and would have attacks at the grocery store all of the time. Early on I hoped that things would come to a head and that I would eventually be immune to it, and stronger for it. But that never happened. I was afraid to seek help because I assumed they'd put me on meds that would dull my thinki…

The only thing that has blunted my panic attacks are herbs - Ashwagandha and Holy Basil. These herbs bring me calm and help me stay relaxed when my mind is in the right place.

Our life in the creation of our minds....so the first thing to do is make sure you're eliminating toxic thoughts that can cause anxiety and spur panic attacks. After that, the herbs can be of tremendous helps without the harmful side effects of benzodiazepines.

Re: Anxiety: Nothing to Do but Embrace the Dread

#12

Post by kirse »

softbuilder wrote: post #6

Personal history for anyone suffering from serious anxiety: Anxiety destroyed my 20s. It kept me home-bound. I rarely went out and would have attacks at the grocery store all of the time. Early on I hoped that things would come to a head and that I would eventually be immune to it, and stronger for it. But that never happened. I was afraid to seek help because I assumed they'd put me on meds that would dull my thinki…

"The value and necessity of anxiety mean that it will persist until the last breath. It is impossible to extinguish, no matter the level at which it affects you."

In contrast to your post, I found it interesting that the author of the article has pretty much reached a hopeless conclusion after many years of wear and tear, basically resigning himself to the conclusion that anxiety is beyond his control... (i.e. learned helplessness)

I fully agree with you though... I think everyone needs to come to that point of emotional awareness where they understand anxiety to the point of not fearing it, but using it as a gauge in their "life wellbeing" checklist.

I personally find that when anxiety hits for an extended period of time, that's a caution flag for me to step back and take a look at the last "X time period" and do some reflection. Anxiety for me is generally one of those indicators that life has been going in a wrong direction (physically/mentally/spiritually/emotionally) for a little bit too long... It tends to be more of a symptom of larger life issues and in that case you're right, it's always better to find the root rather than hack at the weeds.

Re: Anxiety: Nothing to Do but Embrace the Dread

#13

Post by swayvil »

For me, meditation beats anxiety. I meditate every day, more or less. I can skip a couple of days of meditation but then anxiety starts rising. Soon it's sitting on me 24-7. I get more and more upset and I start thinking crazy thoughts. So I meditate and the anxiety goes away.

I do samatha and vipassana.

Re: Anxiety: Nothing to Do but Embrace the Dread

#15

Post by [deleted] »

softbuilder wrote: post #6

Personal history for anyone suffering from serious anxiety: Anxiety destroyed my 20s. It kept me home-bound. I rarely went out and would have attacks at the grocery store all of the time. Early on I hoped that things would come to a head and that I would eventually be immune to it, and stronger for it. But that never happened. I was afraid to seek help because I assumed they'd put me on meds that would dull my thinki…

[deleted]

Re: Anxiety: Nothing to Do but Embrace the Dread

#16

Post by senorcastro »

Anxiety is a naturally occurring process that has been essential to human survival. Some individuals have managed to place a completely different judgement on anxiety and we call those people thrill seekers while other individuals feel paralyzed with fear. Where one sees dread the other sees a potential for a state of euphoria. Conquering anxiety is not at all to do with removing it but with managing our perception of the experience. Embracing anxiety is not so much with accepting dread but to understand this naturally occurring system of defense and ultimately desensitizing ourselves to the dread associated with the experience.

Re: Anxiety: Nothing to Do but Embrace the Dread

#17

Post by PavlovsCat »

Torgo wrote: post #10
softbuilder wrote: post #6

Personal history for anyone suffering from serious anxiety: Anxiety destroyed my 20s. It kept me home-bound. I rarely went out and would have attacks at the grocery store all of the time. Early on I hoped that things would come to a head and that I would eventually be immune to it, and stronger for it. But that never happened. I was afraid to seek help because I assumed they'd put me on meds that would dull my thinki…

The only thing on that list that I have not tried is the electroshock :-(

Don't give up anyway! It's may be weak to say this, but it's the best I've got. Also, consider that "whatever" includes a whole lot of things.. it includes everything but giving up :)

edit: I don't remember where I have this idea from, and it may be stupid, but it kinda stuck with me: if you can't find out how to solve a problem, try to find a way to make it worse, as that can give you hints how to overcome it. I have no idea how this could be applied to anxiety, not in general and of course not to yours; or wether that's a good idea even (surely might not be without friends or professional care around). But since you said you're all out of clues I thought I'd mention it anyway, even if it's just to bring people "out of the woodworks" which will tell me why exactly this is a bad idea (I really have the feeling it might be). I'll simply trust you'll not go off and do something dangerous with it; but maybe you can reverse engineer it a little that way.

Re: Anxiety: Nothing to Do but Embrace the Dread

#18

Post by kevinold »

This book has not only helped me with back, neck, and shoulder pain but anxiety too.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Divided-Mind-ebook/dp/B000SEHJOI/r...

Turns out simple breathing exercises can lower most of my anxiety.

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART00521/three-breathing-exercis...

Re: Anxiety: Nothing to Do but Embrace the Dread

#19

Post by dktbs »

PavlovsCat wrote: post #17
Torgo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only thing on that list that I have not tried is the electroshock :-(

Don't give up anyway! It's may be weak to say this, but it's the best I've got. Also, consider that "whatever" includes a whole lot of things.. it includes everything but giving up :) edit: I don't remember where I have this idea from, and it may be stupid, but it kinda stuck with me: if you can't find out how to solve a problem, try to find a way to make it worse, as that can give you hints how to overcome it. I hav…

this might not be what you are describing, but it sounds like exposure therapy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_therapy

Re: Anxiety: Nothing to Do but Embrace the Dread

#20

Post by re_todd »

softbuilder wrote: post #6

Personal history for anyone suffering from serious anxiety: Anxiety destroyed my 20s. It kept me home-bound. I rarely went out and would have attacks at the grocery store all of the time. Early on I hoped that things would come to a head and that I would eventually be immune to it, and stronger for it. But that never happened. I was afraid to seek help because I assumed they'd put me on meds that would dull my thinki…

Sounds like me as well. My 20s really sucked. Most of my friends were dating and travelling, but I had too much anxiety to do either. I lived an hour from a big city, but had too much anxiety on the freeways to go there. Most of my friends were always going to the city to museums, concerts, and to have a good time. My panic attacks on the freeways and around members of the opposite sex were rough, I see my 20s as the Dark Ages. Cutting my caffeine intake over half helped out a lot.
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