The Importance of Anxiety

In my case, one day I had a huge panic attack. Woke up the next day a complete nervous wreck. Looked through yellow pages for therapist. Decided to give it a few day to see if the intense daily anxiety would get a little bit better. It didn't.

A couple of weeks later I found a therapist. Great--He will help me. Well, I was seeing him two times a week for months. I paid his fees through what was left of my student loans. Months went by. I cried, and cried. We talked about my childhood. I went to a Behaviorist--followed his instructions--still nothing. Finally was referred to a Psychatrist--who didn't seem to have a clue to what was wrong with me. Finally, on my last referal I found a Psychiatrist who at least acted like he knew what was going on. Yes, he did prescribe a addictive drug, after trying most of the non addictive drugs. In my case, Klonopin is the only drug that seemed to alleviate my misery, but it was not enough; I still needed to self medicate. More importantly, this Psychiatrist reassured me that the crazy thoughts I was having was nothing to worry about. It was the way he told me--I could see in his face that he has heard my symptomology before, and I was not going crazy. That was priceless!

I can say anxiety ruined the life I was preparing for, but my anxiety symptoms eventually got better over the years. I look back on the Therapy and I sometimes think it did more damage than good? I really was honest in Therapy, and so wanted it to work, but I got nothing out of it in the slightest?

I don't have any advise because every patient is different. I can offer this, if you go on an addicive drug keep the level of medication low. You might be suprised just how long you will live? You don't want to work that liver to the brink of failure. It's ironic, that my biggest fear when I had my breakdown was The fear of Death. I just couldn't come to terms with it. I literally felt I only had a few years/months left--while I was beyond healthy at that point in my life. I wouldn't wish the way I was feeling on my worst enemy. I felt like I was in Hell. It does get better with time. I'm glad I didn't commit suicide.

I struggle with anxiety on a daily basis as well. I don't have any solutions, but one thing that has helped a lot is taking time out of my day to just be, with nothing hanging over my head and nothing to do. It's remarkable how the mind manages to work things out for itself when given enough space and time.

You may also find the chaper on fear in the book The Issue at Hand to be helpful. I know I did.

http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/documents/iah/IssueAt...

>> All cool and great, but can you now give me something to shut that feeling off?

> Yes. This is what therapy is. It's a professional teaching you tools to deal with anxiety. [...] The anxiety still exists

Is it your anxious self leading you to foolishly conclude that "shut anxiety off" == "deal with anxiety"?

1) Talk to a doctor.

2) Who cares if your emails are in some NSA server. They already are on some server that you don't control, gmail, work, etc. What is the practical difference?

The numbers of approved wiretaps is really low.

You have a much greater chance of being spied on, legally with a warrant, by traditional police.

Or, worse really, getting sued and then having lawyers crawl up your ass in discovery.

Try taking Ashwagandha.