People who have experienced panic attacks often go around with a grave sense of unease that at any moment, they will experience a major panic attack.
It’s a fear of the ultimate panic attack that would finally push them over the edge.
This leads people to make changes to their behavior in order not to do anything that might trigger a panic episode.
When people feel this way, simple daily tasks can become big challenges. Some people start to fear driving their car in traffic. Others fear leaving their safe zone or simply any situation where they have responsibilities to perform.
This state of apprehension keeps a person’s anxiety level high, leading to feelings of general anxiety.
If you are such a person I hope to put your mind at rest. Panic attacks as well as general anxiety (even when not accompanied by panic disorder) can be eliminated in simple steps regardless of how long the anxiety has been a problem.
I am speaking not just from my own personal experience but from having worked with thousands of people right around the world.
Here is an important observation:
The key difference between someone who is cured of panic attacks and those who are not is really very simple. The one who is cured is not afraid of panic attacks. I’ll try to show you how to one of these people as well.
What if I told you the trick to ending panic attacks is to want to have one!
That sounds strange but let me explain.
A simple trick to ending panic attacks is wanting to have one because the wanting causes an immediate diffusion of the anticipatory fear.
Can you have a panic attack in this very second?
No !
You know the saying “what you resist persists.” Well that saying applies perfectly to fear. If you resist a situation out of fear, the fear around that issue will persist.
How do you stop resisting?
You move directly into the path of the anxiety; by doing so it cannot persist because you process the fear out through your emotions.
Try in this very moment to have a panic attack and I will bet you cannot… Yes, I know the idea of calling on a panic attack is scary at first but play with the concept and watch what happens.
You may not realize it but you have always decided to panic. You make the choice by thinking
“This is beyond my control.”
“These scary sensations are beyond my bodies control.”
It may help if you imagine that having a panic attack is like standing on a cliff edge.
The anxiety, it seems, is pushing you closer to falling over the edge. Each time you fight back using poor coping strategies the more desperate you feel.
To be rid of the fear you must metaphorically jump. You must jump off the cliff edge and into the anxiety and fear and all the things that you fear most. How do you jump?
You jump by wanting to have a panic attack. You go about your day asking for a panic attack to appear. Your real safety is the fact that a panic attack will never harm you. That is medical fact.
You are safe, -Yes, the sensations are wild and uncomfortable, but no harm will come to you.
Your body is in a heightened state but no harm will come to you.
The jump becomes nothing more than a two inch drop! You are safe.
You always were.
Think of all the panic attacks you have had to date and come out the other end. Was there any lasting physical damage to you, other than the mounting feeling of panic?
Now you are going to approach this problem differently. You actively seek out the attack like an adventure seeker. Take the opposite approach.
YOU bring it on!!!
Sunday, 18 July 2010
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
The Enemy Of Our Imagination
People who experience panic attacks will often say that they feel out of control as soon as the panic is in full swing.
“Panic is a sudden desertion of us, and a going over to the enemy of our imagination.”
Doesn’t that sum it up well?
A confident self assured person can suddenly feel powerless and vulnerable as soon as the panic manifests. As the bodily sensations race, the mind jumps from logic and reason to wild fears fueled by the imagination.
The hardest part for most people to get their heads around is why they feel so suddenly powerless during a panic attack?
The automatic reaction for most to the sensations of a panic attack are to fight against it. To shut it down and end it as soon as possible. Coping techniques like deep breathing and distraction are mildly effective at best. When these techniques fail to get results, that is when the person really leaps over to ‘the enemy of their imagination’.
It goes something like this:
“I used all my coping techniques but I still feel very anxious, in fact it may be getting worse!
“What if this keeps getting worse and no help can get to me here?”
Where people run with this type of thinking their imagination will continue to escalate the fear, leaving them feeling more and more vulnerable and out of control.
The secret to regain control and come back to yourself, is to learn how to respond to the panic in an appropriate manner.
The solution is to work with the bodily sensations rather than against them.
Let me give you a small example. If you were sitting on a train and started to feel sensations that indicated the beginning of a panic attack, instead of trying to stop the experience do the opposite.
Acknowledge that you are safe, label the sensations and then tell the sensations that scare you, to get worse. If you are sweating tell your body to sweat more, if your heart is racing, tell it to race faster.
Move into the experience rather than against it.
The real panic only begins as soon as you hand over reason and control to your imagination. By moving into the experience voluntarily, you become the decision maker and therefore retain control. If you’re going to have a panic attack it is going to happen on your terms.
You empower yourself because you are directing the whole experience not handing “over to the enemy of our imagination.”
“Panic is a sudden desertion of us, and a going over to the enemy of our imagination.”
Doesn’t that sum it up well?
A confident self assured person can suddenly feel powerless and vulnerable as soon as the panic manifests. As the bodily sensations race, the mind jumps from logic and reason to wild fears fueled by the imagination.
The hardest part for most people to get their heads around is why they feel so suddenly powerless during a panic attack?
The automatic reaction for most to the sensations of a panic attack are to fight against it. To shut it down and end it as soon as possible. Coping techniques like deep breathing and distraction are mildly effective at best. When these techniques fail to get results, that is when the person really leaps over to ‘the enemy of their imagination’.
It goes something like this:
“I used all my coping techniques but I still feel very anxious, in fact it may be getting worse!
“What if this keeps getting worse and no help can get to me here?”
Where people run with this type of thinking their imagination will continue to escalate the fear, leaving them feeling more and more vulnerable and out of control.
The secret to regain control and come back to yourself, is to learn how to respond to the panic in an appropriate manner.
The solution is to work with the bodily sensations rather than against them.
Let me give you a small example. If you were sitting on a train and started to feel sensations that indicated the beginning of a panic attack, instead of trying to stop the experience do the opposite.
Acknowledge that you are safe, label the sensations and then tell the sensations that scare you, to get worse. If you are sweating tell your body to sweat more, if your heart is racing, tell it to race faster.
Move into the experience rather than against it.
The real panic only begins as soon as you hand over reason and control to your imagination. By moving into the experience voluntarily, you become the decision maker and therefore retain control. If you’re going to have a panic attack it is going to happen on your terms.
You empower yourself because you are directing the whole experience not handing “over to the enemy of our imagination.”
End Anxious Thoughts In 4 Easy Steps
After having visited my site I can almost imagine what your repetitive anxious thought might be.
Maybe it’s a fear of:
-a panic attack
-never being free of general anxiety
-a bodily sensation that worries you
-a fear of losing control to anxiety
Whatever your particular fear is, I want to share some tips and techniques with you over the coming days that will not only help you end these fears but also reduce your general anxiety level dramatically.
After many years of coaching people to be anxiety free, I have noticed that those who experience panic attacks or general anxiety almost always deal with the frequent occurrence of anxious thoughts.
Anxiety has a sneaky way of seeding doubt regardless of whether the fear is rational or irrational.
So what can be done for people who suffer from repetitive anxious thoughts?
To begin, lets look at how an anxious thought is powered and then I will demonstrate how to quickly eliminate the intensity of the thought.
Say for example you are going about your daily business when an anxious thought enters your mind.
Whatever the nature of the thought, the pattern that follows is usually quite predictable.
The anxious thought flashes briefly in your awareness and as it does so you immediately react with fear as you contemplate the thought. The fearful reaction you have to the thought then sends a shock-wave through your nervous system. You feel the result of that fear most intensely in your stomach (due to the amount of nerve endings located there).
Because of the intense bodily reaction to the thought you then get sucked into examining the anxious thought over and over.
The continuous fearful reaction you have to the thought, increases the intensity of the experience. The more you react, the stronger the thought rebounds again in your awareness creating more anxious shock-waves throughout your body. This is the typical cycle of anxious thoughts.
For some it feels like the anxious thoughts are hijacking their peace of mind.
Because of the reaction you are having, you may continue to spend the rest of your day thinking about the anxious thoughts you experienced.
“Why am I thinking these thoughts?” “Why can’t I shake off this eerie feeling?”
The harder you try not to think about it, the more upset you become. It is like telling someone
‘Whatever happens do not think of a pink elephant’.
Naturally enough it’s all they can think about. That’s the way our brains our wired.
So how can you eliminate these unwanted anxious thoughts?
To begin with:
-when you start to experience anxious thoughts, it is very important not to force the thoughts away.
Let the thoughts in. The more comfortable you can become with them, the better. These thoughts will never go away fully but what you can learn is to change your reaction to them.
By changing your reaction to the anxious thoughts you become free of them.
Once you establish a new way of reacting to the thoughts it does not matter if you have them or not. Your reaction is what defines the whole experience (and that applies to almost everything).
Everybody experiences fleeting thoughts that many would consider scary or crazy. The difference between most people and somebody who gets caught up in them, is that the average person sees them for exactly what they are, fleeting anxious thoughts, and casually ignores them.
The anxious person is at a disadvantage as they already have a certain level of anxiety in their system. The thoughts easily spark feelings of further anxiety which builds into a cycle of fear. You break the cycle by changing how you react to the fearful thought.
Here is an example of how to approach this:
You are enjoying the way your day is going but then all of sudden a fearful thought comes to mind.
Before you would react with anxiety to the idea and then try to force that thought out of your mind.
This time, however, say:
“That’s a fear of X. I could worry and even obsess over that but this time I’m going to do something different. I’m not going to react to it. I’m also not going to try and stop it either. I’m just going to label the thought and not react.”
Then the thought comes again with more intensity and possibly with new ’scary’ angles you never considered. When this happens you do exactly the same. As if you were observing a cloud passing overhead, you simply
-Observe it,
-Label it (fear of whatever), then
-Watch it as it passes by with no judgment.
then
-Move your attention on to what you were doing.
Observe, Label, Watch, Move on
See the anxious thought for what it really is: -one of the thousands of fleeting sane and insane thoughts every one of us experiences daily.
If you are a more indoors type of person then instead of thinking of the thoughts like clouds passing in the sky, you might try imagining a large cinema screen and the anxious thoughts are projected out onto the screen in front of you. Play around with this approach. Find what works for you.
The key thing to remember is to:
Observe, Label, Watch, Move on
By practicing this approach you gradually stop reacting with fear to the thought and you learn to treat it as nothing more than an odd peculiarity.
When you are at a stage where you are comfortable doing the above exercise and you feel you are making good progress, then try this additional step:
Actually invite one of your more regular fearful thoughts in.
Call the fear to you, say you just want it to come close so you can observe it.
It may seem like the last thing you would wish to bring upon yourself, as you don’t particularly enjoy these thoughts but this approach can be very empowering. You are now calling the shots. You actually invited the issue in.
By doing this you are discharging the dense vibration of fear surrounding the anxious thought. That fear was sustaining itself on your resistance, -the idea that you could not handle these thoughts.
The fear quickly evaporates when you turn around and say “yes of course I can handle these thoughts.”
Fear intensifies when we pull away from it. Anxious thoughts become a mental tug of war if we struggle with them.
It is the mental struggle of pulling against the anxious thoughts that creates the inner psychological tension.
The inner tension is fueled by thoughts like:
“I can’t handle to think about this -please go away”
“I don’t like that thought- I want it to stop!”
Take a different stance. Invite anxious thoughts in. Willingly sit with them, label them and do your very best not to react.
Yes, it does take practice but very soon you find yourself in a unique position of control. You are no longer a victim of fearful thinking but a decision maker in what you will or will not be concerned about.
As with every technique there is always a level of practice involved in the beginning. Initially you start observing but then suddenly get anxious about the fearful thought. That’s very normal in the beginning.
Keep at it. Practice and you will quickly see how less impacting those fearful thoughts become.
Do not let your mind trick you into believing that your anxiety is something you will always have to struggle with. That is simply not true.
Not alone is it possible to control the occurrence of anxious thoughts but I can teach you how to end panic attacks and general anxiety if that is your goal.
You can have the life of your dreams. Anxiety does not have the right to steal that hope from you.
Agoraphobia and Panic Attacks
There is phobia that is linked to the experience of panic attacks, and that is agoraphobia. Agoraphobia is the fear of open spaces or of being in crowded, public places such as shopping markets. It is a fear associated with leaving a safe zone, such as the home.
Because of a feeling of being vulnerable, people who experience this fear often suffer from panic attacks in these “open” situations. It is true to say many people who have regular panic attacks experience different degrees of agoraphobia. Some have a lingering background anxiety about being away from home should they experience a panic attack. Other people are so immobilized by this fear that they find it very difficult to leave their home for even a short period.
The thinking behind agoraphobia usually follows the line that were a panic attack to occur, who would look after the person, how would he or she get the assistance and reassurance they needed? The vulnerability grows from the feeling that once victims of agoraphobia are caught in the anxiety, they are suddenly unable to look after themselves and are therefore at the mercy of the place they find themselves in and the strangers around them. In its extreme form, agoraphobia and panic attacks can lead to a situation where people become housebound for numerous years. Please note, this is by no means a hopeless situation, and I always need to reinforce the fact that something only becomes hopeless once the person really believes that to be the case.
To begin with, the primary issue that needs to be addressed is the belief in the safe zone. To clarify, when I talk about safe zone, I am referring to the zone where the person believes panic attacks do not occur, or at least occur infrequently. As comfort is found there, it is where the person tends to spend more and more time. The safe zone of anxiety is a myth sustained by the mind. The mind has developed a habit of thinking that dictates that being inside the safe zone is the only place to feel secure and avoid agoraphobia and panic attacks. If agoraphobia is an issue for you, watch as your mind comes up with reasons why it believes only a certain area is safe and another is not. Those reasons range from being near the phone or people you trust to having familiar physical surroundings to reassure you.
The reality of anxiety is that there is no such thing as a safe zone. There is nothing life threatening about a panic attack, and therefore sitting at home is the same as sitting under the stars on a desert island. Of course, your mind will immediately rush to tell you that a desert island is a ridiculous place to be as there are no hospitals, no tranquillisers, no doctors, NO SAFETY.
You need to review your previous experiences of panic attacks. Aren’t you still here, alive and well, after all those attacks during which you were convinced you were going to die?
It may be that on occasions you have been driven to the hospital where they did medicate you to calm you down, but do you really believe that you would not have survived were it not for the drugs? You would have. If the same bout of anxiety had occurred on this desert island, it too would have passed, even if you were all alone. Yes, when it comes to conditions that need medical attention such as asthma, diabetes, and a whole litany or other conditions, then having medical aid nearby is a big asset, but no doctor in the world would tell someone with anxiety that there are only specific safe zones in which she or he can move.
As I know more than anyone how terrifying it can feel to move out of your safe zone as the feeling of fear is welling up inside, I do not wish to sound harsh. This course is not about chastising people for their behaviours. It is a way of looking together at solutions and seeing through the myths that form prison walls. The goal is to enable you to return to a richer and more meaningful life and ultimately defeat your agoraphobia and panic attacks. I also realize that people around you cannot understand why a trip to shops would cause you such discomfort. You will have to forgive them and try not to be upset by their lack of understanding of your problem.
If an individual such as a partner or family member has not had a similar anxiety issue, that person may often find it hard to understand and empathize with what you are going through. I am sure you have been dragged out of the house numerous times against your will, kicking and screaming. This can then lead to tensions and arguments and is upsetting as it can make you feel less understood by those around you. People around agoraphobics are often simply trying what they feel is best. If you can see that their intentions are well meaning (although often misguided), then you will be able to relate to them better and help sooth any potential conflicts.
There is one thing I am sure you will agree with, and that is that the only person who will get you out of agoraphobic thinking is yourself. These are your thoughts, and only you can begin to change that pattern. Dealing with long term agoraphobia and panic attacks is a slow process to begin with, but once the results start happening, it moves faster and faster until you reach a point where you will find it hard to believe that going out was such a difficult task.
Because of a feeling of being vulnerable, people who experience this fear often suffer from panic attacks in these “open” situations. It is true to say many people who have regular panic attacks experience different degrees of agoraphobia. Some have a lingering background anxiety about being away from home should they experience a panic attack. Other people are so immobilized by this fear that they find it very difficult to leave their home for even a short period.
The thinking behind agoraphobia usually follows the line that were a panic attack to occur, who would look after the person, how would he or she get the assistance and reassurance they needed? The vulnerability grows from the feeling that once victims of agoraphobia are caught in the anxiety, they are suddenly unable to look after themselves and are therefore at the mercy of the place they find themselves in and the strangers around them. In its extreme form, agoraphobia and panic attacks can lead to a situation where people become housebound for numerous years. Please note, this is by no means a hopeless situation, and I always need to reinforce the fact that something only becomes hopeless once the person really believes that to be the case.
To begin with, the primary issue that needs to be addressed is the belief in the safe zone. To clarify, when I talk about safe zone, I am referring to the zone where the person believes panic attacks do not occur, or at least occur infrequently. As comfort is found there, it is where the person tends to spend more and more time. The safe zone of anxiety is a myth sustained by the mind. The mind has developed a habit of thinking that dictates that being inside the safe zone is the only place to feel secure and avoid agoraphobia and panic attacks. If agoraphobia is an issue for you, watch as your mind comes up with reasons why it believes only a certain area is safe and another is not. Those reasons range from being near the phone or people you trust to having familiar physical surroundings to reassure you.
The reality of anxiety is that there is no such thing as a safe zone. There is nothing life threatening about a panic attack, and therefore sitting at home is the same as sitting under the stars on a desert island. Of course, your mind will immediately rush to tell you that a desert island is a ridiculous place to be as there are no hospitals, no tranquillisers, no doctors, NO SAFETY.
You need to review your previous experiences of panic attacks. Aren’t you still here, alive and well, after all those attacks during which you were convinced you were going to die?
It may be that on occasions you have been driven to the hospital where they did medicate you to calm you down, but do you really believe that you would not have survived were it not for the drugs? You would have. If the same bout of anxiety had occurred on this desert island, it too would have passed, even if you were all alone. Yes, when it comes to conditions that need medical attention such as asthma, diabetes, and a whole litany or other conditions, then having medical aid nearby is a big asset, but no doctor in the world would tell someone with anxiety that there are only specific safe zones in which she or he can move.
As I know more than anyone how terrifying it can feel to move out of your safe zone as the feeling of fear is welling up inside, I do not wish to sound harsh. This course is not about chastising people for their behaviours. It is a way of looking together at solutions and seeing through the myths that form prison walls. The goal is to enable you to return to a richer and more meaningful life and ultimately defeat your agoraphobia and panic attacks. I also realize that people around you cannot understand why a trip to shops would cause you such discomfort. You will have to forgive them and try not to be upset by their lack of understanding of your problem.
If an individual such as a partner or family member has not had a similar anxiety issue, that person may often find it hard to understand and empathize with what you are going through. I am sure you have been dragged out of the house numerous times against your will, kicking and screaming. This can then lead to tensions and arguments and is upsetting as it can make you feel less understood by those around you. People around agoraphobics are often simply trying what they feel is best. If you can see that their intentions are well meaning (although often misguided), then you will be able to relate to them better and help sooth any potential conflicts.
There is one thing I am sure you will agree with, and that is that the only person who will get you out of agoraphobic thinking is yourself. These are your thoughts, and only you can begin to change that pattern. Dealing with long term agoraphobia and panic attacks is a slow process to begin with, but once the results start happening, it moves faster and faster until you reach a point where you will find it hard to believe that going out was such a difficult task.
Why Distraction Helps Ease Anxiety
In order to quickly move away from generalized anxiety you need to throw yourself 100% into life.
What is needed is to engage regularly in an activity that stimulates you, and holds your complete attention, something in which you can become completely absorbed.
Something that distracts you is a very valuable tool in taking your attention away from the uncomfortable sensation of anxiety that may be lingering in your body.
You see almost everyone with anxiety finds themselves getting a bit obsessed about how they feel at any given moment. The less preoccupied the person is, the more time there is to obsess over anxious sensations.
I am sure you have noticed that when you are doing something you enjoy or that really holds your attention, the less you ‘check in’ to measure your anxiety level.
Quite simply, the more you engage with life the less stagnant and anxious you will feel.
Some of the possible activities that interest you could be:
Gardening, playing a musical instrument, sport, or simply having a good conversation with a friend. The idea here is to find something that you can repeat on a regular basis that you enjoy doing or that at very least holds your attention.
If you find you have too much time on your hands and are having problems coming up with something you could do then I recommend you volunteer in a local voluntary scheme. It could be anything from helping the elderly, looking after animals or environmental conservation.
If you can spare even one or two hours a week for such work, not only will you feel your self-esteem improve, but it will help shake off any lingering feelings of isolation or loneliness which are so often accompanied by anxiety.
One thing you can be certain of is that there is some organization near you crying out for a volunteer just like you to assist them with their work.
The art of distraction has always been used to help people refocus and avoid concentrating on whatever physical or emotional discomfort the person is going through. It may just be the caring friend who invites their recently heart broken roommate out on the town to have some fun.
Dentists and doctors use distraction techniques frequently to distract the patient from a physical discomfort they may be experiencing, by giving them something else to focus on (usually the bill).
The purpose of using distraction, for people who want to live anxiety free, is to have new experiences that take the person’s mind off the anxious feelings they have been experiencing.
If you imagine that all the fearful anxious thoughts that go through your mind are like a roll of film being run through a film projector (your mind) and out into your life. Concentrating on some activity immediately cuts the film and brings you directly into the here and now.
When you are fully engaged with life there is no room for any anxiety disorder. This mental space you create enables both your body and mind time to become less sensitized to the anxiety.
By doing something you enjoy and feel you are good at, helps build new competencies. You are saying to yourself that the anxiety path is not one you want to travel down anymore and that you will put your focus elsewhere.
The more time you give to following these rewarding pursuits, the easier it is for your body to relax and return to a natural state of peace.
Combine this with my ONE MOVE technique and people often look back weeks later and wonder if it was really them who was so anxious all the time. Note, it normally takes a few weeks to reduce feelings of general anxiety. That is the standard amount of time to come back to feeling more yourself.
What is needed is to engage regularly in an activity that stimulates you, and holds your complete attention, something in which you can become completely absorbed.
Something that distracts you is a very valuable tool in taking your attention away from the uncomfortable sensation of anxiety that may be lingering in your body.
You see almost everyone with anxiety finds themselves getting a bit obsessed about how they feel at any given moment. The less preoccupied the person is, the more time there is to obsess over anxious sensations.
I am sure you have noticed that when you are doing something you enjoy or that really holds your attention, the less you ‘check in’ to measure your anxiety level.
Quite simply, the more you engage with life the less stagnant and anxious you will feel.
Some of the possible activities that interest you could be:
Gardening, playing a musical instrument, sport, or simply having a good conversation with a friend. The idea here is to find something that you can repeat on a regular basis that you enjoy doing or that at very least holds your attention.
If you find you have too much time on your hands and are having problems coming up with something you could do then I recommend you volunteer in a local voluntary scheme. It could be anything from helping the elderly, looking after animals or environmental conservation.
If you can spare even one or two hours a week for such work, not only will you feel your self-esteem improve, but it will help shake off any lingering feelings of isolation or loneliness which are so often accompanied by anxiety.
One thing you can be certain of is that there is some organization near you crying out for a volunteer just like you to assist them with their work.
The art of distraction has always been used to help people refocus and avoid concentrating on whatever physical or emotional discomfort the person is going through. It may just be the caring friend who invites their recently heart broken roommate out on the town to have some fun.
Dentists and doctors use distraction techniques frequently to distract the patient from a physical discomfort they may be experiencing, by giving them something else to focus on (usually the bill).
The purpose of using distraction, for people who want to live anxiety free, is to have new experiences that take the person’s mind off the anxious feelings they have been experiencing.
If you imagine that all the fearful anxious thoughts that go through your mind are like a roll of film being run through a film projector (your mind) and out into your life. Concentrating on some activity immediately cuts the film and brings you directly into the here and now.
When you are fully engaged with life there is no room for any anxiety disorder. This mental space you create enables both your body and mind time to become less sensitized to the anxiety.
By doing something you enjoy and feel you are good at, helps build new competencies. You are saying to yourself that the anxiety path is not one you want to travel down anymore and that you will put your focus elsewhere.
The more time you give to following these rewarding pursuits, the easier it is for your body to relax and return to a natural state of peace.
Combine this with my ONE MOVE technique and people often look back weeks later and wonder if it was really them who was so anxious all the time. Note, it normally takes a few weeks to reduce feelings of general anxiety. That is the standard amount of time to come back to feeling more yourself.
Sunday, 16 May 2010
Exhaustion and Anxiety
Why do some people have a problem with anxiety and others do not?
This is a question almost everyone who experiences anxiety asks themselves at some point or another. Why me?
My understanding of anxiety is that yes, some people seem more susceptible than others but that the key trigger tends to be exhaustion. By exhaustion I mean mental, physical, or emotional exhaustion. (Under physical exhaustion I also include things like diet or substance abuse)
For some it may be exhaustion caused by a hectic life and never taking time to release the stress. People like that often do not notice their stress levels are so high until they get blindsided by a spontaneous panic attack.
For others it may be an emotional exhaustion caused by the loss of a loved one or the break up of a long term relationship.
If the anxiety is caused by a traumatic life event it is interesting to note that the person frequently does not experience the anxiety until the event has passed.
You often see people dealing very well with a crisis but then several weeks later when the dust has settled they start to feel the anxiety. It is like they have been in shock and are only now starting to process the experience.
The most important thing to remember about panic attacks or general anxiety is that help is available and it is important to get help sooner rather than later.
I always recommend visiting your doctor first of all to really determine that it is just anxiety you are dealing with and not an underlying physical ailment. Once you are sure that it is anxiety that you dealing with, treat it.
Don’t wait
Burying your head in the sand hoping it will simply be gone next week is not an effective way to treat it. It is totally unnecessary to spend months if not years dealing with something that can be corrected now.
This is a question almost everyone who experiences anxiety asks themselves at some point or another. Why me?
My understanding of anxiety is that yes, some people seem more susceptible than others but that the key trigger tends to be exhaustion. By exhaustion I mean mental, physical, or emotional exhaustion. (Under physical exhaustion I also include things like diet or substance abuse)
For some it may be exhaustion caused by a hectic life and never taking time to release the stress. People like that often do not notice their stress levels are so high until they get blindsided by a spontaneous panic attack.
For others it may be an emotional exhaustion caused by the loss of a loved one or the break up of a long term relationship.
If the anxiety is caused by a traumatic life event it is interesting to note that the person frequently does not experience the anxiety until the event has passed.
You often see people dealing very well with a crisis but then several weeks later when the dust has settled they start to feel the anxiety. It is like they have been in shock and are only now starting to process the experience.
The most important thing to remember about panic attacks or general anxiety is that help is available and it is important to get help sooner rather than later.
I always recommend visiting your doctor first of all to really determine that it is just anxiety you are dealing with and not an underlying physical ailment. Once you are sure that it is anxiety that you dealing with, treat it.
Don’t wait
Burying your head in the sand hoping it will simply be gone next week is not an effective way to treat it. It is totally unnecessary to spend months if not years dealing with something that can be corrected now.
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Getting to Sleep and Panic Attacks at Night
As most doctors will tell you, there are two things that disturb sleep: physical pain and worry.
It’s therefore understandable that many people with anxiety report frequent sleep disturbance as a major problem.
Not being able to sleep can actually be quite traumatic for many people.
The first thing you need to understand about sleep is this: it’s not the amount of sleep you get that’s important, but rather the quality of the sleep.
Quality over quantity.
I am going to give you some quick tips to help tackle any problems you are having with sleep. Firstly, to break the insomnia cycle, begin by not presuming you will sleep! That seems like the wrong attitude, but if you approach each night as just a possible opportunity to sleep, this helps remove the pressure you are placing yourself under.
In a way, some people have performance anxiety when they think about sleeping:
“Will I be able to make myself sleep tonight?”
The answer is maybe yes, maybe no. If you’re going through a period of sleeplessness, a good night’s sleep isn’t guaranteed, for whatever reason, so you have to accept that for the moment. If you get one or two hours’ sleep, that’s well and good, and if you get nothing, then accept it and move on. Each night, as you retire, say to yourself:
“I’m preparing for bed, but I won’t try to force sleep. If it comes, it comes. If not, I won’t beat myself up over it. This is a period I’m going through, but I’ll soon return to normal sleep patterns.”
Every person goes through periods of sleeplessness from time to time. It’s very natural. You may not be aware of why you experience sleeplessness, but at the very least, you can accept it.
Let me emphasize the importance of surrendering to your inability to sleep. Surrender to whatever may or may not happen during the course of a night, and you’ll put your mind under less pressure. After a certain point, it’s really the anger and frustration that keep you awake most of the night.
Naturally the best way to get a good night’s sleep is a good physical workout each evening in the outdoors. This is very effective because the mind may try to keep you awake, but the sheer physical exhaustion brings on sleep quicker. Couple that with a willingness to accept sleeplessness, and you’ll find yourself sleeping much easier.
Remember that alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine should be avoided several hours before sleep. You may be the type who finds it initially hard to get to sleep as your mind races with anxious thoughts. Should you find your mind racing and you simply can’t achieve sleep, keep a journal beside your bed. Sit upright and start to write down how you feel:
“I’m feeling quite restless. I keep turning over and over, trying to sleep, but I have worries on my mind.” Now write down all of your worries, for example:
“Tomorrow I have to do X, and I’m afraid I won’t be well rested, etc.”
Continue to write down your worries until the exercise actually becomes quite boring. Then your body and mind will slowly want to return to sleep. Writing like this is a simple tool for preparing your mind in a linear way to wind down and return to sleep (an advanced form of counting sheep).
Don’t be afraid of writing pages and pages of nothing in particular. What you’re doing is helping the conscious mind release whatever is keeping it awake so it can stop obsessing and return to sleep.
You see, one of the reasons we can’t fall asleep is that our mind feels these worries (whatever they are) are important to analyze over and over; they need urgent attention and therefore should be thought about all night long.
The more worked up you get by the worries, the more your body gets stimulated and the harder sleep is to achieve. Writing down all your worries on paper has the effect of saying to your mind:
“Okay, mind, you think these are important. I’ve written them all down in detail. They won’t be forgotten, I promise. I can come back to them tomorrow and deal with them then-but RIGHT NOW, let’s sleep.”
The mind can be like a small child who just needs reassurance that things will be dealt with and looked after. That’s all it needs to let go of these mental worries. You then discover, in the morning, that almost all of the worries or concerns aren’t big issues. Many of our worries are the workings or an overactive imagination.
Try the following:
-As you lie there in bed, start by remembering a time in your life when you absolutely had to stay awake! Maybe it was an important exam you were studying for and you had to keep cramming through the night.
Maybe it was staying up all night nursing your baby to sleep. Maybe it was when you were traveling through the night on a bus and needed to stay awake in case you missed your stop.
I am sure there have been many different occasions in your life where you had to force yourself to stay awake.
-Remember the weariness and the effort just to keep your eyes open. Remember how your eyelids felt like lead weights and you wished you could close them, even just for a minute. At that time, you could not give in to your urge to fall asleep; you had to fight hard to stay awake. Relive those memories and really try and remember exactly what that felt like.
-Now think about right now, and how good it feels to actually be in bed with no pressing need to stay awake. Think how much you would have given to be where you are now, lying in your bed with your head resting on the pillow and the complete freedom you have to fall asleep. It feels really good to actually have full permission to fall asleep right now.
There are no demands on you to stay awake. With your eyes closed spend a few more minutes remembering that time.
It’s therefore understandable that many people with anxiety report frequent sleep disturbance as a major problem.
Not being able to sleep can actually be quite traumatic for many people.
The first thing you need to understand about sleep is this: it’s not the amount of sleep you get that’s important, but rather the quality of the sleep.
Quality over quantity.
I am going to give you some quick tips to help tackle any problems you are having with sleep. Firstly, to break the insomnia cycle, begin by not presuming you will sleep! That seems like the wrong attitude, but if you approach each night as just a possible opportunity to sleep, this helps remove the pressure you are placing yourself under.
In a way, some people have performance anxiety when they think about sleeping:
“Will I be able to make myself sleep tonight?”
The answer is maybe yes, maybe no. If you’re going through a period of sleeplessness, a good night’s sleep isn’t guaranteed, for whatever reason, so you have to accept that for the moment. If you get one or two hours’ sleep, that’s well and good, and if you get nothing, then accept it and move on. Each night, as you retire, say to yourself:
“I’m preparing for bed, but I won’t try to force sleep. If it comes, it comes. If not, I won’t beat myself up over it. This is a period I’m going through, but I’ll soon return to normal sleep patterns.”
Every person goes through periods of sleeplessness from time to time. It’s very natural. You may not be aware of why you experience sleeplessness, but at the very least, you can accept it.
Let me emphasize the importance of surrendering to your inability to sleep. Surrender to whatever may or may not happen during the course of a night, and you’ll put your mind under less pressure. After a certain point, it’s really the anger and frustration that keep you awake most of the night.
Naturally the best way to get a good night’s sleep is a good physical workout each evening in the outdoors. This is very effective because the mind may try to keep you awake, but the sheer physical exhaustion brings on sleep quicker. Couple that with a willingness to accept sleeplessness, and you’ll find yourself sleeping much easier.
Remember that alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine should be avoided several hours before sleep. You may be the type who finds it initially hard to get to sleep as your mind races with anxious thoughts. Should you find your mind racing and you simply can’t achieve sleep, keep a journal beside your bed. Sit upright and start to write down how you feel:
“I’m feeling quite restless. I keep turning over and over, trying to sleep, but I have worries on my mind.” Now write down all of your worries, for example:
“Tomorrow I have to do X, and I’m afraid I won’t be well rested, etc.”
Continue to write down your worries until the exercise actually becomes quite boring. Then your body and mind will slowly want to return to sleep. Writing like this is a simple tool for preparing your mind in a linear way to wind down and return to sleep (an advanced form of counting sheep).
Don’t be afraid of writing pages and pages of nothing in particular. What you’re doing is helping the conscious mind release whatever is keeping it awake so it can stop obsessing and return to sleep.
You see, one of the reasons we can’t fall asleep is that our mind feels these worries (whatever they are) are important to analyze over and over; they need urgent attention and therefore should be thought about all night long.
The more worked up you get by the worries, the more your body gets stimulated and the harder sleep is to achieve. Writing down all your worries on paper has the effect of saying to your mind:
“Okay, mind, you think these are important. I’ve written them all down in detail. They won’t be forgotten, I promise. I can come back to them tomorrow and deal with them then-but RIGHT NOW, let’s sleep.”
The mind can be like a small child who just needs reassurance that things will be dealt with and looked after. That’s all it needs to let go of these mental worries. You then discover, in the morning, that almost all of the worries or concerns aren’t big issues. Many of our worries are the workings or an overactive imagination.
Try the following:
-As you lie there in bed, start by remembering a time in your life when you absolutely had to stay awake! Maybe it was an important exam you were studying for and you had to keep cramming through the night.
Maybe it was staying up all night nursing your baby to sleep. Maybe it was when you were traveling through the night on a bus and needed to stay awake in case you missed your stop.
I am sure there have been many different occasions in your life where you had to force yourself to stay awake.
-Remember the weariness and the effort just to keep your eyes open. Remember how your eyelids felt like lead weights and you wished you could close them, even just for a minute. At that time, you could not give in to your urge to fall asleep; you had to fight hard to stay awake. Relive those memories and really try and remember exactly what that felt like.
-Now think about right now, and how good it feels to actually be in bed with no pressing need to stay awake. Think how much you would have given to be where you are now, lying in your bed with your head resting on the pillow and the complete freedom you have to fall asleep. It feels really good to actually have full permission to fall asleep right now.
There are no demands on you to stay awake. With your eyes closed spend a few more minutes remembering that time.
Anxious Thoughts and Broken Records
Have you ever noticed that anxious thoughts are like a broken record?
I know with Ipods etc. it’s a bit outdated to be using a record analogy here but it works well to illustrate a key point about anxious thoughts.
Remember when a record got scratched it made a very unpleasant sound and caused the needle to get stuck on the same groove.
The same one line would play over and over again ad nauseam until you picked up the needle and moved it past the scratch.
Anxious thoughts are bit like this. You might be happily going about your day and then something triggers an anxious thought.
The worry the thought creates sends an unpleasant shock wave through your nervous system. (The scratch on the record).
Then once you start reacting to the anxious thought it is hard to stop thinking about it over and over again. (The needle stuck in a groove)
The repetitive anxious thought can last minutes, hours , days depending on how upset you become by the thought.
I want to share with you a quick technique to jump out of this anxious groove. This technique is you learning how to pick up the record needle and move it past the scratch.
Here it is:
1, Observe 2, Trust 3, Move
Observe the anxious thought and label it. Say
“Oh there is fear X again, imagine that”
Try your very best to not get sucked into reacting emotionally to the thought.
Then
Trust that what you are worrying about will in all probability never come about. Almost all the anxious thoughts we have are a complete waste of our energy.
Trust that things will work out fine.
Joseph Cossman said “If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.”
If you are religious/spiritual then hand your anxious thought over to a higher power. Trust that there is nothing to fear and you will be looked after.
Trust and let it go.
“Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He’s going to be up all night anyway. ” ~Mary C. Crowley
Lastly,
Move your attention elsewhere. Focus on something positive that takes your mind out of the anxious groove.
Replace the anxious thought with a positive thought. You are not trying to suppress the anxious thought, you are simply moving your attention elsewhere. To continue the record analogy, you pick the record needle up (your attention) and move it out of the groove it was caught in.
If you are engaged in an activity then move your attention fully there. Be 100% present in the moment.
If you are walking focus on the surroundings, if you are driving observe all the sights and sounds. If you are with someone focus all your attention on them.
By moving your attention into the present moment there is no room for anxious thoughts to dominate your mind.
Play around with both moving your attention to positive thoughts or into the present moment. Different people find one or the other is easier to accomplish. The key thing is to move your mind out of the anxious groove and put you back in your natural flow.
So to sum up remember O.T.M.
Observe, Trust, Move
It takes a bit of practice but as long as you remember the above 3 steps you will be able to dramatically eliminate anxious thoughts from your day.
Eliminate Anxiety and Panic Attacks For Good
If you suffer from…
* Palpitations
* a pounding heart, or an accelerated heart rate
* Sweating
* Trembling or shaking
* Shortness of breath
* A choking sensation
* Chest pain or discomfort
* Nausea or stomach cramps
* Derealization (a feeling of unreality)
* Fear of losing control or going crazy
* Fear of dying Numbness or a tingling sensation
* Chills or hot flashes
…then you’ve experienced firsthand some of the possible symptoms of a panic or anxiety attack. If you are reading this page because a loved one suffers from these symptoms and you are trying to understand or help, it’s hard to appreciate what they go through.
Just try to imagine what it feels like to experience one, if you can.
Here is a typical example:
Standing in a supermarket queue, it’s been a long wait but only one customer to go before you make it to the cashier. Wait, what was that sensation? An unpleasant feeling forms in your throat, your chest feels tighter, now a sudden shortness of breath, and what do you know—your heart skips a beat. “Please, God, not here.”
A quick scan of the territory—is it threatening? Four unfriendly faces queue behind, one person in front. Pins and needles seem to prick you through your left arm, you feel slightly dizzy, and then the explosion of fear as you dread the worst. You are about to have a panic attack.
There is no doubt in your mind now that this is going to be a big one. Okay, focus: Remember what you have been taught, and it is time now to apply the coping techniques. Begin the deep breathing exercise your doctor recommended. In through the nose, out through the mouth.
Think relaxing thoughts, and again, while breathing in, think “Relax,” and then breathe out. But it doesn’t seem to be having any positive effect; in fact, just concentrating on breathing is making you feel self-conscious and more uptight.
Okay, coping technique 2:
Gradual muscle relaxation. Tense both shoulders, hold for 10 seconds, then release. Try it again. No; still no difference. The anxiety is getting worse and the very fact that you are out of coping techniques worsens your panic. If only you were surrounded by your family, or a close friend were beside you so you could feel more confident in dealing with this situation.
Now, the adrenaline is really pumping through your system, your body is tingling with uncomfortable sensations, and now the dreaded feeling of losing complete control engulfs your emotions. No one around you has any idea of the sheer terror you are experiencing. For them, it’s just a regular day and another frustratingly slow queue in the supermarket.
You are out of options. Time for Plan C.
The most basic coping skill of all is “fleeing.” Excuse yourself from the queue; you are slightly embarrassed as it is now that it is your turn to pay. The cashier is looking bewildered as you leave your shopping behind and stroll towards the door. There is no time for excuses—you need to be alone. You leave the supermarket and get into your car to ride it out alone. Could this be the big one? The one you fear will push you over the edge mentally and physically. Ten minutes later the panic subsides.
It’s 10:30 a.m. How are you going to make it through the rest of the day?
If you suffer from panic or anxiety attacks, the above scenerio probably sounds very familiar. It may have even induced feelings of anxiety and panic just reading it. The particular situations that trigger your panic and anxiety may differ; maybe the bodily sensations are a little different. Or maybe it happened to you for the first time on a plane, in the dentist chair, or even at home, while doing nothing in particular.
If you have ever had what has become known as a “panic attack,” take comfort in the fact that you are by no means alone.
A panic attack always comes with the acute sense of impending doom. You feel you are either about to lose your mind or one of your vital bodily functions is about to cease functioning and you will end your days right there among the canned goods and frozen food.
You are by no means alone; you’re not even one in a million. In America, it is estimated that almost 5% of the population suffer from some form of anxiety disorder. For some, it may be the infrequent panic attacks that only crop up in particular situations-like when having to speak in front of others, while, for other people, it can be so frequent and recurring that it inhibits them from leaving their home. Frequent panic attacks often develop into what medical physicians refer to as an “anxiety disorder.”
One of the first steps to regaining control of your life is getting helpful information. This site will give you that, and more.
The beginning of your recovery starts here. What you will learn is that there is a very good chance you are about to end the cycle of panic attacks in your life. You will learn not only to regain the carefree life you remember once having, but will also gain new confidence in living. Your answer to living free from “panic” or “anxiety attacks” is at hand.
This site demonstrates that the panic and anxiety that you have experienced will be the very key to your courage and success.
Begin the road to recovery by browsing through the site. While many of you may have read almost everything you can possibly read relating to panic and anxiety I assure you this site offers something very effective.
Did you know…?
The key difference between someone who is cured of panic attacks and those who are not is really very simple. The people who are cured no longer fear panic attacks. I’ll try to show you how to be one of these people as well.
What if I told you the trick to ending panic and anxiety attacks is to want to have one. That sounds strange, even contradictory, but let me explain.
The trick to panic attacks is wanting to have one-the wanting pushes it away. Can you have a panic attack in this very second? No!
You know the saying that “what you resist, persists.” Well that saying applies perfectly to fear. If you resist a situation out of fear, the fear around that issue will persist. How do you stop resisting–you move directly into it, into the path of the anxiety, and by doing so it cannot persist.
In essence what this means is that if you daily voluntarily seek to have a panic attack, you cannot have one. Try in this very moment to have a panic attack and I will guarantee you cannot. You may not realize it but you have always decided to panic. You make the choice by saying this is beyond my control.
Another way to appreciate this is to imagine having a panic attack as like standing on a cliff’s edge. The anxiety seemingly pushes you closer to falling over the edge.
To be rid of the fear you must metaphorically jump. You must jump off the cliff edge and into the anxiety and fear and all the things that you fear most.
How do you jump? You jump by wanting to have a panic attack. You go about your day asking for anxiety and panic attacks to appear.
Your real safety is the fact that a panic attack will never harm you. That is medical fact. You are safe, the sensations are wild but no harm will come to you. Your heart is racing but no harm will come to you. The jump becomes nothing more than a two foot drop! Perfectly safe.
Do you fear the arrival of another panic attack?
People who have experienced panic attacks often go around with a grave sense of unease that at any moment, they will experience a major panic attack.
It’s a fear of the ultimate panic attack that would finally push them over the edge.
This leads people to make changes to their behavior in order not to do anything that might trigger a panic episode.
When people feel this way, simple daily tasks can become big challenges. Some people start to fear driving their car in traffic. Others fear leaving their safe zone or simply any situation where they have responsibilities to perform.
This state of apprehension keeps a person’s anxiety level high, leading to feelings of general anxiety.
If you are such a person I hope to put your mind at rest. Panic attacks as well as general anxiety (even when not accompanied by panic disorder) can be eliminated in simple steps regardless of how long the anxiety has been a problem.
I am speaking not just from my own personal experience but from having worked with thousands of people right around the world.
Here is an important observation:
The key difference between someone who is cured of panic attacks and those who are not is really very simple. The one who is cured is not afraid of panic attacks. I’ll try to show you how to one of these people as well.
What if I told you the trick to ending panic attacks is to want to have one!
That sounds strange but let me explain.
A simple trick to ending panic attacks is wanting to have one because the wanting causes an immediate diffusion of the anticipatory fear.
Can you have a panic attack in this very second?
No !
You know the saying “what you resist persists.” Well that saying applies perfectly to fear. If you resist a situation out of fear, the fear around that issue will persist.
How do you stop resisting?
You move directly into the path of the anxiety; by doing so it cannot persist because you process the fear out through your emotions.
Try in this very moment to have a panic attack and I will bet you cannot… Yes, I know the idea of calling on a panic attack is scary at first but play with the concept and watch what happens.
You may not realize it but you have always decided to panic. You make the choice by thinking
“This is beyond my control.”
“These scary sensations are beyond my bodies control.”
It may help if you imagine that having a panic attack is like standing on a cliff edge.
The anxiety, it seems, is pushing you closer to falling over the edge. Each time you fight back using poor coping strategies the more desperate you feel.
To be rid of the fear you must metaphorically jump. You must jump off the cliff edge and into the anxiety and fear and all the things that you fear most. How do you jump?
You jump by wanting to have a panic attack. You go about your day asking for a panic attack to appear. Your real safety is the fact that a panic attack will never harm you. That is medical fact.
You are safe, -Yes, the sensations are wild and uncomfortable, but no harm will come to you.
Your body is in a heightened state but no harm will come to you.
The jump becomes nothing more than a two inch drop! You are safe.
You always were.
Think of all the panic attacks you have had to date and come out the other end. Was there any lasting physical damage to you, other than the mounting feeling of panic?
Now you are going to approach this problem differently. You actively seek out the attack like an adventure seeker. Take the opposite approach.
YOU bring it on!!!
It’s a fear of the ultimate panic attack that would finally push them over the edge.
This leads people to make changes to their behavior in order not to do anything that might trigger a panic episode.
When people feel this way, simple daily tasks can become big challenges. Some people start to fear driving their car in traffic. Others fear leaving their safe zone or simply any situation where they have responsibilities to perform.
This state of apprehension keeps a person’s anxiety level high, leading to feelings of general anxiety.
If you are such a person I hope to put your mind at rest. Panic attacks as well as general anxiety (even when not accompanied by panic disorder) can be eliminated in simple steps regardless of how long the anxiety has been a problem.
I am speaking not just from my own personal experience but from having worked with thousands of people right around the world.
Here is an important observation:
The key difference between someone who is cured of panic attacks and those who are not is really very simple. The one who is cured is not afraid of panic attacks. I’ll try to show you how to one of these people as well.
What if I told you the trick to ending panic attacks is to want to have one!
That sounds strange but let me explain.
A simple trick to ending panic attacks is wanting to have one because the wanting causes an immediate diffusion of the anticipatory fear.
Can you have a panic attack in this very second?
No !
You know the saying “what you resist persists.” Well that saying applies perfectly to fear. If you resist a situation out of fear, the fear around that issue will persist.
How do you stop resisting?
You move directly into the path of the anxiety; by doing so it cannot persist because you process the fear out through your emotions.
Try in this very moment to have a panic attack and I will bet you cannot… Yes, I know the idea of calling on a panic attack is scary at first but play with the concept and watch what happens.
You may not realize it but you have always decided to panic. You make the choice by thinking
“This is beyond my control.”
“These scary sensations are beyond my bodies control.”
It may help if you imagine that having a panic attack is like standing on a cliff edge.
The anxiety, it seems, is pushing you closer to falling over the edge. Each time you fight back using poor coping strategies the more desperate you feel.
To be rid of the fear you must metaphorically jump. You must jump off the cliff edge and into the anxiety and fear and all the things that you fear most. How do you jump?
You jump by wanting to have a panic attack. You go about your day asking for a panic attack to appear. Your real safety is the fact that a panic attack will never harm you. That is medical fact.
You are safe, -Yes, the sensations are wild and uncomfortable, but no harm will come to you.
Your body is in a heightened state but no harm will come to you.
The jump becomes nothing more than a two inch drop! You are safe.
You always were.
Think of all the panic attacks you have had to date and come out the other end. Was there any lasting physical damage to you, other than the mounting feeling of panic?
Now you are going to approach this problem differently. You actively seek out the attack like an adventure seeker. Take the opposite approach.
YOU bring it on!!!
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