The information that helped me cure anxiety disorder

[Nec]

Thought I'd share with you guys the information from my website. This info is exactly the info that helped me cure anxiety disorder and I hope that it will help you guys too. :)
Maybe “cure” is not the best term for something like this, because none of you is ill, it is only a disorder and a disorder can be corrected. Remember you are not ill!

How to cure Anxiety Disorder

Your curing of anxiety consists of three steps (this also can be applied to all of anxiety states):

1) Accepting symptoms
2) Surrendering to symptoms
3) Let the time do the job

I will explain each of these steps.

1) Accepting symptoms
Identify the symptoms and deal with the current situation. Everything is clear. You know very well that you have the symptoms , recognize them and adopt them in your mind , know that they are there and will be there for a while (this is not a bad thing) . Fully accept these symptoms. Be willing to accept and live with these symptoms for a while. Accept these symptoms as something that will be with you for a certain time. But also as something that will pass after a while, be sure of that!
But do not make the mistake and think that your symptoms will go as soon as you accept them . Your nerves are still too sensitive. It will take some time to reduce the sensitivity.
It should be understood that all the symptoms are in fact a reflection of our current mood. However, you must realize that it will take some time for your body to adopt your acceptance of symptoms, so you should make peace with the fact that your body will probably initially continue to behave according to your previous mood which dominated the fear, tension, etc…
Remember, it took time for your fear and tension to take over your body and become your “normal” state, it will also take some time for your body to adopt a new mood as “normal”. Because time is your good friend. But while waiting for time to pass, the background must be absolute and true acceptance of what is happening.
If your hands are sweating, let them sweat! If your hands are shaking, accept it, and do not try to change anything! If your heart is pounding, let the pounding. Accept these symptoms completely, something that is currently a part of you.
This is very important: No matter how daunting your symptoms are, do not try to fight them, you will not win. Accept them, do not fight. True acceptance means accepting your symptoms (whatever they are) without giving attention to them.
Initially, this will all seem like a very difficult and almost impossible thing to do. You may need a moment to accept the symptoms, the next you can not … Do not let this bother you, it’s quite normal. All that you are required is to be prepared to function for a certain time with these symptoms, while they do their own, without giving attention to them.

2) Surrendering to symptoms
Surrendering is as important as the acceptance. It means that you should stop analyzing what is happening to you, you should stop giving attention to your symptoms. You simply need to give up the battle and stop caring about what you need to do regarding your symptoms. There is no need to look at your symptoms as some challenges that need to be overcome.
If your body is trembling, let it tremble. Do not feel the need to have to do something to stop the trembling. Do not try to “look normal”. Do not attempt to forcibly relax. Simply let the thought of relaxation be in your mind. Here is a simple philosophy – take it easy. In other words, do not be upset if you are under tension and cannot relax.
When you are ready to accept your tension, that relaxes your mind and relaxing of the body comes some time later. You may desperately yearn for relaxation. Relaxation comes by itself. Let your body itself find its way to relaxation, so without your control or influence. Work on this every day. Success has to happen.
The relief you feel after the “surrender of battle” and the realization that in fact there does not exist any battle except the one you create by yourself in the mind, it can bring you a surprising inner peace for which you have forgotten that there is within you.
Anxiety symptoms are just an illusion and the best way to beat them is to not care about them.

3) Let the time do the job
This is quite clear, it will take some time for you to be well again. Do not measure your progress from day to day, but rest assured that you will in the near future be good.
Be prepared to spend some time traveling downhill and uphill. Looking ahead with firm confidence is a big help. It allows you to smoothly pass by yesterday, today and tomorrow … all the way to recovery.
Remember, during recovery, your primary direction is forward and upward.
Time is your best friend. Time will cure your anxiety!

Hopefully this information helps you, feel free to share if you know any way to improve this article. :)

[Irish Sammie]

Hi Nec,

Thank you for your insight. I've a question though. When you say not to fight the symptoms, are you saying you should allow a panic attack to fully run it's course? My last 5 panic attack attempts, I've stopped them all with a combination of a distraction, regulating my breathing and treating the bodily reaction like I would scolding a child before letting it build and build and build, giving my mind the reasurrance that it's merely just the anxiety and nothing else. The thought of letting a panic attack run it's course is horrific as I'll never forget the first one I experienced.

[Nec]

Hey Irish Sammie. Well what I wrote above is more regarding anxiety disorder in general, you should not fight the symptoms because they are harmless. A panic attack is horrific yes, but it can't hurt you. I have an article regarding panic attacks too.

Here are few advices on what to do when you befall a panic attack:

- Remind yourself that the panic attack is totally harmless! A panic attack will pass and you’ll be fine.
- Count backwards from 100 as fast as possible and repeat it .
- Splash your face with cold water! This stimulates your brain that the body sends a message to slow down.
- Listen to your favorite music loud and sing along with it.
- Solve math problems, or anything else that occupies the mind .
- Tell yourself that it’s just a feeling, that feeling has never hurt anyone.
- Watch funny videos on the TV and laugh out loud.
- Do not look in the mirror!
- Go to the fridge and eat some food.
- At night , get up out of bed , turn on the TV , have a drink , eat an apple , and thus divert the mind.
- Talk to someone, but do not talk about anxiety or panic attacks.
- Do something physical, if you can.
- Do not sit! Keep moving.

Remember, your goal is to occupy the mind with something else during a panic attack. And on how to stop panic attacks forever.

How to stop Panic Attacks forever

First of all, you must realize that no harm from panic attacks will happen. Let that be constantly in your subconscious and whenever you feel fear or panic, remind yourself that no one has ever died from a panic attack, nor anything bad happened to anyone. Remember that!
No matter how terrible and shocking a panic attack is, I assure you that a panic attack does not damage your body. Many people think that when their heart is beating fast and hard during a panic attack, it will in some way harm the heart. Be sure that it is not so. It’s the same with all the other symptoms. All the symptoms don’t damage your body because they are just an “illusion”.
You probably think you need to establish some kind of “control” of a panic attack. Right there lies the catch! It is not necessary to keep things under control, nor is it necessary to “fight” against panic attacks. You cannot win this battle, all the more you fight, the worse it gets.
How to get rid of panic attacks? It’s easy. But first you need to change some of your thought patterns that are rooted in your subconscious and let go of your false beliefs about panic and panic attacks.
When you befall a panic attack, you actually have one real fear and additional fear that you yourself created.
Although you probably do not have control over the initial fear, you can learn how to control the additional fear since the latter fear is the one that makes the first fear there. Another fear keeps your panic attacks in life, other fear makes you constantly anxious and fearful.
Each person in their life from time to time experienced this first fear. The first fear, as we call it, comes reflexively, almost automatically, and is associated with a real danger that threatens us. We can say that this fear is “normal “, we accept it, understand it. React properly and the fear passes.
However, when a person is anxious or experience that fear, that person does not react like other people, but the response of such a person is much more intense, just because his/her nervous system eventually became sensitive to external stimuli.
The anxious person adds a “touch of ” additional fear to the first fear, even though he/she does not even notice, and for the anxious person these two fears are actually one fear.
When such a fear happens to a person, he/she automatically thinks:

“Oh no, not again”!

For anxious people it’s enough to think that they will be “trapped” in a closed space and the first fear is absorbed.
Immediately afterwards, the person on the first fear adds additional fear in the way that he /she thinks the following:

“Oh no, here we go again! Not again, that is happening to me again! I cannot take this anymore! Sure I’ll make a fool of myself in front of people, so it is better to run away somewhere I’m sure. Quickly let me get out of here. Quickly, quickly, quickly!”

With every “quickly”, a person is adding a stronger and stronger admixture of additional fear, panic is becoming stronger and stronger. The person is now 100% sure that if something is not done soon , something bad will certainly happen , he/she will fall or he/she will make a fool of himself/herself or he/she will go insane and will not know what he’ll/she’ll be doing etc.
Do you recognize yourself in this? Do you see yourself creating panic and fear?
Moving on … The person is now in full-blown panic and is confident that he/she can no longer think clearly and rationally and can’t behave calmly. Because he/she wants to as soon as possible “avoid” the risk of going somewhere to a quiet place.
People like these do not understand that they themselves created this panic with all those thoughts like “What if ….?” or “quick to get out of here …. ” and so on .
These people need to understand that they only need to respond to that first fear that comes. I know it sounds easier than it is, but really trust me. You just need to understand that you yourself are adding another hint of fear at first fright, and thus lead yourself to a panic attack.
So for a panic attack to not happen, when you first befall a fear (which happens to all people) do your best not to react violently and that you won’t think about “What if …? ” questions. And that you won’t think “Oh no, here we go again a panic attack”. Don’t be interested in physical symptoms (because they are all harmless). In other words, do your best not to add additional fear.
Probably you’re thinking, “OK , I’ll try to do that next time I befall a panic “. Please do not try , but do it! So this is not a game attempt, this is not a fighting game, it’s just a change in thought patterns that are etched deeply in your subconscious! Believe me, once you manage to overcome the first fear without adding that additional fear, you will see that the first fear itself will slowly but surely disappear.
There is no better feeling than when you are sure that a panic attack did not happen just because you understood how things work, and that you are responsible that a panic attack did not happen!
Ok, here are a few tips that you can use when you befall panic. It would be very useful if you regularly remind yourself of the following statement:

“I know what it is, it cannot harm me. It will disappear. No need to panic, but if I do, the worst thing that can happen is getting a panic attack. It’s not important if I get a panic attack because it did not kill me before and it never will, nothing bad will happen”

This thought process is the key to stopping the development of panic attacks and panic disorder in general. Overcome it! It may take a while, but continue to practice and it will pay off!
You can try to replace the statement which provokes fear, for example, instead of saying: “I’m terrified that I will run out of the store”, say “I’m terrified, but I still really enjoy shopping”
Your panic attacks will decrease. You’ll realize that panic and anxiety are just a feeling and nothing more!