Adrenaline rush

[gadguy]

Not really anxiety related, but just thought I would share. I live out in the woods, nice and peaceful..however sometimes this comes at a price of unwanted visitors..... Yesterday after work I met with a very large snake, near my back porch of the poisonous variety, I usually ignore non poisonous snakes, I grab a shovel out of garage and dispatch it to snake heaven. It strikes at me several times, my heart is pounding. Sometimes it amazes me how I can do this, and after its done I am completely drained afterwards, had to take a break after that and just calm down, same thing happened last year when I had to shoot possum that was in chicken house. Adrenaline amazes me in how it pumps you up during a "crisis" and the exhausted feeling you have after it is over.

[raggamuffin]

The fight or flight response at it's finest. problem with anxiety is there is no snake causing the fight or flight response - there's fears and worries about symptoms or situations etc. When there's no snake you often fear why the adrenaline is kicking in and it can send you into a panic.

Ed

[gypsylee]

Exactly....

[gadguy]

The fight or flight response at it's finest. problem with anxiety is there is no snake causing the fight or flight response - there's fears and worries about symptoms or situations etc. When there's no snake you often fear why the adrenaline is kicking in and it can send you into a panic.

Ed

I like your reply, but the more I think about it there is a "snake" that we don't realize is there, that causes those worries or fears or causes us to think that way. I think that once we find that "snake" and "kill" it our anxiety issues will be resolved. At least that is what I am trying to do, find the reasons I feel the way I do and resolve or let them go.

[sae]

Sometimes you have to get creative when doing battle with your "snake" ... and suddenly that sounds dirty... damn. The minute you allow yourself to believe there has been one there will always be others you find yourself battling a hundred non-existent snakes.
Action is the best cure against stressors. My parents live waaaay in the woods, straight up Deliverance style. Sometimes when I visit I swear I hear dueling banjos in the distance. There are butt tons of snakes, many of them trying to find someway in their house. My mother bought ten full boxes of mothballs and spread them around the perimeter of the house. My mother's explanation was rather ingenious "yeah, so I put down way more mothballs than I needed, but I did SOMETHING so now I don't worry so much about finding snakes in my dryer anymore." Sure enough the mothballs did the trick and my mother no longer goes out her door armed with a hatchet. I think even if the mothballs didn't work she would have still felt better knowing she took action.

[Kuma]

Seems some of us imagine snakes that don't exist, or assume that every slight noise is a snake (even though it is probably just the wind blowing some leaves), or fear worms as most others would fear snakes. In other words, in one way or another, we over-estimate risk. And we forget that, even if it is a snake, there is a high likelihood that it will not attack and kill us. Again, we over-estimate risk. This is, as I understand it, a fundamental premise of CBT.

[jessed03]

Seems some of us imagine snakes that don't exist, or assume that every slight noise is a snake (even though it is probably just the wind blowing some leaves), or fear worms as most others would fear snakes. In other words, in one way or another, we over-estimate risk. And we forget that, even if it is a snake, there is a high likelihood that it will not attack and kill us. Again, we over-estimate risk. This is, as I understand it, a fundamental premise of CBT.

Yeah, reducing the hyperactivity of the amygdala area through reframing and reevaluating situations and behaviours is at the heart of the practice.