Meditation

[gentle]

I would seriously suggest some meditation, just a very simple and short, maybe 5 minutes a day, to help with anxiety. Find a quiet place and just sit and follow your breath. Very simple and easy. You'll think about things of course, but when you realize your thinking, you just come back to your breath. This is good awareness practice for when anxiety comes up. Then you can be aware of the anxiety and watch it pass. I find that when I get anxiety and I am aware of what it is, "oh this is just anxiety" instead of just being scared and wondering if Im dieing or what, it makes all the difference in the world. Ive found that a little meditation is really helpful for this.
I would call it "awareness practice", because it helps you practice to be centered when it really matters, when your feeling anxious or obsessing.
Along with medication, its been really helpful to me so I thought Id suggest it. Please email me if I can help with any questions about meditation practice.
Gentle

[niq]

I agree 100%. I started meditating around 3 weeks ago, and have found it to be hugely helpful. It has helped me to be aware of my thoughts, rather than being drowned in them. I have/had really bad health-related anxiety. I still have some of the what-if thoughts running through my head, but I am learning not to respond to them emotionally. I also find that meditation is great for clearing the mind and reducing mental chatter.

Practising mindfullness in daily life is a great way to keep distracted from anxiety-invoking thoughts. If you are living in the present, then you can't be worrying about the past or future. Simple concept, but unfortunately this is very difficult to do. However I have noticed that I am improving with practice.

1 year ago I would have scoffed at the idea of meditation. Now it is a practise that I intend to continue for the rest of my life.

Unfortunately meditation doesn't seem to help much with derealization - which is my biggest problem at the moment.