just wondering....

[ks-panic]

hi, im new here to this forum, and very happy i found it, and am so relived that im not the only one. iam also new to this anxiety/panic/OCD. i just cant belive it has happened to me!
I've been reading the posts for a while now, and im wondering.... does the panic attacks ever go away?? or once you have it do you always have it??... can you "out grow" this?? i feel so trapped! my panic happends while driving, only highway... not so much in town(i live in a small town so traffic moves slow) its the hwy speed, and if someone is behind me that triggers the attacks. so....i dont do any traveling. will facing your fears really make them stop?? its just so scarry!

[forwells]

Hi ks-panic :D

IN a word YES they go away when you learn not to react to them , Sure you may have a quick thing happen when you are a bit stressed but if you learn to say oh i must be a bit stressed and not react to it then you dont feed it and it passes in a matter of seconds . The reason you are having attacks is because you are reacting with fear .

When you are driving instead of say Oh this person is peeing me off driving up my bum you are telling yourself , oh no his to close . i cant handle this , what if i have apanic attack etc etc . You may not even notice this but you are telling yourself such things .

I have stress when driving , never use to but when my anixety was really bad i would freak just looking at a car but now i drive anywhere even though it feels a little stressful at times. It is normally when i start once into it i am fine .

will facing your fears really make them stop?? A million % thats what i did i faced it , i just crack it one day and got in and drove , the more i drive the easier it gets . Theses are not true fears , they are in your mind and something your body has learn to react to . Your brain learns to react automatic to things that fear you. It is a good thing , you would not want to be thinking to long with a run away bus coming at you would you . Look at a hot kettle you touch it and straight away you remove your hand , the auto part of your brain did that in a mill second. You need to react and react fast without thinking and this is what your brain is doing . But as you would know it is doing it wrong and you need to retrain it and the way to do that is to face it and show no fear that way your brain removes it from the things it is ment to fear . Yes it has a list and many things are on it but many should not be.

cheers and good luck kev :D

[palow]

Good answer, Kev.

One thing I would like to add is that anxiety is a natural reflex. Mother Nature gave it to us to protect us from danger. You cannot be 100% rid of anxiety nor should you want to be. Where would Spider Man be without his spider sense, eh?

You only want to reset your anxiety levels lower by stopping all the negative mindgames going on inside your head.

Patrick