Meditation Instead of Medication

[OtherMed]

I'm wondering...

How many people who have posted their stories on this site have legitimate experience with meditation.

Meditation can certainly be used to alleviate anxiety. However, it requires a lifestyle change that many in our society are unable or unwilling to make I suppose.

I guess people prefer psychiatric drugs because they are easy. You just take them with your breakfast or whatever and you're good to go.

Meditation on the other hand, and specifically how you have to apply meditation in order to treat anxiety, to me, seems far more difficult. But seeing all the horror stories people tell from their experience with SSRIs, I wonder if some people might be better off going down this other road.

Like I said, it's really a lifestyle change, not that you have to go live on a mountain and be a monk but in order to erase anxiety with meditation there's no doubt that you'll have to make serious changes. Also, progress will be generally slow (but the same is basically true for SSRIs).

But for anyone who is getting fed up with psychiatric drugs for whatever reason, I do think that making such a lifestyle change will be very much worth the price.

Lastly, I'll just say that if you have legitimate, real anxiety, the process of using meditation to alleviate it does not begin with meditation immediately in my opinion. You have to go through a process that precedes it.

[plumb]

what types of meditation exactly? i would like to pursue this.thanks

[OtherMed]

Well, first of all, I think the above poster is exactly right. You really do have to understand the anxiety and stress. I'm of the belief that meditation can't really exist when a person is under acute stress. So like, if your life is really chaotic and all over the place, meditation may not help that much. Since, in reality, meditation is just a continuation of relaxation.

Also, I think that most types of meditation are essentially doing the same things. Whether you're repeating "special mantras" or whatever it is, you're basically just doing the same thing.

Furthermore, I should mention that meditation can actually be dangerous to certain people. Because you are indeed altering brain chemistry. So I would advise anyone who is looking into this to be a little bit cautious.

Anyways, it's not easy. I would say the worse your anxiety is, the longer you should wait before meditating, and only you can decide this based on how you feel. So I guess rather than give advice, I'll tell you what I would do.

I would only move on to meditation after I've done all I can to deal with the real life stressors that cause anxiety. If the anxiety is really really awful, I would start off by just sitting in a chair or on a couch or whatever for a period of time each day, and look to steadily increase that amount of time. Even though this is not fun, it gets you closer to actually solving the physical problem than if you spend lots of time with coping behaviors (like drinking, smoking, watching TV, whatever).

Anyways, for the really bad cases, if you just sit and do nothing for long periods of time you'll eventually start to see a change. But you have to stick with it. It's my belief that your body will naturally calm down this way. When I did this I meditated at the same time. Just like lying down, listening to music and trying to focus on my breath and concentrate. But of course you can do really anything that has you trying to actively calm down. This, combined with a lot of time just sitting still can give you a better perspective on the anxiety and the thoughts and after a period of time you will start to see a difference. Like I said though, if you have really bad anxiety it will take a while, anywhere from 2 - 4 weeks would be my guess if not a little bit longer. You really are physically changing your brain and it takes time for the brain to do this. It cannot happen overnight.

Obviously this is not fun to sit in a chair doing nothing all day, and it's much easier to just feel better by using drugs, either psychiatric or otherwise. But 1 month of your life in the long run is not that much. And if your anxiety isn't that terrible, you may be alright just meditating without having to spend a lot of time just sitting down.

Having to spend a lot of time just sitting is most necessary for people who have really rough anxiety with anhedonia and perhaps some depression.

It's crazy when you think about it that people live with these symptoms for such long periods of time. But it's sort of like a drug addict getting off drugs. You have to go through a short period of time of feeling really awful in order to feel better in the long run.

Lastly, I would say I can't recommend this type of treatment for people who have other things going on like Biploar disorder or anything like that. I only know that it can work for people with anxiety as their main problem.

*And again, the type of meditation I do is very simple. Just lying down, listening to music (or not) and focusing on breath trying to relax and concentrate for about 30 minutes to 1 hour on average.

[stevie.x0]

i am looking at meditation and yoga and other natural ways to help with my anxiety. i dont believe in just medicated because its not fixing the problem its just covering it up!

[jessed03]

I once read a quote in a book about spiritualism, that said "If people only learnt how to sit quietly in a room, 75% of the worlds problems would evaporate"

It's true really. We're taught from birth in the west to work endlessly towards a never achievable goal. We're taught to choose ego instead of love, drama instead of peace, and noise instead of silence.

As much as I enjoy meditation, it can be as dangerous as drugs if not used in the correct way. People who don't get the right help can learn to shut off their emotions, change habits, and deny certain things necessary to happiness. It deals with a very fragile and impressionable part of the brain, and if you apprach it in the wrong way, it can take years to undo, unlike medication where you only undo the side effects in a month or two. Not only that, but there are many types of meditation that worsen anxiety symptoms. There's a lot of information online that teaches you to deny everything about you, but the problem is, your life is nothing like a 1st Century Tibetan monks.

That being said, I encourage it immensely, I've found huge benefits, but when you have anxiety, it's tempting to learn to switch off all emotions. My computer is down so I can't post any of my links, but hopefully someone can. The method in the Linden method is pretty good too. Failing that, a good teacher will help your practice to begin with, far greater than you could do alone.

EDIT: Just seen the bottom of OtherMeds post. It sounds a nice way to relax. I've found Yoga Nidra fantastic as well. Apparently Napolean used it right before battle to relax, and focus.

[brady]

Medication = lose.

[jessed03]

100th post = WIN!

:)

[JaneB]

I'm big into yoga. I've tried Meditation, but getting myself to sit still for that long to think about as little as possible... it just isn't gonna happen.

But yoga is great. I love the heated flow (vinyassa) yoga because it's pretty strenuous and while doing it, I literally can't focus on anything else. In a way, I guess it's kind of like a type of meditation. And then all the endorphins you get afterwords. Just wonderful!

[Schatmeisje]

I can say that after trying other therapies, that mindfulness training and meditation are the only thing that has given me some results. I have acomplished more since starting this therapy then i had in the past 12 months of trying with a psychologist and CBT. I had to make a brave decision as mindfulness training and CBT do not work together at all, but i am pleased i took the chance and gave it a go. It is nice to stop 'fighting' with yourself and forcing yourself to do things.

[OtherMed]

There are things about CBT I have real problems with. But I guess it supposedly works for a lot of people. I just can't imagine going down that path where you're constantly battling with your thoughts trying to force yourself into a certain perspective. Everyone's different though... but personally I would have a really hard time doing CBT.

[Robbed]

There are things about CBT I have real problems with. But I guess it supposedly works for a lot of people. I just can't imagine going down that path where you're constantly battling with your thoughts trying to force yourself into a certain perspective. Everyone's different though... but personally I would have a really hard time doing CBT.

Agreed. I personally feel that the key to recovery is not fighting, but acceptance. And at least traditional TEA-based CBT is fighting. Like yourself, this has NEVER worked well for me, ESPECIALLY when it comes to improving self-acceptance and self-esteem. Then again, I guess you can't force yourself to like yourself.