Does Reading & Studying About It Make It Worse??

[Razzle]

Since I have gone back into a severe set back and have a ton of anxiety books I spend lots of time looking for answers or a clue that will help me recover. One of my anxiety friends is just the opposite - she wont even say the word anxiety.

What works better, has a therapist ever told you to stop thinking/reading about anxiety?

[alankay]

No but I would not read too much IF it bothers you. If you are in an acutely anxious state I would lay off them. If you wait until your "calmed down", then read up as you feel OK with. The more you know the better in general. You see if you don't know any better your more likely believe the most goofy scenarios(losing it, going mad, etc)are possible but the fact is they're not. What happens is your imagination(many/most anxious folks are creative and imaginative) gets the best of you with "what if" scenarios and that scares you even more. Truth be told you just get to a more distressed(anxious) state NOTHING more(veeryyyy nasty indeed). And your body is along for the ride from all the adrenaline!!!:( All stems from lots of worry. BUT if your friend is getting better, than for her/him, don't read up. But for many I think learning all about anxiety instead of being in a position of lack of info is better.....when your ready and it doesn't provoke anxiety.

[Disorder]

sometimes it can make things worse, i used to constantly read up everything that was wrong with me or someone close to me, i got pretty obessessive if im honest and sometimes i really scared myself and it made me feel alot worse, understanding what is going on with the body and mind can be useful but if your it makes you feel worse then i would lay off like alankay says.
Sometimes its best to just leave it alone, if seeking for answers is causing you set backs then is it really worth it?

i've heard of a technique, i dont actually know what its called, that tells you not to read up on anxiety or anything to do with it and just let the feelings come and go in a relaxed state
i guess everyone recoverys differently

[Razzle]

Thanks alan

I know all the standard tools but keep hoping for a new clue and maybe I should just distract. Last time I was in a breakdown I waited 6 months and was not any better so I started back to work out of my home office - I was so sick I had my head resting on teh desk but after 2 months the anxiety lifted

[tomewer]

I think it helped me to be honest. To know that other people were going through it, and that there was advice available, was good for me. The most useful thing for me was understanding that recovery is a long term process.

[PanicCured]

I think you need to learn about it to know what to do about it, then do the necessary steps, then move on and talk about other things and focus on something else, maybe a hobby. Anxiety is kind of like a circular trap that does need to be refocused. It's important to find that Will deep in you and turn fearfulness to fearlessness. Over reading and over talking about it, can be a hinderance.

[jessed03]

Yeah, my therapist told me to stop all reading altogether. I think for me personally, education was one of the catalysts in recovery though. I read a few very informative books on anxiety, The anxiety and phobia workbook, as well as claire weeks. I almost memorized the symptom list on this site. Went around forums (I had OCD too), and really understood the various stages of recovery, how it often seemed to be two steps forward one back. Then I realized I had a wide knowledge of anxiety. I knew why my body was doing what it was, what various symptoms were caused by (e.g. light headness is connected with abnormal breathing etc.) Then I just had to let it go. I had to get on with my life in the small ways that I could. Whenever anxiety came up, I would deal with it in the required way, such as reframing negative thoughts, and not fighting against panic attacks. But other than that, I took up other hobbies. I read books, played music, stuff that wasn't anxiety related. I know it sounds strange, but we can become attached to anxiety.

We can focus on it so much that it becomes part of our identity, and a great proportion of our life is spent trying to 'cure it'. We try to fight the monster, but the monster can become us if we're not careful. I've met so many people that are so focused on their illness it's become one of their main personality traits.

If I had to advise you, it would be spend a little time educating yourself. Mainly just to understand the symptoms. Once you have an idea of why the symptoms are there, they become less scary. Once they become less scary, thats when it's time to move on. You never stop taking the appropriate steps to heal yourself, but you don't make healing yourself the only thing in your life, you focus on something else. Maybe anxiety becomes 50% of your life, when before it was 90%. Over time it will reduce to 30, and 20%, until you realize maybe just a couple of days a month are problematic, until virtually none at all are. It happens slowly. It's like the old adage; if you get up and focus on red cars, you start seeing them everywhere.