"Do you need help with how you feel when difficult times arrive?"

Studies has shown that 1 in 4 of us will develop some form of mental illness, so what is it that makes us sick we weren’t born with mental illness so how did we get it? Usually it is caused by something that has happen to us in the past, and has gradually over some years manifested itself in one form or the other; the result is devastating for the sufferer.

A healthy and happy person has a balanced mind in other words the subconscious and the conscious mind are in perfect balance, the Chinese say the positive and negative life forces are in perfect harmony, it can also be possible to heal the body by channelling the life-forces with certain exercises.

When someone suffer from anxiety /depression the balance between the subconscious and the conscious mind are tipped heavily in the negative, creating havoc with the nervous system, unfortunately some people turn to drugs to get a moment of peace, which only serves to make the problem much worst.

There is no doubt that the thinking pattern of someone who is suffering a mental illness is ineffective and dysfunctional , and needs to be changed with a more positive thinking patterns, this will take some time, after all it took time to get to where you are now, but the results will make it more than worthwhile.

The human mind is a powerful force, it can cure any illness you have, but you can also think yourself sick. I’m working on an exciting program to bring the positive and negative life forces into balance completely natural, simply by providing specific sensory input, the concept is not new but the approach is.

Anyway I’m looking to do some interviews with a few people who suffer from a mental illness as part of my research, and also someone who considers themselves cured and has not had an episode for 6 months.

Please PM me and I will get back to you
Roland
PS: REMEMBER IF SOMETHING FEELS UNCOMFORTABLE DOING, THEN IT’S WORTH DOING

Agree with the point Forwells made about drugs. If you aren't at a balance, you can't function properly, in life and emotionally. Sometimes you need something to stabilize yourself, and infact to boost your serotonin levels, that have decreased dramatically due to extreme stress. Once you have been balanced by a med, you can then implement cognitive strategies, health strategies, and spiritual strategies in order to recover. Sadly, I know from experience, that it's hard to pray, when your heart is 1million kph.

Secondly, could you tell me if the value of food and nutrition and bodily health is included in your program? I knew a friend who had awful daily panic attacks, he also had a cat, that he was slightly allergic too. After a while, sadly, the cat passed, and the mans panic attacks went. He later found out, that due to allergies, and intolerance's, his body was producing too much histamine, causing his blood sugar to lower, and therefore release adrenaline in order to raise it. A rare occurance you may think? On average, a study in 2007 in England discovered 5% of the population suffered anxiety for this reason, 15% from thyroid problems, 12% from too much sugar and coffee as well as deficiencies from malnutrition and hypoglycemia. As you can see a great deal of people suffering there, due to problems NOT associated entirely with their thinking habits.

I don't want to criticize your program, I agree with almost everything you've said. I'm just curious as to whether you deal with all aspects of anxiety, or solely cognitive therapy, which according to Wikipedia helps only 50% of people.

Interested to hear more, and maybe even help. :)

/agrees with kev and jess.

Anxiety / mental health issues are very rarely psychosomatic (only imagined in one's mind). In fact, they are most commonly a mixture of BOTH. -- And in most cases, a person will need to treat both areas to see any real lasting relief, be it with an anxiety support group, counseling sessions with a therapist.. also including the appropriate medications to aid in regaining a proper chemical balance in one's brain.

Far less common are the individuals who have had ONLY a frightening traumatic event happen, which skewed their stress / fear threshold lower.. or those who have ONLY a chemical imbalance. I sincerely wish that were the case. If it were, then people's treatments would be much more simple, and we'd have a lot more "one size fits all" sorts of cures. ;)

(MY BACKGROUND: Both of my parents are therapists... and I myself am an extremely analytical person (troubleshooter / problem solver personality), which most of the time makes it easier to fix problems.. but lately, my always-busy brain has "led" me into some trouble spots (generalized / social anxiety). That's why I'm here with you all.. to have some support and learn about my situation.

I have read the replies with a great deal of interest, the consensus is that there is no easy answers, but there is hope. What I have found people talk about the most is feeling, and with anxiety its always negative, so it goes to reason that the more you dwell on negative thought the worst the anxiety will be, so it becomes a cycle sometimes difficult to break.

Some people talk about a chemical imbalance in the brain, this I believe is the case triggered by emotion similar to flight or anger where the brain releases adrenaline, as the saying goes ( I was so angry I had trouble thinking strait)

If you have a negative emotion what do you think is going to happen? the stronger the emotion the more it will affect your subconscious mind and that translates into more suffering, so the answer should be to replace the negative with the positive, and you will have an opposite effect it makes sense to me what about you?

(A little about me) My problems started when I was 4 years old so I know first hand what the past can do to you, however its been years, and I don't dwell on the past anymore and my problems are more and less gone. It got me interested in the human mind which I find fascinating, and I eventually became a certified life coach in order to help other people. Knowledge shall set your mind free, so I welcome a debate on the subject of the human mind

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Originally Posted by forwells

Howdy


The day i learned that it wasn't me causing it directly . That it was simply my over stressed mind and body that was causing much of the fearful thinking , then and only then could i simply dismiss it . By dismissing it i stopped sending my body into flight and fright all the time and it slowly healed . Even today i can get high anxiety from being stressed and i can simply take 5 minutes sit down relax and let it pass . These are now happening less and less .

Again to simply place all anxiety in one box is a very dangerous way of treatment that may help some and do more harm to others .

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I think this is almost exactly how I started on the high road to recovery too. When you're told to watch your thoughts, feelings and attitudes, it becomes yet another obsession for anxiety to feed off of. Am I doing it right? Am I missing out on a system? I agree cognitive functions need to be assessed in order to phase out negative thinking habits, but to base anxiety on just one thing could be a very damaging thing indeed. After all, it would then cause a person to become even further inside their head, and tiring their exhausted mind even further!

One of my biggest enlightenment came when I realized I could just ignore myself. I could just say, OK, anxiety or OCD is happening to me now, I didn't do anything to bring this on, therefore, whats the point in me paying attention to it? And I would slowly focus on other more interesting things as this happened. I slowly felt my mind becoming less stressed, as there were of course less stressors to focus on. This allowed it to get some much needed rest, and would feel a lot fresher in certain situations, and I slowly noticed more mental clarity returning to me.

Of course there are those out there, whose anxiety problems are based mainly on their thinking habits. At a total uneducated guess, I would say that is 1 in 5, what happens to the other 4 when following a program solely based on perceived negative cognitive behaviour...?

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Originally Posted by forwells

Howdy Jess

Look at a 4 year old that turns cranky when sick or a lady with bad PMS . They are not thoughts . They are reactions to things that are happening .

Yes thoughts change the way chemicals work in the body but we can not dismiss that it works the other way also .

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Evening Forwells, how's life?

Agree with this, for a lot of people, hormones, or chemicals are sometimes just in the wrong balance. Add that to people suffering anxiety because of hypoglycemia, food intolerance's, excess caffeine and sugar a thyroid imbalance or anemia and we have a large group of people there, and that's only from a small quota of things that can cause anxiety.

I think these products do have some very good information in them, and can be hugely beneficial to the right type of people, but I find it very sad when on these sales pages, and through adverts, solely cognitive programs are being sold to all, and claim to be the cure to the mass anxiety sufferers.

Although, I suppose it comes down to so many people wanting a magic cure in life. Even many people on this forum post, and are given great advice, and then come back 6 weeks later, saying HELP! Anxiety problem won't go away, what do i do! and the advice about meditation, relaxation, diet and inquiring about med's or at least therapy hasn't been taken into account.

It's a case of people claiming to sell the "Magic Bullet" that lots of anxiety sufferer's are naively looking for.

Hello all, I hope you are having a great day. A very interesting debate there seems to be some confusion as to what causes anxiety and what the trigger is, it also seems to be different for different people. The general consensus seem to be that there has to be more then one type of treatment but I don't hear any suggestions as to what that should be.

I have always believed that in order to fix something permanently it is necessarily to get to the root cause, if the problem is a malfunction of some part of the body, as some have suggested that can be fixed by you doctor and doing necessarily tests.

I would like to ask you what is triggering your panic attach, and if you say it comes out of the blue, then the most likely source is your subconscious mind.

What is CBT?

It is a way of talking about:
how you think about yourself, the world around you and other people
how what you do affects your thoughts and feelings.

CBT can help you to change how you think ('Cognitive') and what you do ('Behaviour'). These changes can help you to feel better. Unlike some of the other talking treatments, it focuses on the 'here and now' problems and difficulties. Instead of focusing on the causes of your distress or symptoms in the past, it looks for ways to improve your state of mind now.

This is one way, but I don't think that this alone will do the job

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Originally Posted by forwells

Your kidding right . Most doctors do not do alot of test . They rule some things out then tell one that they have a mental illness and that it is all in there head . Send them away with drugs . Most doctors do not understand mental illness , the drugs that they hand out . Most doctors have very basic training in mental illness at best . Most doctor will not give tests that cost money . Most doctors will not listen to people believing that it is all in ones head .Most doctors will not ask about diet , lifestyle . I have been waiting for a doctor to ask me if i drink lots of coffee or red bulls . Still waiting . Most doctors believe that if you fall in the range of safe with a test then you are right . Its a pretty that that range is for 90% of the population . What about the other 10% . My sugar was on the high and low end , my thyroid was just off low . Not talking near but one point for getting treatment for those problems . My doctor still ask me why i am stressed as life is stressful and stress is good . This shows just how much he understands . I am not stressed . In fact i feel i am in the best place i have been in years . Accept for a body that likes to over react to stress and again reread my posts . Sex is not a bad stress but my body over reacts .

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This part is so true. In a way I think anxiety patients are also the thorn in a doctors side. Once you have 'anxiety disorder' anywhere on your medical record, they think everybody that suffers from it has worked them selves into a panic by negative self talk, and just need to learn to calm down (which is conveniently somebody elses job anyway), or if theres no one to help them, give them a drug to sort them for the time being.

That part about the coffee made me laugh, and sadly in a disbelieving kind of way, because I've realized, myself, my family members, and any friends or co-workers who have been diagnosed with anxiety disorders, have NEVER been asked about their coffee and caffeine intake. Illegal drug use, yes, but never caffeine. I find that so incredible due to our high caffeine culture, and the proven studies which say it correlates positively with anxiety.

Sorry it's not much of a contribution to this interesting debate, but thought I'd chime in. :)

J