Does talking via the Anxiety Forum actually help or hinder?

[Robbed]

I don't think that any of these views necessarily have to be at odds with one another. The whole acceptance thing has more to do with accepting that the symptoms you are experiencing - be they terryifying thoughts or more physical symptoms e.g. heart palpitations - are caused by anxiety - that the fear or the heart racing isn't REAL in the sense that something is happening to you that is as scarey as it feels. If you can learn to hold up a scarey thought and look at it and accept it as a product of anxiety then you can stop, or at least calm down, the fear cycle that can spiral out of control in an anxiety sufferer. This is in contrast to the idea of just accepting that you are feeling shit and that one day you will probably feel a bit less shit.

As for the whole genetic hopelessness thing - there is no need to get depressed at the thought that anxiety may have a genetic basis. This doesn't mean that there is a gene for all the symptoms that we have. A gene for having frightening thoughts that you can't control, a gene for having a panic attack. There would be no evolutionary advantage to this at all. Whatever predisposes us to anxiety is more than likely a whole series of genes that hard wire our neural pathways, especially those involving serotonin production and re-uptake. Some of us are simply more sensitive to fear than others. This is very useful in situations where there are actually things to be afraid of, where our bodies need to be able to respond quickly to the production of adrenaline. The fact that more of us suffer from anxiety and depression these days has everything to do with our increasingly stressful lives. if you naturally have a low threshold for stress, then you will produce adrenaline at a lower threshold. If this is prolonged your brain will either be swamped with too much serotonin or it won't be able to produce enough. Either way, once these neurochemicals go awry if you can't eliminate whatever is causing this imbalance (be it excess adrenaline or lack of essential nutrients or hormonal deficiency or whatever) then you are on the slippery road to meltdown. I doubt that there are genetic 'levels' for these thresholds - they will more likely work on a continuum. Just because you are predisposed to be susceptible to anxiety, doesn't mean you can't work at settling down the cause of this - anxiety is not a genetic state - it is the result of physical imbalances that can be fixed.

As for how to fix them - there will be no one cure because there will be many causes. SSRIs work for some people because at a superficial level they redress the serotonin balance. However, it may be possible in many people to redress this balance in a more natural way, by trying to fix the underlying cause of the imbalance. This may involve diet, natural supplements, exercise, meditation, reprogramming negative thought patterns that stimulate the fear cycle, or probably most effectively but most impractically, by removing all the stress from your life.

What you say abot serotonin and SSRIs certainly sheds ALOT of light on the problem with them. As you say, either too much serotonin OR not enough of it can cause anxiety problems. But if your have a problem with too much serotonin, SSRIs are going to exacerbate the problem. This is probably a BIG reason why SO many people out there experience anxiety and obsessive thoughts from hell when they try to take SSRIs. Of course, even if your serotonin is generally LOW, SSRIs can be a problem. The problem here is that SSRIs increase levels of serotonin in the brain GLOBALLY, when fine tuning is likely what is needed.

Speaking of genetics and anxiety, some recent studies suggest that anxiety is perhaps less of a traditional genetic problem than an epigenetic problem. In other words, it is possible that anxiety is a problem of gene expression. Although gene expression in humans is not yet very well understood, it IS known that gene expression can be influenced by MANY things. For instance, nutritional deficiencies could possibly change gene expression in an attempt to help nutritionally deprived people survive. And if this means, say, making cuts to serotonin production in order to conserve tryptophan or vitamin B6, problems like depression and anxiety could result. Of course, brain operation (ie thoughts) could also possibly affect gene expression, which could result in longer term changes as a result of those thoughts. Thus, correcting nutritional deficiencies and negative thoughts could in some manner work at least partially by correcting epigenetic problems. Of course, much of what I am saying here is conjecture, as this is not well understood. But these are possibilities. And the fact that anxiety disorder IS correctable, although recovery tends to be slow and difficult tends to point to an epigenetic problem.

[Jay12345]

When i suffered for anxiety for almost 4 years.. i never once viewed a forum.. i found that personally, it made things worse for me. It made me worry much, that perhaps i had something worse, and it brought more unnessasary negative thoughts into my head 'what if ive got this, that' (especially anxiety suffers who are worriers) I think that veiwing forums does actually feed the anxiety, however, on the otherhand it can also be used to educate yourself, especially if those around you are unaware or you just don't want to tell anyone about your problem..

[Robbed]

When i suffered for anxiety for almost 4 years.. i never once viewed a forum.. i found that personally, it made things worse for me. It made me worry much, that perhaps i had something worse, and it brought more unnessasary negative thoughts into my head 'what if ive got this, that' (especially anxiety suffers who are worriers) I think that veiwing forums does actually feed the anxiety, however, on the otherhand it can also be used to educate yourself, especially if those around you are unaware or you just don't want to tell anyone about your problem..

I see what you mean here. My worries are not so much that my anxiety disorder could be something more serious. Rather, reading posts about suffering with anxiety for years or decades sometimes makes me doubt my ability to recover.

[kathy1]

I have mixed views on this. it is helpful to interact with people who are suffering like you and can reassure you, however, keep talking about it and listening to others symptoms sometimes can make you develop those same symptoms and keeps them upmost in your mind.

kathyx

[bba]

Accept that anxiety is temporary. Accept that you WILL feel REALLY, REALLY, REALLY bad much of the time. And accept that anxiety is NOT going to go away any time soon. But if you try to live your life as best as you can with your symptoms present, it will MUCH more likely than not go away with time.

After years of being told there is something 'wrong' with me and that i 'should' be happy, I've come to accept that this is just who i am. Ive stopped trying to be what i 'should' be and started just being who i am. I think it was Freud who said that depressed people actually have an acutely good grasp on the reality of life. Happy people, on the other hand, often have a rather askew version of the cosmic irony of their existence.

[captainjames]

For me, it helps. Helping others is the best F'N way to take the mind of ones self in the selfishness that anxiety is. Yes it is selfish behavior believe it or not. Now go and put a smile on someone elses face and you'll feel good. Why? Because we all come from the same place and are connected more so than you know.

The biggest fear remember is the next panic attack. Take the focus off that, for next doesn't exist, all that exists is now and stay in the now and focus on feeling good right now.

Put yourself in a fantasy land if you must and pretend to be anxiety free. This is valid and good practice and has helped me immensely. You must first get yourself to calm down enough to do this in the first place, but you don't do this by focusing on the next panic attack.

Think of all the stupid attacks you had already and realize your still here and isn't the physical symptoms the ramification of the ultimate fear, which is death? Which is also an illusion.

Here's a simple exercize if you can get into a meditative state. If you don't know how to do this, ask and I will help. If you can get yourself to relax enough, do this.

Get in a relaxed state, earplugs in, eyes shut, comfortably sitting, not lying down. Lying down is associated with sleeping. It's tough to get in this state on the CRAP medicine docs shove down our throats, as you'll feel like passing out once the eyes are shut. However if your feeling energized and alert and anxiety free, hit while the iron is hot.

When in this state imagine you have no name. Imagine you have no family. Imagine you have no education. Imagine you have no home. Imagine you have no legs and forget about them. Turn them off if you will. Same for the arms, legs and everything else physical. Ask yourself what is left? All that's left is consciousness of the fact that you exist. This is not physical and yes, this is the real you. It can not ceast to exist.

Whether that helps or not is purely subjective, but has helped me immensely. Especially coming from a "when your dead your dead" upbringing. It's impossible not to exist. Feel it, believe it.