cymraig_chris
05-28-2010, 08:05 AM
Hello, I’m new here, I’m sorry this post is so long: It contains all the information I have learned on anxiety/panic ‘disorder’. I sincerely hope that it can help.
Dear Friend,
If you have Anxiety/Panic Disorder, you have my sympathies, my admiration and soon my tools for freedom.
I had undiagnosed General Anxiety Disorder for 15 years, which I coped with suitably well. When I say undiagnosed, I mean misdiagnosed. My GP at the time suggested I had a inner-ear balance problem. I do not blame him because I was so confused at the time I could not explain my sensations as they seemed too ‘alien’. For 15 years I barely functioned as ‘normal’.
My ‘final’ year of anxiety was a different story; I was experiencing many panic attacks per day.
I experienced nausea, vertigo, vomiting, derealisation, depersonalisation, unreality, sweating, light-headedness, numbness, chest pains, shortness of breath, delayed perception, visual disturbances, hypersensitivity, constant obsessive thoughts, despair, anxiety dreams, phobo-phobia, fear of suicide, depression, fear of depression, hospital visits, Doctor’s visits etc. I had so much adrenaline, I felt could not sit down, any spare moment, I was walking and running around trying to escape from this anxiety. What didn’t help is that I work as a software engineer which means I’m supposed to stay at my desk in a huge open plan office for 7.5 hours per day. Every ten seconds was a battle. I was too scared to sit still; I was too scared to run. When I managed to get home in the evening, the place where you are supposed to feel safe, anxiety and panic carried on.
With the aid of (on average) one bottle of wine per evening, I would collapse from exhaustion at around 01:30 am and wake every morning and start another panic attack at 04:30 am
The only release from this was around 5 seconds per day. Those ‘5 seconds’ were the time between me waking up, and me ‘remembering’ I had this ‘condition’.
I have taken prescription medications for anxiety with varying results.
What is my life like now?
I’m fine thank you, I go to work in the same office, I enjoy the challenges of the job, I drive home, have some dinner, I help my wife read stories and put the children to bed. Sometimes I read a book, sometimes I surf the net, sometimes I watch telly, I spend a lot of time relaxing, I do some gardening, I play the guitar, and we go out for day trips. I don’t do anything spectacular; I just live a ‘normal’ life.
Here is my disclaimer:
I am not trained in Medicine or Psychology, all the information presented here is based upon my own personal experiences. These are my findings, my experiences and my conclusions. I have undertaken no anxiety-elimination programs other than the one I have created here. Any potential similarity to other programs is purely co-incidental. There is no substitute for qualified medical advice, please discuss with your doctor before undertaking any anxiety-elimination methods.
Let’s Get Started
I believe there is no wrong way to react to Anxiety/Panic Attacks
Yes there are better ways to and worse ways to react which affect how comfortable you feel and extremely beneficial ways in order you alleviate all of your inappropriate feelings, but there is no way to fail at inappropriate ‘Anxiety’ and ‘Panic’.
This truth is a catch all statement to address the questions: “What am I doing wrong?” or “What did I do wrong to get in this predicament?” The answer to both questions is nothing … you have done and are doing nothing wrong, even though you may feel or think there is something wrong there isn’t, there never has been. You are the result of simple cause and effect, and there are many more triumphant chapters to write for you yet. (… get back in your box Tony Robbins)
This information is not a test, there are no compulsion statements such as: ‘Always do this’; ‘you Must do that’; ‘Never do the other’. With regards to Anxiety and Panic you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, for as long as you want and no harm will ever come to you.
“Why is this important?”
I believe it to be an important truth to understand. We build upon this truth and gain strength from the freedom it provides, understanding of this concept will help to eliminate any what-if fear statements that the mind can create whilst working through a method of anxiety removal ... such as ...
What if I’m not doing it right?
… or more crucially …
“What if I’ve done this wrong?!”
“Can this truth be right?”
Yes, Anxiety/Panic Attacks are utterly harmless in every way so whatever you and do and whatever you don’t do has no bearing on your safety and your sanity.
You are the one who will get yourself better and you are the one who will keep yourself there. Once you understand the principles you carry the techniques in your body and mind for the rest of your days.
Borrowed Wisdom
At this point I’d like to borrow some wisdom from the Bushcraft expert Ray Mears …
"Knowledge is the key to survival, the real beauty of that is that it doesn't weigh anything."
Bushcraft is the art of wilderness survival; it’s empowering and fulfilling, it’s about building fires and building shelters, it’s about being efficient and mentally strong, and it’s about self confidence and applied knowledge, I haven’t done that much Bushcraft in the past due to my past insecurities, I have merely dabbled, but as it’s in my nature to be a voracious researcher my theory is up to scratch.
It is not about conquering nature.
It is about living in sympathy with nature.
It is about motivation and relaxation.
It is about our ancestor’s successful relationship with the wilderness dangers that forged our cerebral strengths.
It provides the setting for the origins of Anxiety/Panic Disorder.
The past was an intensely dangerous time; our ancestors evolved a strong, efficient protection system which kept them alive in times of extreme threat. We call this protection system the ‘fight/flight response’. It is powered by the hormone Adrenaline and it is designed to seem overwhelming.
The quoted wisdom originates from a conversation about friction-fire making methods that Ray once had with a local tribeswoman from the South Pacific on one of his many wonderful adventures.
The philosophy is stunning: Once you know how to make fire, you carry fire around with you always in your mind and in your muscles.
The reason this wisdom resides close to my heart is that I am a keen friction-fire maker myself and its philosophy is the same as the anxiety understanding.
I’m the sort of person who generally likes to do everything myself, I enjoy being both the teacher and the student.
From personal experience there is rarely a sensation as wonderful, fulfilling and as profound as making fire yourself for the first time; you can spend weeks if not months fine tuning your technique and apparatus, finding the right wood combination, collecting the right tinder in the right quantities. It can be physically exhausting and fraught with failure after failure, more smoke each time but still no fire.
With each failure comes a little bit more knowledge. Until one time you happen upon the exactly the right strategy, technique, method, apparatus, attitude and timing.
You are patient, optimistic, and observant. You watch as more smoke is produced and see the formation of the ‘coal’ or ‘ember’. You don’t rush, but carefully transfer your ember into the middle of your ‘tinder bundle’.
You gently massage your tinder into you ‘coal’. You blow gently at first and then gradually with greater and greater intensity. You watch as the billowing smoke changes colour from white to a yellow-green. More smoke! … Ignition!!!
You hold ‘your’ fire in your hand for the first time. You are and from this day forward connected to the history of your species and it really does feel completely wonderful.
Your confidence has been lit.
You instantly want to try again and again, sometimes the climate is not quite right, sometimes the air is too damp, sometimes the wind too strong for your virgin understanding to overcome, but the more you try the more you succeed in harsher and harsher weathers.
The understanding of and strategic implementation of anxiety relief is exceedingly similar. I am lucky to have achieved as much success with anxiety as I have with fire. I now carry the understanding around with me always in my mind. This understanding weighs nothing, it’s simple to comprehend and like fire making, the more you use it, the easier it becomes.
A Few Definitions
Anxiety: “Distress of mind caused by fear of danger.”
Panic: “A period of hysterical or irrational behaviour in response to fear”
Disorder: “A lack of order or normal arrangement.”
Expansions
The definitions of Anxiety and Panic describe the processes our ancestors experienced while responding to chemical messengers produced in order to escape from or fight against the dangers within their environment.
The definition of Disorder describes the process of us responding inappropriately to the same chemical messengers produced by modern day stress factors when no actual danger exists.
Whilst within the stress response, the body and mind can go through some amazing changes to keep us from harm. These changes enable us to ‘automatically’ remove ourselves from danger sources or remove the danger sources themselves.
During this time we are able to process the environment using all senses at astonishing speeds, we are able to filter out all that is unnecessary for survival (all the fun bits) and execute the safety plan. These incredible changes are what we fear during the initial Anxiety/Panic episodes.
When Anxiety becomes a ‘Disorder’
We check the external environment for danger, and when we ascertain no danger we begin to check internally. We analyse all the sensations and symptoms that are produced during the stress response and become alarmed at their power. We conclude in seconds that …
“I’m going to die”
… or …
“I’m losing my mind!!!”
Creating the Vicious Circle
These conclusions then feed back into our ‘protection circuits’, the brain responds by producing more chemical messengers that further increase the sensations.
A Bit of Technical Stuff
Limbic System - Sets our Anxiety level
Sympathetic Nervous System – Winds us up
Parasympathetic Nervous System –Calms us down
Words
Let’s look at the words Panic Attack:
• Panic: a high energy state with a fear reaction
• Attack: a harmful confrontation resulting in damage
The fear is produced in relation to us believing ourselves to be under attack. There is no attack, there never has been and there never will be. There is no assailant; there is no assault, no damage will occur, and no harm will ever ensue. The phrase Panic Attack itself is inaccurate and doesn’t provide the right grounding for beneficial thinking.
There are two schools of thought regarding the best approach to this nomenclature issue.
1. We remain with the phrase Panic Attack and through time, desensitise ourselves to the powerful nature of the words themselves.
Words such as Panic; Anxiety; Stress; Fear; Terror; Dread and Horror have the power to affect us emotionally. If we accompany each of these words with “it’s only …” at the beginning we can in time limit the effect they have:
“… It’s only Anxiety”;
“… It’s only Panic”
This is handy when conversing with others regarding your experiences. The words are the accepted common language and labels for such experiences and therefore it is helps to have this word desensitisation approach.
2. We change the description to provide a better grounding for recovery.
The incorrectly named panic attack could be more accurately called an energy surge.
Energy is not good or bad, it’s just a resource. The adrenaline produced as a result of your reactions/behaviour is a chemical catalyst for converting your stored-energy into available-energy.
Not a Victim
When we experience the onset of anxiety/panic we are merely experiencing this conversion process of stored to available energy.
By making this label change we are addressing the ‘victim’ mentality. We are not the victim, we never have been and we never will be. We are simply the recipient of a high energy state as a result of cause and effect.
Once we realise that we are not under attack we gain further insight into our current experience. When we eliminate the ‘victim’ mentality we often replace it with another ‘perpetrator’ mentality, It is normal to want to assign blame and also normal to direct that blame at ourselves.
Ultimately yes … it is us, we are making ourselves panic, but we are not to blame, none of us received a manual about how to cope with our first Panic/Anxiety Attack and even if we did we would probably never have read it because ‘that sort of thing happens to other people’.
The only reason we are where we are is cause and effect, if we knew all the facts prior to experiencing energy surges we would never enter the panic-circle.
Whilst we are in the process of relabeling; let’s re-label panic-circle to wisdom-loop … why? … Because every time we travel the loop we gain ownership and understanding over our own energy.
It’s imperative to have a goal, an ideal, an aspiration; it provides a confidence altering mindset when we measure ourselves against it. Unfortunately most goals in relation to anxiety/panic have a detrimental effect on the speed of recovery and the confidence of the “anxiety sufferer”.
Ex-Sufferers
The World Wide Web is full of people shouting “hey look at me … I’m cured!” “Just do what I did and reap the benefits!!” It’s so simple when you have done it yourself, but not so simple when you are in the process of doing it, because of one fundamental thing ... you haven’t done it yet. You are yet to gain the personal reassurance and confidence from within.
Many if not most of these people will undoubtedly offer great advice, some are better than others, they have all been through the fear-mill to varying degrees and emerged smiling on the other side, I’m overjoyed for them and wish them all the best in their well-intentioned endeavours.
We should use their example as proof that relief/cure is indeed possible because it is. But we should not use anxiety elimination as the goal. If that is your goal, you will constantly self-check to see if you have reached your ideal. When we self-check we immediately manufacture anxiety sensations through our own magnificent creativity to see if they are still there! “A watched pot never boils” … well yes it does, it always does but there is no point in waiting for it to happen when we could be doing something useful instead.
It’s not unreachable it just takes a lot longer. The cure is not something you will find through anxiety securitisation and analysis, the only thing you will find there is factual reinforcement of your potential strategic success through worked examples and factual neurophysiology interplay.
Where is the Cure?
The location of the cure is outside in the wider world, it is within the film you become engrossed in; it is in the pages of the novel that excites you; it’s at the sports game you take your family to; in the restaurant you take your wife to.
If you constantly search for the cure it will always elude you. If you search for something else it will come to you. Fears stay with us as long as we succumb to our compulsion rituals.
Compulsion is not just continuously washing your hands or disinfecting doorknobs. It is reading about anxiety, it’s asking for help, it’s searching for the cure. In a nutshell, anything that we continuously do to provide temporal anxiety relief is a compulsion.
We are compelled to solve the issue because we think there is a problem.
Recommended Reading
What type of reading material should you use if you want to get better quicker? Well to be honest you so much are better off reading “Where’s Wally?” or “War and Peace” than “Anxiety Relief”.
Distraction = Tackling Anxiety Head On
It sounds contrary to all rational thinking but when you are using acceptance, exposure, independence and distraction under the simple umbrella of pretending you are well you are actually tackling anxiety head on. Anxiety seems irrational so it needs a seemingly irrational approach to solve the issue. (In actual fact both anxiety creation and anxiety relief methodology are both completely rational; they just don’t seem it on first inspection). We need to prove to ourselves that we no longer need protecting.
What is the first goal?
The real goal is to be independent of the wisdom-loop. Not to be free of anxiety but to be free with or without anxiety. What then happens then is we can self check as much as we like, manufacture as many sensations as our creative limits can muster still and achieve our goal instantly.
We make our own decisions from now on and anxiety can do what the hell it wants for as long as it wants. When we act independently we demonstrate to the Limbic System that the anxiety/panic is not a threat and the level is switched down a notch, the more independent we act, the more the level is lowered. Thus the relief/cure will then naturally arise as a by-product of the goal.
The label of ‘cured’ is not necessary once you arrive and therefore you are far less likely to self-check. There is rarely a eureka moment where suddenly all anxiety stops, it’s impossible to stop anxiety completely, it’s our greatest ally it’s hardwired into each and every one of us to keep us safe. It just gradually fades into the background and become appropriate anxiety … the same as ‘everyone else’.
Good and ‘Bad’ Techniques
There is no incorrect way to react to inappropriate anxiety/panic, it is utterly safe, utterly benign, it’s just a pain in the balls. It is much more beneficial to view each experience in relation to discovery than failure. Failures are merely discoveries of a strategy with a non-beneficial outcome that can be eliminated in future. It’s not what happens, it’s how we react.
Let’s look at the possible reactions to our energy surges:
1. Run for the hills
2. Freeze
3. Anger/Frustration
4. Surf’s up.
5. Exploration.
6. Invitation
7. Empowerment
8. Ridicule
9. Friendship
10. Desire
11. Intentional Incorrect-Response
12. Let’s Pretend
Option 1 & 2: Run for the hills/Freeze
This is the usual response to the physical and psychological feelings produced within the energy surge resulting in whelming fear. We get seriously spooked by these grand feelings and feel compelled to escape or freeze in terror. These feelings are individually designed to scare the wits out of us. By running for the hills or freezing in terror you are not doing anything wrong, you are doing exactly the same thing that everyone else has done when initially confronted with an energy surge, don’t beat yourself up over it, you are just inexperienced at reacting in a more beneficial way. Everyone reacts like this initially. It’s normal. When we react like this there is an increase in our adrenaline stress chemicals. The presence of these chemicals in our system further produces additional energy which escalates our fears.
What to expect: An escalation of fear, lasting between 5-40 minutes until the parasympathetic nervous system introduces its calming down process.
Option 3: Anger/Frustration
This reaction is better than options 1 & 2 and compliments perfectly with the excess of adrenaline produced. Detrimentally it still demonstrates to the Limbic System that the energy surge is viewed as a powerful adversary. Beneficially, it shows that we have successfully converted the ‘flight’ response to a ‘fight’ response. It serves the purpose of proving that we can indeed alter our reactions to the same stimuli. We can see that it’s not the best response but it has its place and its uses. It is best to view this response purely as a tool demonstration that we can change our responses.
What to expect: A craving for relaxation & normality but an ability to cope with the fear for the time being.
Option 4: Surf’s up.
This philosophy is derived from the late great Dr. Claire Weekes’ pioneering research. And is another way of saying ‘let it happen’ ‘float through it’ ‘it will pass’. Energy surges come in waves and it is a useful visualisation to employ. Just imagine yourself on top of the waves of panic let yourself be taken on the journey to wherever fear wishes to take you and for as long as the waves last. This is the first stage of acceptance. The visualisation of being on top signifies that you are not overwhelmed or submerged but merely a willing thrill seeker. After all we know that panic/anxiety is utterly harmless so why not just see what happens and experience the buzz. The buzz will be scary but it’s supposed to be, it’s designed to be.
What to expect: An notion that you can indeed live with energy surges as part of you life and go on to be outwardly successful.
Option 5: Exploration.
This option further expands upon acceptance and enters the phase of non-judgemental analysis, and serves to prove that the previously identified adversary is completely benign; you may want this exploration philosophy to prove to yourself that every aspect of panic is safe. Rest assured is it safe to examine and scrutinise your energy surges. You have felt the buzz in Option 4, this option reaches out to the other parts of wonderful brain to provide internal rationalisation for fear dissection. It’s a good technique but ultimately you are still focusing on anxiety, which is not the best curative option
What to expect: A little fear. A little confidence.
Option 6: Invitation
You can employ this technique prior, during or after an energy surge. If you are between energy surges then you can request another one to test out your new techniques. If you are currently within an energy surge then you can invite additional energy to further your exploration. If you have just experienced an energy surge then you have the option of requesting another one to further try out your new approaches.
What to expect: An energy surge but this time on your terms.
Option 7: Empowerment
Now we are getting somewhere, the initial onset of your energy surge will start to provoke a reaction of excitement of yet another little victory, each energy episode will be accompanied by confidence prior, during and after its duration.
What to expect: Ownership of your energy surge
Option 8: Ridicule
This point is where we have proved to ourselves that by implementation of the previous options that the energy surges are harmless. We still get the surges because the cerebral pathways have not yet been overwritten but we know that the fear is a con so we feel able to tempt it, prod it, poke it, laugh at it, and generally ridicule it. We start to ‘tempt fate’.
What to expect: Wry smiles. A little fear, a light at the end of the tunnel.
Option 9: Friendship
This option is borne from familiarly of using our new techniques. When the energy surge arrives we view it no longer with suspicion, fear & dread but with genuine affection for the wisdom and perspective it has gifted us. There may be some emotions of trepidation, but this is normal. You are initiating peace-talks after months of not years of strife. You and anxiety will be suspicious at first, but this is normal.
What to expect: Trepidation, a little uncertainty but the promise of peace.
Option 10: Desire
This is the emotional wanting of the energy surge to be present. You want the energy; you want to test out further theories and practices. The more you want one, the less you get one.
What to expect: Initial trepidation being later overwhelmed with positivity with more and more practice.
Option 11: Intentional Incorrect-Response.
This really is an odd yet strangely empowering response to energy surges, but at the same time it is completely unnecessary, its successful implementation and completion results more total mastery over inappropriate panic and anxiety. You go back to the start and actively try to execute option 1. You want to attain the status of an anxiety grandmaster and so you try to be scared, you want the fear, you like the fear, fear merely reminds you of how much you have achieved; you try to implement all the so called incorrect responses. Fear will always feel negative, but that’s ok, it’s supposed to. You are proving that not only can you view fear positively and energy smiling, but you trying to also view fear negatively and still emerge with a smile. You are starting to beat anxiety on your terms so you now want to start to beat it on its terms. You try your hardest to flee from it, you try your hardest to react ‘incorrectly’, and you try your dam nest to get back to square one, why? Because you have won a few times before; and you want to win again. You now realise that there is indeed no wrong way to react for your safety and sanity.
What to expect: Two steps forward and one step back, one step forward two steps back.
Option 12: Let’s pretend.
This is by far the best option available to you. It derives from understanding of all the previous options but mastery or even dabbling of all other options is not remotely necessary to attain successful implementation to ultimately achieve repeatable relaxation in a matter of hours and ultimately far less time.
Pretending is a concept that even young children can understand. How and why does pretending work? Well, your Limbic System is responsible for setting you anxiety level inappropriately high. It gets its signals to do this from your senses, what you see, what you hear, what you say, what you taste etc. If your Limbic System sees and hears you discussing or reading about your problems then it will conclude there is still a problem. The Limbic System is plain stupid it has no intelligence whatsoever, it’s just a great piece of software, you don’t need to be an expert in computer programming or psychology to affect it, you don’t need to know how to reprogram it yourself; it will do all that for you!
All you have to do is fool it and you can you can fool it, anyone can fool it.
When you get an energy surge your Limbic System will watch your reactions, if it sees you running, hiding, asking for help, reading about your ‘condition’ then it will see something is wrong and keep your energy level high. If you pretend that all is well and for example, slowly doing the dishes, cooking a meal, watching a movie, calming walking etc. then it will automatically set the energy level lower. It does not know when you are pretending; it never has and never will. The more you do this … the calmer you get and you will enter into a positive feedback relaxation mindset.
If you have trouble understanding the crucial combination of acceptance, exposure, independence and distraction you just need to remember to pretend. Just Pretend! Pretend you are relaxed and calm; you don’t have to feel calm or relaxed for it to start working.
Just keep up the pretence.
The brain then slowly starts deleting the energy surge pathways and writing new calm pathways. The Limbic System is constantly using the data from your senses to make a judgement on what the anxiety setting should be used to ensure your safety. In short it is emotionless. The limbic system is like computer which sees what you see and hears what you hear … a bit like ‘data’ from ‘star trek’ sitting in a room in front of a TV set.
The picture on the screen is what you see; the sound through the TV speakers is what you hear. It relies purely on this data to decide the anxiety level setting. Relief, like anything else starts with a decision, yes it can seem a hard decision to confront but as the old saying goes … “nothing ventured … nothing gained”, and generally sayings don’t become old unless they are right.
A decision to put away the anxiety literature; to stop discussing anxiety; to say whenever asked about anxiety “yes I’m fine thank you, never better”; to go to the cinema and not endure but enjoy the entire film; to step outside the front door; to drive that motorway; to ride that train; to step onto that plane; to read that book; to ask that girl out; to sit down for the entire evening and watch comedy; to apply for that job; to do all the things you should be doing if inappropriate anxiety was absent; and ultimately a decision to start right now. As stated this initial pretence is simultaneous combination of anxiety acceptance, exposure, anxiety independence and distraction.
Let's say it takes (for example) 15 exposure/distractions to attain confidence and comfort that means the more energy surges you get per day the quicker you recover. Obviously the length of time this takes depends upon how many pathways within the brain need to be rewritten. The results can be rather fast, because the brain is so well adaptively designed.
What to expect: Wisdom-loop independence; by-product = relaxation.
These options are not purely linear you may find yourself jumping through different options in different energy surges or indeed during the same energy surge. A bit of practice and you’ll get there.
Case Studies
Anxiety case studies are examples of individual anxiety disorder sufferers, a description of their symptom set and the solutions they used to overcome their problems. Case studies can be very helpful in many respects, but unhelpful in others. When we read a series of case studies we search for the one that closest resembles us to provide guidance, reassurance, strategy and implementation techniques … all good stuff so far! The problem with case studies in relation to anxiety is that no two people are exactly the same. There are as many type of anxiety as there are people. Everyone’s symptom set is different, sometimes with subtle differences, sometimes with major differences. Whilst we should always rejoice in our individuality, it become difficult to rejoice when we believe we have a unique issue that we feel desperately needs solving by someone who ultimately knows nothing about us.
The Reasons Why Everyone’s ‘Symptom Set’ is Different
As we have discovered, there are hundreds of different symptoms of Anxiety/Panic disorder. Usually a sufferer gets a few of the common symptoms and a few of the less common symptoms mixed together to make a unique blend that makes the sufferer think that their combination is somehow different (it is) and thus exempt from the management/cure (it never is). My Symptom Set consisted of about 20-30 sensations and mental manifestations, around 10 of which were from the traditional set and the remainder from the best my creative juices could muster. It is important to understand that regardless of commonality or uniqueness of your symptom set, the answer to Anxiety/Panic works.
Question: Why do we each get different combinations of symptoms?
Answer: Because we are each scared of different things. We are all different, and we ‘converse’ with our sensations differently.
Here follows an example: I wanted the traditional therapies to work for me, therefore I wanted ‘textbook’ anxiety symptoms ... the thumping heart and the hyperventilation, if I could just experience these symptoms then it would prove to me that I was indeed experiencing an Anxiety/Panic attack and thus I could instantly identify it as harmless Anxiety/Panic and know that I was not on the verge of complete mental collapse. I could then breathe into a paper bag, address my gaseous exchange and thus ‘nip’ the Anxiety/Panic ‘in the bud’
Question: Why did I not get these symptoms?
Answer: Because I wanted them, I was not scared of them.
Techniques
The following will summarise the information presented so far:
Overwhelming Anxiety
• Run for the hills
• Freeze
Coping with Anxiety
• Anger/Frustration
• Surf’s up.
• Exploration
• Invitation
• Empowerment
• Ridicule
• Friendship
• Desire
• Intentional Incorrect-Response
Removing Anxiety
• Let’s Pretend
Let’s ‘Pretend’
I only call it pretending because it feels like that initially
What are the guidelines for successful implementation of ‘Let’s Pretend’?
Well, we have to think what we would happen if we didn’t have inappropriate anxiety:
What would you do if you didn’t have inappropriate anxiety?
• You would do anything that inappropriate anxiety has stopped you doing in the past.
What would you talk about if you didn’t have inappropriate anxiety?
• You would not talk about anxiety, you would never discuss anxiety with anyone; you would not discuss your sensations. You would not ask for help regarding anxiety. You would talk about the weather, the film, the game, the concert, the girl next door, the news … and so on. Remember, if you really feel the need to chat about anxiety, go for it. There are no real ‘do’ and don’ts because it’s all harmless.
Would you read any anxiety literature … if you didn’t have inappropriate anxiety?
• No, of course not! You would be reading “Where’s Wally?” or “War and Peace”! On a personal note, I’ve never read “War and Peace”… I’m not that bright, but “Where’s Wally?” is superb.
Would you employ any relaxation techniques if you didn’t have inappropriate anxiety?
• No, unless they were purely for personal enjoyment, a spiritual journey etcetera.
Would you partake in any anxiety themed websites/chat-rooms/discussion boards if you didn’t have inappropriate anxiety?
• No, unless you are an ex-‘sufferer’ who wants to help
In summary anxiety is not the driver or the passenger on your journey; it is the road you are driving on … Take the next exit.
What is Recovery?
This question is so rarely addressed in the vast majority of anxiety literature. Well the answer is very-very interesting indeed.
• Relaxation;
• Initial trepidation of anxiety return
• The reclamation of your original self ... it was completely intact and unflustered during the whole experience. The reason for this is your 'true personality' (you) is held in a different part of the brain than your 'inappropriate anxiety/panic personality', it is completely safe, sane, rational and calm and has been for the entire duration of your anxiety wisdom journey, regardless of how long you have had anxiety/panic, whether it has been days months years or decades;
• The instantaneous ability to use the wisdom that anxiety has bequeathed to you. You actually become calmer than everyone else ... the 'normal' people. You know stress and fear intimately and can eliminate them instantly;
• The opportunity to achieve anything you wish in the full knowledge that any of those old social/medical/psychological fears that used to hold you back can be accepted, ignored and subsequently eliminated;
• A massive insight into why other people do what they do in relation to their own unconquered fears ... an observation that absolutely everyone in the world has inappropriate anxiety to greater or lesser degrees, and 99.999% don't even know it. They just react;
• Later on … a complete knowledge of anxiety return impossibility;
• An inner knowledge base of power that you know you will only ever use for good.
Just remember, Anxiety/Panic disorder in not a physical health problem, it's not a mental health problem. It is a problem of learned behaviour. Anxiety/Panic is in fact your ticket out of here. You need to reteach Anxiety/Panic that we are unaffected by its presence. To alleviate the issue you need Anxiety/Panic to be present. Anxiety/Panic is your student. How can it possibly learn if it does not turn up for class?!
Visual Setting
Anxiety and panic is like being at the bottom of a lake wearing a very buoyant lifejacket. The lake is anxiety/panic; the surface is normality & relaxation. We are clinging on for dear life to the rocks, plants, indeed anything we can grab a hold of. We feel tremendous forces on our body and the more forces we feel, the tighter we hold on. One plant we grab on to might represent reeking reassurance by visiting anxiety websites for help. Another rock we cling to will represent researching our condition. Each one of these articles is in fact a coping ritual which we have taught ourselves we need, in order to ‘cope’ with the ‘disorder’. If you eliminate the rituals, the anxiety will temporarily increase, but that’s ok. After all it is only harmless anxiety/panic. We are keeping ourselves at the bottom of the lake.
... Imagine what would happen if we just let go.
More about the ‘Vicious’ Circle
Each Panic/Attack fuels the next one. It is the fear of fear that keeps the fires burning. Sometimes Panic Attacks simply burn themselves out and recovery is released. Sometimes it requires intervention (yoga, meditation, exercise, medication etc). It’s the same with General Anxiety Disorder (GAD). But GAD can be more difficult to overcome. It is constant unease with no particular focus for your uneasiness. Where the options of invitation and empowerment work well for Panic Attacks, they work less well (in my experience) for GAD for they only serve to fuel fear obsession. ‘Let’s Pretend’ works a treat for GAD. ‘Let’s Pretend’ is not only doing things regardless of anxiety, it is also how you do them … slowly, patiently, deliberately, pretending to do them confidently, it’s smiling & winking in the mirror, it’s pretending to really enjoy your lunch, it’s walking with your head held high, it’s letting out a big relaxing “ahhhhh!!”. All the little things make the difference. You are very creative if you have GAD, you are also a great actor/actress, and you can play a great role. Just do it. By pretending you are actually depriving the fire of fuel. Pretence overrides the fear of fear loop. You don’t have to stop being scared for it to start working. In fact being scared makes it work.
Anxiety Independence
The ability to pretend comes from one cerebral fact. Regardless of what the Limbic System ‘advises’ us to do, the Cortex can always (and I mean always) override that advice in every single human being. It’s like having two brains, the anxiety brain and the true-you brain. You are so much bigger than your anxiety. The wonderful world in which we live is so much bigger than anxiety.
Alcatraz Analogy
Here’s a little Alcatraz Analogy (OK, I know it was one prisoner per cell, the cells didn’t all have windows and the power-plant was in a separate building, but bear with me, I have exercised some poetic licence for the purposes of knitting the story tightly with the Alcatraz details). It contains numerous techniques and philosophies. It describes the traditional method in which ‘sufferers’ become ‘ex-sufferers’. It demonstrates the initial wrong assumptions we manifest and the initial wrong turns we take. It also describes how we eventually attain our freedom.
A Quick Refresher
You now know that stressful situations initially cause anxiety sensations, and these anxiety sensations spook us. The simple midbrain then remembers that we were spooked and puts us into a state of high alert; this state of high alert then produces additional feelings and sensations which spook us even further and we enter the cycle. The fear of fear keeps this whole situation ticking over.
The midbrain then (believing it is doing us a favour by staying on alert) keeps checking for sensations. It manufactures these feelings and symptoms and in turn keeps us on high alert when we react negatively to them.
It is interesting to know that the midbrain can operate at many times the speed of the ‘thinking part’ of the brain, it's designed that way to keeps us safe. That’s why anxiety always gets there first. What a perfect defence mechanism!! The perfect defence mechanism becomes what we believe to be the ‘inescapable’ prison.
How do we escape from Alcatraz?
Firstly it is not at all necessary to escape; many people live out wholesome fulfilling lives without ever leaving, they are wonderful friends, wonderful parents, wonderful children … wonderful people.
But if we do want to escape: luckily, there is always a way or indeed many ways. It’s imperative to fail as many times as we need do.
… As the more times we fail the more practice we get.
The Players
Constant Self-Checking is the observation that you are still in prison, as soon as you wake, you look around at the stale white-green walls and resign yourself to yet another day as a ‘guest’ of the most notorious penitentiary.
The Island Prison, the bars and walls are the limitations you assign for yourself. You hate being in Alcatraz but at least for most of the time you are safe in your cell. The Island Prison is your Anxiety.
The Prison Guard is the midbrain, (specifically the Limbic system, who believes that although you are imprisoned from the outside world, at least you are safe, he moves ten times faster than you do. He is always watching you and tells you what to do, interestingly he’s never told you he will harm you but you are very scared of what he might do. He is just doing his job. You are rarely disobedient
Your Cellmate is your inner negativity who keeps insisting that not only is escape impossible, but harmful, he’s a very fast thinker, he’s very clever but not wise,
He is very predictable because of the following fact … Your Cellmate always wrong.
He’s not malicious, he’s timid, he’s a nice guy, he’s looking out for your wellbeing, he’s been wrongfully imprisoned as well, but he really thinks what he tells you is absolute truth, he wants to keep the both of you safe, and he’s on your side.
Don’t try to shut him up, you need him, your Cellmate and The Guard are your ticket out of here, in order to escape you must convince your Cellmate he is wrong by demonstrating to The Guard that the Island Prison cannot harm you by pretending everything is OK. (Whooah!! … Eh? … What?!! – In other words, just pretend you are OK)
The Other ‘Guests’ of Alcatraz are your fellow anxiety sufferers that you pass messages to, swap prison coping tips and find solace … in the fact that you are not alone. They are amazing people, the bravest of the brave.
Some have been inmates for years; others are ‘new fish’.
No one is better or worse than anyone else, both on the island and on the mainland.
The City Residents are the people you 'view' as normal, conventional, well, having an easy life … etc.
Man-Who-Can Get-Things, He is your GP is and your medication is his supply of extra food, hooch, and interesting ‘literature’ to help you pass the time and plan your own escape. Some inmates don’t need the assistance of the ‘man-who-can-get-things’ others do. He’s a nice guy, he’s there to help and he can help you a lot. He may help you escape the Island Prison completely, if not, he will make your stay almost as good as being on the outside.
You: You are the most important character, you make all the decisions.
The Goal
To successfully ‘pretend’ you are OK.
The By-product Of The Goal
Escape from Alcatraz, take your Cellmate with you, get The Prison Guard a new nice stress free job, and then ultimately free all the other prison inmates.
The Shouts For Help
You shout through the bars to the outside world, “help!!” but the shoreline of San Francisco is miles away and your desperate pleas evaporate in the high winds and rain banging down from the skies. The some times the ocean batters the rocks day and night, other times it’s a calm sea. You can just make out the skyline city lights, a place where The City Residents live their lives oblivious to the hardships that Alcatraz serves up in plain sight of their wonderful and exciting metropolis. Constant Self-Checking keeps you aware of the Island Prison. The more you shout for help, the more the lights malfunction and your cell heater blasts out choking hot air or a painful cold rasp.
You get prison visitations from your loved ones but they don't really understand what life on the inside is truly like.
The Faint Whisper
You hear footsteps outside your door and become fearful, you can just make out a faint whisper from a strange but friendly voice passing your cell door … "Hey … Buddy"… “There’s something in your pocket”.
You slowly reach inside your prison issue clothing and pull out a set of keys.
The Responsibility and Ownership of Your Predicament.
You realise that you have the key to your own cell, the partition bars, the canteen, the governors’ office …in fact you have the keys to every door in the entire complex. The only keys you do not possess is to the cells of your fellow inmates and the boiler room. Having the keys is not enough, you think Alcatraz is a very scary place and although you hate your cell, it’s better than being in the communal areas, or so your Cellmate tells you. You sit in your cell, place your keys on the table and are scared what to do next. Now you realise that you will not be rescued, you ultimately have to do it yourself. At this point you can call on the assistance and advice of the Man-Who-Can Get-Things. He's a good buddy to have in this situation. He can help take your mind off your worries and give you the breathing space to make a good decision.
Decisions, Decisions
You stare at the set of keys for hours, days, weeks, longer… wondering what to do. All that time your timid Cellmate pleads with you not to do anything rash, he tells you every negative scenario that could occur if you were to pick up the keys.
“Don’t pick up the keys!!” he urges time after time.
It does not matter how long you leave the keys on the table, when you are ready to pick them up you will do so … you will be scared but it's ok to be scared, in fact it is necessary
The Reason ...we need the presence of fear to enable us to desensitise ourselves to its effects.
Always remember: Fear is harmless.
Looking Out Of the Cell Door
Finally and full of fear you pick up the keys, turn them in the lock, open the door and fearfully scan the harsh metallic gangplanks adorning the atrium outside your prison door. On first inspection the whole environment seems too ominous, so you scream back to you cell and slam shut your door, you get a dressing down from your Cellmate who give’s you his best list of what-ifs to date.
Stepping Out Of The Cell
This time, you spend longer in the atrium (you are still scared but decide to have a little look around) The Guard orders you back to the cell, the fear in his voice causes your sensations to multiply and you run back to the cell.
Walking the Communal Areas in Full View of the Guard
A few days later, you try again this time you want to know what would have happened if you ignored The Guard. You step out with more confidence than before and stand face to face with the Prison Guard, he is screaming... “Get back to your cell!!” … this time you hear your voice utter the following intention… “I am going to have a look around, would you care to join me?”.
As you walk around you realise there are no riots, no gangs … nothing. The corridors and gangplanks are empty. The Guard is confused and keeps bellowing the same orders over and over.
You ask him why he keeps shouting, he tells you “I’m just doing my job, I’m your guard, and I’m guarding you”. You realise that although The Guard is very good at his job, he’s not very bright.
You are still full of fear but you are determined. You walk the corridors and gangplanks of your prison and The Guard walks along side and tries to block your path at each intersection. You look directly into his professional eyes, and then walk around him until he learns that it is there is no point in blocking your path. This is still a scary sensation for you, but at least you are not confined solely to your cell any more. Later, you confidently return back to your cell to tell him your Cellmate of your progress. You have unlocked your door and walked the prison interiors and nothing he warned you about came true. You were not attacked, you were not harmed in any way and you got to know The Guard a bit better. Your Constant Self-Checking now starts to incorporate this new understanding into its observations, it starts to become your ally.
Looking into the Boiler Room
For your next ‘outing’ you head for the basement. You are keen to check the boiler room. The boiler room is your energy levels; this small but powerful coal driven power station is your adrenal glands. You take a look through the locked gates. It's a very hot, very noisy and powerful place. You look closely at the gate and realise is none of your keys will work in this door.
You are amazed at how much power the boiler room produces. You notice that its power distribution system and the lighting panel have been wrongly calibrated by The Guard. But nonetheless you decide not view this situation with fear but rather with objectivity. You know with slight tweaks to it's calibration settings, the heating system would not be too hot or too cold, the air conditioning would function and lights not be too bright, too dull or flicker constantly. But in the end you decide that as you know the source of these 'discomforts' you decide to make the best of a bad situation and accept your current climate, its uncomfortable yes, but that's all it is
As you exit the boiler room you still notice the heat and light variations of the whole prison complex but now you know the source of the problem you will not fear your surroundings as much as you did yesterday.
You’ve tried to tell The Guard about the climate settings in the past that you assumed that either he just didn’t understand the way the system worked or indeed the system was broken beyond repair.
You remember your strong desires for life on the mainland where you know every building has correct environmental control settings, but decide that you can live hear a while longer.
The Governors’ Office
For your next excursion you decide to visit the Governors’ office, this is definitely new territory for you and comes with its own fears, but you have come this far … why not take a look?! The Guard tries every fear trick in the book to stop you. By now you realise all he does is shout, the poor guy can’t even touch you! He’s only doing his job.
You open the frosted glass door have a quick look around the plush office and head straight for the filing cabinet. Your prison file is your mental and physical health. You have a sneak peek at our own file and a wash of realisation surges through you. You read your file and see that you have committed no crime ... there is nothing wrong with you! You cast confused expression at another prison file, you see that this person has committed no crime either; you hurriedly scan through file after file and see the same word repeated again and again:
…
“Prisoner 25601: Innocent”
“Prisoner 25602: Innocent”
“Prisoner 25603: Innocent”
“Prisoner 25604: Innocent”
You then take a look on the oak shelves and scan through The Guard’s weekly log-book. You read through his section on building calibration. “Prisoner 25601 has been complaining a lot lately, he’s always shouting for help; I keep recalibrating the boiler settings and adjusting the lighting panel to no avail, I’ll keep trying until I get it right”. You realise that all this time he was trying to help you.
Back to the Cell
You rush back to your cell to tell your cellmate. He doesn’t believe you at first but you find you are talking so quickly about your discovery that he has trouble getting a word in.
The Sunshine on the Prison Garden
For your next outing you decide to visit the prison garden, this time you take your Cellmate with you. He is still very timid, but now this is to your advantage as he cannot say no to you. You, your Cellmate and The Prison Guard in tow walk out of the walls of Alcatraz and stand in the sunshine. This is the first time all three of you have shared a common experience for quite a while. You are all enjoying the sun and you stand in unison with the hint of a smile on your faces. You don’t want to beam quite yet, but you are all happy to know that even if you had to spend the rest of your days here in Alcatraz, then you are damn sure that it will be on your terms. You accept your prison because it is nowhere near as bad as you originally thought.
You spend many fulfilling days walking around the island and are happy to return to your cell knowing you can have a good day tomorrow too. Yes the environmental controls are a bit screwy. Yes The Guard is an odd fellow. Yes your Cellmate is a bit of a whinging doom monger. Yes you are still in prison but at least you are making the best of it. Your Cellmate still gives you safety advice from time to time, but nowadays he complains less and less, he too is starting to become confident.
Exploring Your Island Further
You walk on the rocks and climb unoccupied sniper towers to gaze upon the Pacific, your fears of the ocean start to become overwhelmed by your amazement at its magnificence. Sometimes you peacefully walk alone; sometimes you walk with your companions. Sometimes The Guard shouts, sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes you even run back to your Cell. But that’s ok.
You can get sustenance from the canteen and read books from the library; you make furniture for your cell in the workshop and plant crops in the vegetable patches. You live happily for a while until one day The Guard has a change of mind and offers to pilot a launch to the shore for an excursion.
You don’t want to leave your amazing island … but The Guard insists.
You realise that, as before, you can ignore him or listen to him, it’s up to you … it always has been. You decide that on this occasion to listen. You know that you can return whenever you want.
The Boat to the Shore
You realise that The Guard knows that he’s unemployed without you, he needs a purpose and you are now the one who writes his job description. He skilfully pilots you and your Cellmate towards the shore of the city and all three of you look with wonder at the opportunities and challenges that the city presents. As you launch skips across the blue-green waters your Cellmate's worries are muffled by the wind rushing past your ears.
You are out of Alcatraz; you rescued your Cellmate, and have The Guard as your personal bodyguard for the rest of your long happy days.
San Francisco
You become once again a fully useful member of the city. There are times when you look upon Alcatraz island and remember vividly the times you spent there … sometimes with fear, sometimes with fondness for the wisdom provided … and sometimes with hope, for the other inmates still inside, there are other times when you look directly at the island and don’t register it at all. You become caught up in the thrills and spills of city life once again. There are other times when you don’t want to think of it at all because it brings back too many painful memories and you’re worried you still may be sent back one day.
In order to quell these nagging fears you decide to take a few trips back.
The Alcatraz ‘Tourist Attraction’
This place is now your tourist attraction, and you visit from time to time, you still remember the unexplained sounds and strange echoes that poured through its walls, you still remember the emotions you experienced, it brings back the sad and painful memories. But each time you visit, it is on your terms, every corner you look around, every stairwell you walk and every gangplank you stand upon gives you more confidence. Your painful memory associated with each location and situation is slowly overwritten with new a new memory of more recent visits.
The more you visit, the more you understand; you even consider a job as a tour guide as you know the more time you spend here the less of the bad times you remember.
You find yourself actually wanting to spend more time within this stunning piece of functional architecture.
As you walk down the corridors, you think deeply on the journey you have taken.
You become compelled to help someone else. You don’t want to provoke envy, because you know that never helped you, all you want to do is pass on a simple message.
You sneak past the occupied cell of one of The Other ‘Guests’ and whisper "Hey … Buddy"… “There’s something in your pocket”.
Remember the interplay between, rooms and characters can seem complicated at first, but you need none of this knowledge to find relaxation. Remember, as always, just Pretend.
Intrusive Negative thoughts
New negative thoughts in the mind are like deer tracks in the woods, the more they are used the more trodden down the deer tracks become, soon other animals and people start to use these path ways, these path ways become bridal ways, these bridal ways become B roads, then A roads, then Motorways. They seem unstoppable.
One method of removing the thought is to change the meaning of anxiety to what it truly is; a beneficial tool for survival.
[Example thought: "my heart is palpitating" - <MOTORWAY> - Conclusion "I'm going to have a heart attack!!!!!!"] = FEAR
Using this example this is the way you can make anxiety work for you:
You can't simply get rid of the ‘motorway’ short term, but you can find the benefit.
[Example thought: "my heart is palpitating" - <MOTORWAY> - Conclusion "I'm making my heart stronger !!!!!!"] = REASSURANCE
This is the reason why we need to view anxiety as a positive thing because in truth it is.
Sticking with the above example the subsequent pattern emerges, as the reality of the reassurance outcome is realised the motorway becomes less used (because we do not fear the outcome) and returns to being the deer track, and eventually this pathway is bypassed completely by a new beneficial pathway.
Know that thoughts are harmless; I viewed my negative thoughts in the same way as I would watch subtitles on my television set. They are merely thought patterns. I learned not to fight the thoughts, but simply accept them. They would come and go; it took me a while to let them flow freely in and out of my mind. But once I did this the vicious circle began to fracture. In the anxiety ‘disorder’ negative thoughts cause the physiological changes and the physiological changes cause the negative thoughts. You only have to eliminate one of these for the circle to dissipate.
Viewpoint
Anxiety is a viewpoint. All the symptoms we get at the same as someone would get if they were vigorously exercising, the person would not be bothered by a racing heart, breathlessness, dizziness, depersonalisation etc because it is normal to do so under those conditions. Anxiety is the same, it is just the body doing what it does, what it is supposed to do but at some point in the past it spooked us and we turned our deer tracks into motorways.
Simple Geometry
Think of a diamond shape - that is anxiety
Think of a square shape - that is normal body/brain function
The are both the same thing just viewed at a angle difference of 45 degrees
Change the meaning of the outcome anxiety and acceptance arrives easily. When acceptance arrives, we can 'Let's Pretend' more easily, the more we do it ... the more innappropriate anxiety dissipates and eventually dissappears.
Yet again the goal is not to rid ourselves of anxiety, because if we did we would lose our greatest ally.
Is Anxiety a Weakness?
Some anxiety sufferers believe it to be a weakness, this could not be further from the truth, it is the constant fighting against anxiety that makes you experience anxiety.
You are the creative and intelligent. Any new psychological sensation is proof of our awesome creativity. Once you channel that creativity (not away from anxiety but) towards something else you will be amazed how enviably creative and imaginative you are. GAD & Panic 'sufferers' are the energised. Anxiety is proof of your awesome energy, like creativity once this energy is channelled towards something else you will be amazed what can be achieved with so little effort.
The Software Analogy
Software engineers would refer to these anxiety symptoms as BIT testing. (Built-In-Test), a self diagnostic tool running analysis algorithms to check on the heath condition of the software. Anxiety does the same thing. Think of the Mind-Body combo as a perfect operating system. Anxiety is when we loop the BIT testing. This temporarily slows down the performance of the operating system itself, once the BIT test is complete the operating system functions exactly as it did previously, and in many cases the performance is improved. The BIT test never breaks or damages the OS (operating system) it improves it. Having anxiety is similar; it is a process of self improvement. Just remember your OS and complementary BIT diagnosis tool was not hastily put together by a few engineers who submitted the lowest bid. It was put together by 350million years of evolutionary perfection. Anxiety is an amazing diagnostics tool. Home PC users can look at it as virus checking software. (it temporarily slows down your PC but all in all it is beneficial).
Ownership
If you ever read anything which made you feel better, ultimately it was not what you read which calmed down your anxiety it was you. Every time something happened which relieved your fears just remember it was you … every time. You can do it, you have done it, you may be doing it right now, and you will do it again and again and again. You own your anxiety. It does not own you. Ultimately it never has and it never will. It is nothing without you.
Adrenaline is the Fight/Flight hormone.
It’s just a natural energising chemical. It can make you frightened or it can make you powerful or a mixture of both. I believe that if you take small steps in changing the perspective from fear to power from victim to victor you can really make adrenaline work with you and for you. You can also remove it by 'Let's Pretend'
If you have trouble accepting the presence of Anxiety whilst 'pretending'
That intense feeling you get in the pit of your stomach, it starts with the butterflies, and then escalates into higher nervousness and starts the fear cycle.
Well view this as energy.
Ultimately, fear is the energy that enables us to turn goals into reality.
You are the potter, it is the clay.
By having experienced anxiety and panic you are: Courageous; Brave; Gutsy; Valliant; Daring; Audacious; Intrepid; Heroic; Fearless; Bold; Gallant; Heroic and Powerful.
I am not overstating this! Each anxiety symptom only prolongs its own existence because you are scared of it. Each time you stand in the midst of your fears you become stronger, braver and more empowered. You own your fear; it never owns you. It is not the avalanche that chokes you; it is the mountains of your making that you stand surefooted upon.
The Chemical Imbalance
Here we enter the contentious issue of the chemical imbalance.
The medical profession believes anxiety is caused by a chemical imbalance, others believe it is not caused by a chemical imbalance but can cause one. The truth is … it does not really matter.
Maybe the catalyst was bereavement; maybe it was stress at work; a new baby; moving house; maybe an assault; maybe it is unidentified.
The initial catalyst(s), is (are) irrelevant.
Yet again, it’s not what happens it’s how we respond.
As explained when we enter the fight/flight response we undergo some amazing changes to keep us from harm, we filter out all the fun bits because the fun bits are not necessary for survival.
The body is exceptionally well designed, efficient and adaptable. As far as our survival/anxiety circuits are concerned it is unnecessary to be happy during the fight/flight response.
Our body is not working against us, it is working for us.
The chemical imbalance referred to is the imbalance that causes the re-absorption and subsequent non-use of Serotonin.
The chemical messenger Serotonin (the happy chemical) is still produced within the brain, but as it is transferred across the gap from one brain cell to another it is ‘sucked’ backwards, broken down and its energy reused. Not only is it not necessary to keep us safe, its presence could be detrimental to the speed of the fight/flight response.
To explain this in a pre-historical setting, when we chance upon a face to face meeting with a wonderfully designed predator intent on turning our very existence into lunch, it will do us no good whatsoever if we stand there smiling happily within its presence. It will serve us best if our body makes us feel so awful that within milliseconds we are running for our very lives, or if cornered, playing dead, or clobbering it over the head with whatever’s handy.
During the anxiety/panic disorder we are constantly within this state of self-protection, thus happiness and all other positive emotions elude us, the protection system concludes that there is no point in being happy or positive during the fight/flight response.
Dear Friend,
If you have Anxiety/Panic Disorder, you have my sympathies, my admiration and soon my tools for freedom.
I had undiagnosed General Anxiety Disorder for 15 years, which I coped with suitably well. When I say undiagnosed, I mean misdiagnosed. My GP at the time suggested I had a inner-ear balance problem. I do not blame him because I was so confused at the time I could not explain my sensations as they seemed too ‘alien’. For 15 years I barely functioned as ‘normal’.
My ‘final’ year of anxiety was a different story; I was experiencing many panic attacks per day.
I experienced nausea, vertigo, vomiting, derealisation, depersonalisation, unreality, sweating, light-headedness, numbness, chest pains, shortness of breath, delayed perception, visual disturbances, hypersensitivity, constant obsessive thoughts, despair, anxiety dreams, phobo-phobia, fear of suicide, depression, fear of depression, hospital visits, Doctor’s visits etc. I had so much adrenaline, I felt could not sit down, any spare moment, I was walking and running around trying to escape from this anxiety. What didn’t help is that I work as a software engineer which means I’m supposed to stay at my desk in a huge open plan office for 7.5 hours per day. Every ten seconds was a battle. I was too scared to sit still; I was too scared to run. When I managed to get home in the evening, the place where you are supposed to feel safe, anxiety and panic carried on.
With the aid of (on average) one bottle of wine per evening, I would collapse from exhaustion at around 01:30 am and wake every morning and start another panic attack at 04:30 am
The only release from this was around 5 seconds per day. Those ‘5 seconds’ were the time between me waking up, and me ‘remembering’ I had this ‘condition’.
I have taken prescription medications for anxiety with varying results.
What is my life like now?
I’m fine thank you, I go to work in the same office, I enjoy the challenges of the job, I drive home, have some dinner, I help my wife read stories and put the children to bed. Sometimes I read a book, sometimes I surf the net, sometimes I watch telly, I spend a lot of time relaxing, I do some gardening, I play the guitar, and we go out for day trips. I don’t do anything spectacular; I just live a ‘normal’ life.
Here is my disclaimer:
I am not trained in Medicine or Psychology, all the information presented here is based upon my own personal experiences. These are my findings, my experiences and my conclusions. I have undertaken no anxiety-elimination programs other than the one I have created here. Any potential similarity to other programs is purely co-incidental. There is no substitute for qualified medical advice, please discuss with your doctor before undertaking any anxiety-elimination methods.
Let’s Get Started
I believe there is no wrong way to react to Anxiety/Panic Attacks
Yes there are better ways to and worse ways to react which affect how comfortable you feel and extremely beneficial ways in order you alleviate all of your inappropriate feelings, but there is no way to fail at inappropriate ‘Anxiety’ and ‘Panic’.
This truth is a catch all statement to address the questions: “What am I doing wrong?” or “What did I do wrong to get in this predicament?” The answer to both questions is nothing … you have done and are doing nothing wrong, even though you may feel or think there is something wrong there isn’t, there never has been. You are the result of simple cause and effect, and there are many more triumphant chapters to write for you yet. (… get back in your box Tony Robbins)
This information is not a test, there are no compulsion statements such as: ‘Always do this’; ‘you Must do that’; ‘Never do the other’. With regards to Anxiety and Panic you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, for as long as you want and no harm will ever come to you.
“Why is this important?”
I believe it to be an important truth to understand. We build upon this truth and gain strength from the freedom it provides, understanding of this concept will help to eliminate any what-if fear statements that the mind can create whilst working through a method of anxiety removal ... such as ...
What if I’m not doing it right?
… or more crucially …
“What if I’ve done this wrong?!”
“Can this truth be right?”
Yes, Anxiety/Panic Attacks are utterly harmless in every way so whatever you and do and whatever you don’t do has no bearing on your safety and your sanity.
You are the one who will get yourself better and you are the one who will keep yourself there. Once you understand the principles you carry the techniques in your body and mind for the rest of your days.
Borrowed Wisdom
At this point I’d like to borrow some wisdom from the Bushcraft expert Ray Mears …
"Knowledge is the key to survival, the real beauty of that is that it doesn't weigh anything."
Bushcraft is the art of wilderness survival; it’s empowering and fulfilling, it’s about building fires and building shelters, it’s about being efficient and mentally strong, and it’s about self confidence and applied knowledge, I haven’t done that much Bushcraft in the past due to my past insecurities, I have merely dabbled, but as it’s in my nature to be a voracious researcher my theory is up to scratch.
It is not about conquering nature.
It is about living in sympathy with nature.
It is about motivation and relaxation.
It is about our ancestor’s successful relationship with the wilderness dangers that forged our cerebral strengths.
It provides the setting for the origins of Anxiety/Panic Disorder.
The past was an intensely dangerous time; our ancestors evolved a strong, efficient protection system which kept them alive in times of extreme threat. We call this protection system the ‘fight/flight response’. It is powered by the hormone Adrenaline and it is designed to seem overwhelming.
The quoted wisdom originates from a conversation about friction-fire making methods that Ray once had with a local tribeswoman from the South Pacific on one of his many wonderful adventures.
The philosophy is stunning: Once you know how to make fire, you carry fire around with you always in your mind and in your muscles.
The reason this wisdom resides close to my heart is that I am a keen friction-fire maker myself and its philosophy is the same as the anxiety understanding.
I’m the sort of person who generally likes to do everything myself, I enjoy being both the teacher and the student.
From personal experience there is rarely a sensation as wonderful, fulfilling and as profound as making fire yourself for the first time; you can spend weeks if not months fine tuning your technique and apparatus, finding the right wood combination, collecting the right tinder in the right quantities. It can be physically exhausting and fraught with failure after failure, more smoke each time but still no fire.
With each failure comes a little bit more knowledge. Until one time you happen upon the exactly the right strategy, technique, method, apparatus, attitude and timing.
You are patient, optimistic, and observant. You watch as more smoke is produced and see the formation of the ‘coal’ or ‘ember’. You don’t rush, but carefully transfer your ember into the middle of your ‘tinder bundle’.
You gently massage your tinder into you ‘coal’. You blow gently at first and then gradually with greater and greater intensity. You watch as the billowing smoke changes colour from white to a yellow-green. More smoke! … Ignition!!!
You hold ‘your’ fire in your hand for the first time. You are and from this day forward connected to the history of your species and it really does feel completely wonderful.
Your confidence has been lit.
You instantly want to try again and again, sometimes the climate is not quite right, sometimes the air is too damp, sometimes the wind too strong for your virgin understanding to overcome, but the more you try the more you succeed in harsher and harsher weathers.
The understanding of and strategic implementation of anxiety relief is exceedingly similar. I am lucky to have achieved as much success with anxiety as I have with fire. I now carry the understanding around with me always in my mind. This understanding weighs nothing, it’s simple to comprehend and like fire making, the more you use it, the easier it becomes.
A Few Definitions
Anxiety: “Distress of mind caused by fear of danger.”
Panic: “A period of hysterical or irrational behaviour in response to fear”
Disorder: “A lack of order or normal arrangement.”
Expansions
The definitions of Anxiety and Panic describe the processes our ancestors experienced while responding to chemical messengers produced in order to escape from or fight against the dangers within their environment.
The definition of Disorder describes the process of us responding inappropriately to the same chemical messengers produced by modern day stress factors when no actual danger exists.
Whilst within the stress response, the body and mind can go through some amazing changes to keep us from harm. These changes enable us to ‘automatically’ remove ourselves from danger sources or remove the danger sources themselves.
During this time we are able to process the environment using all senses at astonishing speeds, we are able to filter out all that is unnecessary for survival (all the fun bits) and execute the safety plan. These incredible changes are what we fear during the initial Anxiety/Panic episodes.
When Anxiety becomes a ‘Disorder’
We check the external environment for danger, and when we ascertain no danger we begin to check internally. We analyse all the sensations and symptoms that are produced during the stress response and become alarmed at their power. We conclude in seconds that …
“I’m going to die”
… or …
“I’m losing my mind!!!”
Creating the Vicious Circle
These conclusions then feed back into our ‘protection circuits’, the brain responds by producing more chemical messengers that further increase the sensations.
A Bit of Technical Stuff
Limbic System - Sets our Anxiety level
Sympathetic Nervous System – Winds us up
Parasympathetic Nervous System –Calms us down
Words
Let’s look at the words Panic Attack:
• Panic: a high energy state with a fear reaction
• Attack: a harmful confrontation resulting in damage
The fear is produced in relation to us believing ourselves to be under attack. There is no attack, there never has been and there never will be. There is no assailant; there is no assault, no damage will occur, and no harm will ever ensue. The phrase Panic Attack itself is inaccurate and doesn’t provide the right grounding for beneficial thinking.
There are two schools of thought regarding the best approach to this nomenclature issue.
1. We remain with the phrase Panic Attack and through time, desensitise ourselves to the powerful nature of the words themselves.
Words such as Panic; Anxiety; Stress; Fear; Terror; Dread and Horror have the power to affect us emotionally. If we accompany each of these words with “it’s only …” at the beginning we can in time limit the effect they have:
“… It’s only Anxiety”;
“… It’s only Panic”
This is handy when conversing with others regarding your experiences. The words are the accepted common language and labels for such experiences and therefore it is helps to have this word desensitisation approach.
2. We change the description to provide a better grounding for recovery.
The incorrectly named panic attack could be more accurately called an energy surge.
Energy is not good or bad, it’s just a resource. The adrenaline produced as a result of your reactions/behaviour is a chemical catalyst for converting your stored-energy into available-energy.
Not a Victim
When we experience the onset of anxiety/panic we are merely experiencing this conversion process of stored to available energy.
By making this label change we are addressing the ‘victim’ mentality. We are not the victim, we never have been and we never will be. We are simply the recipient of a high energy state as a result of cause and effect.
Once we realise that we are not under attack we gain further insight into our current experience. When we eliminate the ‘victim’ mentality we often replace it with another ‘perpetrator’ mentality, It is normal to want to assign blame and also normal to direct that blame at ourselves.
Ultimately yes … it is us, we are making ourselves panic, but we are not to blame, none of us received a manual about how to cope with our first Panic/Anxiety Attack and even if we did we would probably never have read it because ‘that sort of thing happens to other people’.
The only reason we are where we are is cause and effect, if we knew all the facts prior to experiencing energy surges we would never enter the panic-circle.
Whilst we are in the process of relabeling; let’s re-label panic-circle to wisdom-loop … why? … Because every time we travel the loop we gain ownership and understanding over our own energy.
It’s imperative to have a goal, an ideal, an aspiration; it provides a confidence altering mindset when we measure ourselves against it. Unfortunately most goals in relation to anxiety/panic have a detrimental effect on the speed of recovery and the confidence of the “anxiety sufferer”.
Ex-Sufferers
The World Wide Web is full of people shouting “hey look at me … I’m cured!” “Just do what I did and reap the benefits!!” It’s so simple when you have done it yourself, but not so simple when you are in the process of doing it, because of one fundamental thing ... you haven’t done it yet. You are yet to gain the personal reassurance and confidence from within.
Many if not most of these people will undoubtedly offer great advice, some are better than others, they have all been through the fear-mill to varying degrees and emerged smiling on the other side, I’m overjoyed for them and wish them all the best in their well-intentioned endeavours.
We should use their example as proof that relief/cure is indeed possible because it is. But we should not use anxiety elimination as the goal. If that is your goal, you will constantly self-check to see if you have reached your ideal. When we self-check we immediately manufacture anxiety sensations through our own magnificent creativity to see if they are still there! “A watched pot never boils” … well yes it does, it always does but there is no point in waiting for it to happen when we could be doing something useful instead.
It’s not unreachable it just takes a lot longer. The cure is not something you will find through anxiety securitisation and analysis, the only thing you will find there is factual reinforcement of your potential strategic success through worked examples and factual neurophysiology interplay.
Where is the Cure?
The location of the cure is outside in the wider world, it is within the film you become engrossed in; it is in the pages of the novel that excites you; it’s at the sports game you take your family to; in the restaurant you take your wife to.
If you constantly search for the cure it will always elude you. If you search for something else it will come to you. Fears stay with us as long as we succumb to our compulsion rituals.
Compulsion is not just continuously washing your hands or disinfecting doorknobs. It is reading about anxiety, it’s asking for help, it’s searching for the cure. In a nutshell, anything that we continuously do to provide temporal anxiety relief is a compulsion.
We are compelled to solve the issue because we think there is a problem.
Recommended Reading
What type of reading material should you use if you want to get better quicker? Well to be honest you so much are better off reading “Where’s Wally?” or “War and Peace” than “Anxiety Relief”.
Distraction = Tackling Anxiety Head On
It sounds contrary to all rational thinking but when you are using acceptance, exposure, independence and distraction under the simple umbrella of pretending you are well you are actually tackling anxiety head on. Anxiety seems irrational so it needs a seemingly irrational approach to solve the issue. (In actual fact both anxiety creation and anxiety relief methodology are both completely rational; they just don’t seem it on first inspection). We need to prove to ourselves that we no longer need protecting.
What is the first goal?
The real goal is to be independent of the wisdom-loop. Not to be free of anxiety but to be free with or without anxiety. What then happens then is we can self check as much as we like, manufacture as many sensations as our creative limits can muster still and achieve our goal instantly.
We make our own decisions from now on and anxiety can do what the hell it wants for as long as it wants. When we act independently we demonstrate to the Limbic System that the anxiety/panic is not a threat and the level is switched down a notch, the more independent we act, the more the level is lowered. Thus the relief/cure will then naturally arise as a by-product of the goal.
The label of ‘cured’ is not necessary once you arrive and therefore you are far less likely to self-check. There is rarely a eureka moment where suddenly all anxiety stops, it’s impossible to stop anxiety completely, it’s our greatest ally it’s hardwired into each and every one of us to keep us safe. It just gradually fades into the background and become appropriate anxiety … the same as ‘everyone else’.
Good and ‘Bad’ Techniques
There is no incorrect way to react to inappropriate anxiety/panic, it is utterly safe, utterly benign, it’s just a pain in the balls. It is much more beneficial to view each experience in relation to discovery than failure. Failures are merely discoveries of a strategy with a non-beneficial outcome that can be eliminated in future. It’s not what happens, it’s how we react.
Let’s look at the possible reactions to our energy surges:
1. Run for the hills
2. Freeze
3. Anger/Frustration
4. Surf’s up.
5. Exploration.
6. Invitation
7. Empowerment
8. Ridicule
9. Friendship
10. Desire
11. Intentional Incorrect-Response
12. Let’s Pretend
Option 1 & 2: Run for the hills/Freeze
This is the usual response to the physical and psychological feelings produced within the energy surge resulting in whelming fear. We get seriously spooked by these grand feelings and feel compelled to escape or freeze in terror. These feelings are individually designed to scare the wits out of us. By running for the hills or freezing in terror you are not doing anything wrong, you are doing exactly the same thing that everyone else has done when initially confronted with an energy surge, don’t beat yourself up over it, you are just inexperienced at reacting in a more beneficial way. Everyone reacts like this initially. It’s normal. When we react like this there is an increase in our adrenaline stress chemicals. The presence of these chemicals in our system further produces additional energy which escalates our fears.
What to expect: An escalation of fear, lasting between 5-40 minutes until the parasympathetic nervous system introduces its calming down process.
Option 3: Anger/Frustration
This reaction is better than options 1 & 2 and compliments perfectly with the excess of adrenaline produced. Detrimentally it still demonstrates to the Limbic System that the energy surge is viewed as a powerful adversary. Beneficially, it shows that we have successfully converted the ‘flight’ response to a ‘fight’ response. It serves the purpose of proving that we can indeed alter our reactions to the same stimuli. We can see that it’s not the best response but it has its place and its uses. It is best to view this response purely as a tool demonstration that we can change our responses.
What to expect: A craving for relaxation & normality but an ability to cope with the fear for the time being.
Option 4: Surf’s up.
This philosophy is derived from the late great Dr. Claire Weekes’ pioneering research. And is another way of saying ‘let it happen’ ‘float through it’ ‘it will pass’. Energy surges come in waves and it is a useful visualisation to employ. Just imagine yourself on top of the waves of panic let yourself be taken on the journey to wherever fear wishes to take you and for as long as the waves last. This is the first stage of acceptance. The visualisation of being on top signifies that you are not overwhelmed or submerged but merely a willing thrill seeker. After all we know that panic/anxiety is utterly harmless so why not just see what happens and experience the buzz. The buzz will be scary but it’s supposed to be, it’s designed to be.
What to expect: An notion that you can indeed live with energy surges as part of you life and go on to be outwardly successful.
Option 5: Exploration.
This option further expands upon acceptance and enters the phase of non-judgemental analysis, and serves to prove that the previously identified adversary is completely benign; you may want this exploration philosophy to prove to yourself that every aspect of panic is safe. Rest assured is it safe to examine and scrutinise your energy surges. You have felt the buzz in Option 4, this option reaches out to the other parts of wonderful brain to provide internal rationalisation for fear dissection. It’s a good technique but ultimately you are still focusing on anxiety, which is not the best curative option
What to expect: A little fear. A little confidence.
Option 6: Invitation
You can employ this technique prior, during or after an energy surge. If you are between energy surges then you can request another one to test out your new techniques. If you are currently within an energy surge then you can invite additional energy to further your exploration. If you have just experienced an energy surge then you have the option of requesting another one to further try out your new approaches.
What to expect: An energy surge but this time on your terms.
Option 7: Empowerment
Now we are getting somewhere, the initial onset of your energy surge will start to provoke a reaction of excitement of yet another little victory, each energy episode will be accompanied by confidence prior, during and after its duration.
What to expect: Ownership of your energy surge
Option 8: Ridicule
This point is where we have proved to ourselves that by implementation of the previous options that the energy surges are harmless. We still get the surges because the cerebral pathways have not yet been overwritten but we know that the fear is a con so we feel able to tempt it, prod it, poke it, laugh at it, and generally ridicule it. We start to ‘tempt fate’.
What to expect: Wry smiles. A little fear, a light at the end of the tunnel.
Option 9: Friendship
This option is borne from familiarly of using our new techniques. When the energy surge arrives we view it no longer with suspicion, fear & dread but with genuine affection for the wisdom and perspective it has gifted us. There may be some emotions of trepidation, but this is normal. You are initiating peace-talks after months of not years of strife. You and anxiety will be suspicious at first, but this is normal.
What to expect: Trepidation, a little uncertainty but the promise of peace.
Option 10: Desire
This is the emotional wanting of the energy surge to be present. You want the energy; you want to test out further theories and practices. The more you want one, the less you get one.
What to expect: Initial trepidation being later overwhelmed with positivity with more and more practice.
Option 11: Intentional Incorrect-Response.
This really is an odd yet strangely empowering response to energy surges, but at the same time it is completely unnecessary, its successful implementation and completion results more total mastery over inappropriate panic and anxiety. You go back to the start and actively try to execute option 1. You want to attain the status of an anxiety grandmaster and so you try to be scared, you want the fear, you like the fear, fear merely reminds you of how much you have achieved; you try to implement all the so called incorrect responses. Fear will always feel negative, but that’s ok, it’s supposed to. You are proving that not only can you view fear positively and energy smiling, but you trying to also view fear negatively and still emerge with a smile. You are starting to beat anxiety on your terms so you now want to start to beat it on its terms. You try your hardest to flee from it, you try your hardest to react ‘incorrectly’, and you try your dam nest to get back to square one, why? Because you have won a few times before; and you want to win again. You now realise that there is indeed no wrong way to react for your safety and sanity.
What to expect: Two steps forward and one step back, one step forward two steps back.
Option 12: Let’s pretend.
This is by far the best option available to you. It derives from understanding of all the previous options but mastery or even dabbling of all other options is not remotely necessary to attain successful implementation to ultimately achieve repeatable relaxation in a matter of hours and ultimately far less time.
Pretending is a concept that even young children can understand. How and why does pretending work? Well, your Limbic System is responsible for setting you anxiety level inappropriately high. It gets its signals to do this from your senses, what you see, what you hear, what you say, what you taste etc. If your Limbic System sees and hears you discussing or reading about your problems then it will conclude there is still a problem. The Limbic System is plain stupid it has no intelligence whatsoever, it’s just a great piece of software, you don’t need to be an expert in computer programming or psychology to affect it, you don’t need to know how to reprogram it yourself; it will do all that for you!
All you have to do is fool it and you can you can fool it, anyone can fool it.
When you get an energy surge your Limbic System will watch your reactions, if it sees you running, hiding, asking for help, reading about your ‘condition’ then it will see something is wrong and keep your energy level high. If you pretend that all is well and for example, slowly doing the dishes, cooking a meal, watching a movie, calming walking etc. then it will automatically set the energy level lower. It does not know when you are pretending; it never has and never will. The more you do this … the calmer you get and you will enter into a positive feedback relaxation mindset.
If you have trouble understanding the crucial combination of acceptance, exposure, independence and distraction you just need to remember to pretend. Just Pretend! Pretend you are relaxed and calm; you don’t have to feel calm or relaxed for it to start working.
Just keep up the pretence.
The brain then slowly starts deleting the energy surge pathways and writing new calm pathways. The Limbic System is constantly using the data from your senses to make a judgement on what the anxiety setting should be used to ensure your safety. In short it is emotionless. The limbic system is like computer which sees what you see and hears what you hear … a bit like ‘data’ from ‘star trek’ sitting in a room in front of a TV set.
The picture on the screen is what you see; the sound through the TV speakers is what you hear. It relies purely on this data to decide the anxiety level setting. Relief, like anything else starts with a decision, yes it can seem a hard decision to confront but as the old saying goes … “nothing ventured … nothing gained”, and generally sayings don’t become old unless they are right.
A decision to put away the anxiety literature; to stop discussing anxiety; to say whenever asked about anxiety “yes I’m fine thank you, never better”; to go to the cinema and not endure but enjoy the entire film; to step outside the front door; to drive that motorway; to ride that train; to step onto that plane; to read that book; to ask that girl out; to sit down for the entire evening and watch comedy; to apply for that job; to do all the things you should be doing if inappropriate anxiety was absent; and ultimately a decision to start right now. As stated this initial pretence is simultaneous combination of anxiety acceptance, exposure, anxiety independence and distraction.
Let's say it takes (for example) 15 exposure/distractions to attain confidence and comfort that means the more energy surges you get per day the quicker you recover. Obviously the length of time this takes depends upon how many pathways within the brain need to be rewritten. The results can be rather fast, because the brain is so well adaptively designed.
What to expect: Wisdom-loop independence; by-product = relaxation.
These options are not purely linear you may find yourself jumping through different options in different energy surges or indeed during the same energy surge. A bit of practice and you’ll get there.
Case Studies
Anxiety case studies are examples of individual anxiety disorder sufferers, a description of their symptom set and the solutions they used to overcome their problems. Case studies can be very helpful in many respects, but unhelpful in others. When we read a series of case studies we search for the one that closest resembles us to provide guidance, reassurance, strategy and implementation techniques … all good stuff so far! The problem with case studies in relation to anxiety is that no two people are exactly the same. There are as many type of anxiety as there are people. Everyone’s symptom set is different, sometimes with subtle differences, sometimes with major differences. Whilst we should always rejoice in our individuality, it become difficult to rejoice when we believe we have a unique issue that we feel desperately needs solving by someone who ultimately knows nothing about us.
The Reasons Why Everyone’s ‘Symptom Set’ is Different
As we have discovered, there are hundreds of different symptoms of Anxiety/Panic disorder. Usually a sufferer gets a few of the common symptoms and a few of the less common symptoms mixed together to make a unique blend that makes the sufferer think that their combination is somehow different (it is) and thus exempt from the management/cure (it never is). My Symptom Set consisted of about 20-30 sensations and mental manifestations, around 10 of which were from the traditional set and the remainder from the best my creative juices could muster. It is important to understand that regardless of commonality or uniqueness of your symptom set, the answer to Anxiety/Panic works.
Question: Why do we each get different combinations of symptoms?
Answer: Because we are each scared of different things. We are all different, and we ‘converse’ with our sensations differently.
Here follows an example: I wanted the traditional therapies to work for me, therefore I wanted ‘textbook’ anxiety symptoms ... the thumping heart and the hyperventilation, if I could just experience these symptoms then it would prove to me that I was indeed experiencing an Anxiety/Panic attack and thus I could instantly identify it as harmless Anxiety/Panic and know that I was not on the verge of complete mental collapse. I could then breathe into a paper bag, address my gaseous exchange and thus ‘nip’ the Anxiety/Panic ‘in the bud’
Question: Why did I not get these symptoms?
Answer: Because I wanted them, I was not scared of them.
Techniques
The following will summarise the information presented so far:
Overwhelming Anxiety
• Run for the hills
• Freeze
Coping with Anxiety
• Anger/Frustration
• Surf’s up.
• Exploration
• Invitation
• Empowerment
• Ridicule
• Friendship
• Desire
• Intentional Incorrect-Response
Removing Anxiety
• Let’s Pretend
Let’s ‘Pretend’
I only call it pretending because it feels like that initially
What are the guidelines for successful implementation of ‘Let’s Pretend’?
Well, we have to think what we would happen if we didn’t have inappropriate anxiety:
What would you do if you didn’t have inappropriate anxiety?
• You would do anything that inappropriate anxiety has stopped you doing in the past.
What would you talk about if you didn’t have inappropriate anxiety?
• You would not talk about anxiety, you would never discuss anxiety with anyone; you would not discuss your sensations. You would not ask for help regarding anxiety. You would talk about the weather, the film, the game, the concert, the girl next door, the news … and so on. Remember, if you really feel the need to chat about anxiety, go for it. There are no real ‘do’ and don’ts because it’s all harmless.
Would you read any anxiety literature … if you didn’t have inappropriate anxiety?
• No, of course not! You would be reading “Where’s Wally?” or “War and Peace”! On a personal note, I’ve never read “War and Peace”… I’m not that bright, but “Where’s Wally?” is superb.
Would you employ any relaxation techniques if you didn’t have inappropriate anxiety?
• No, unless they were purely for personal enjoyment, a spiritual journey etcetera.
Would you partake in any anxiety themed websites/chat-rooms/discussion boards if you didn’t have inappropriate anxiety?
• No, unless you are an ex-‘sufferer’ who wants to help
In summary anxiety is not the driver or the passenger on your journey; it is the road you are driving on … Take the next exit.
What is Recovery?
This question is so rarely addressed in the vast majority of anxiety literature. Well the answer is very-very interesting indeed.
• Relaxation;
• Initial trepidation of anxiety return
• The reclamation of your original self ... it was completely intact and unflustered during the whole experience. The reason for this is your 'true personality' (you) is held in a different part of the brain than your 'inappropriate anxiety/panic personality', it is completely safe, sane, rational and calm and has been for the entire duration of your anxiety wisdom journey, regardless of how long you have had anxiety/panic, whether it has been days months years or decades;
• The instantaneous ability to use the wisdom that anxiety has bequeathed to you. You actually become calmer than everyone else ... the 'normal' people. You know stress and fear intimately and can eliminate them instantly;
• The opportunity to achieve anything you wish in the full knowledge that any of those old social/medical/psychological fears that used to hold you back can be accepted, ignored and subsequently eliminated;
• A massive insight into why other people do what they do in relation to their own unconquered fears ... an observation that absolutely everyone in the world has inappropriate anxiety to greater or lesser degrees, and 99.999% don't even know it. They just react;
• Later on … a complete knowledge of anxiety return impossibility;
• An inner knowledge base of power that you know you will only ever use for good.
Just remember, Anxiety/Panic disorder in not a physical health problem, it's not a mental health problem. It is a problem of learned behaviour. Anxiety/Panic is in fact your ticket out of here. You need to reteach Anxiety/Panic that we are unaffected by its presence. To alleviate the issue you need Anxiety/Panic to be present. Anxiety/Panic is your student. How can it possibly learn if it does not turn up for class?!
Visual Setting
Anxiety and panic is like being at the bottom of a lake wearing a very buoyant lifejacket. The lake is anxiety/panic; the surface is normality & relaxation. We are clinging on for dear life to the rocks, plants, indeed anything we can grab a hold of. We feel tremendous forces on our body and the more forces we feel, the tighter we hold on. One plant we grab on to might represent reeking reassurance by visiting anxiety websites for help. Another rock we cling to will represent researching our condition. Each one of these articles is in fact a coping ritual which we have taught ourselves we need, in order to ‘cope’ with the ‘disorder’. If you eliminate the rituals, the anxiety will temporarily increase, but that’s ok. After all it is only harmless anxiety/panic. We are keeping ourselves at the bottom of the lake.
... Imagine what would happen if we just let go.
More about the ‘Vicious’ Circle
Each Panic/Attack fuels the next one. It is the fear of fear that keeps the fires burning. Sometimes Panic Attacks simply burn themselves out and recovery is released. Sometimes it requires intervention (yoga, meditation, exercise, medication etc). It’s the same with General Anxiety Disorder (GAD). But GAD can be more difficult to overcome. It is constant unease with no particular focus for your uneasiness. Where the options of invitation and empowerment work well for Panic Attacks, they work less well (in my experience) for GAD for they only serve to fuel fear obsession. ‘Let’s Pretend’ works a treat for GAD. ‘Let’s Pretend’ is not only doing things regardless of anxiety, it is also how you do them … slowly, patiently, deliberately, pretending to do them confidently, it’s smiling & winking in the mirror, it’s pretending to really enjoy your lunch, it’s walking with your head held high, it’s letting out a big relaxing “ahhhhh!!”. All the little things make the difference. You are very creative if you have GAD, you are also a great actor/actress, and you can play a great role. Just do it. By pretending you are actually depriving the fire of fuel. Pretence overrides the fear of fear loop. You don’t have to stop being scared for it to start working. In fact being scared makes it work.
Anxiety Independence
The ability to pretend comes from one cerebral fact. Regardless of what the Limbic System ‘advises’ us to do, the Cortex can always (and I mean always) override that advice in every single human being. It’s like having two brains, the anxiety brain and the true-you brain. You are so much bigger than your anxiety. The wonderful world in which we live is so much bigger than anxiety.
Alcatraz Analogy
Here’s a little Alcatraz Analogy (OK, I know it was one prisoner per cell, the cells didn’t all have windows and the power-plant was in a separate building, but bear with me, I have exercised some poetic licence for the purposes of knitting the story tightly with the Alcatraz details). It contains numerous techniques and philosophies. It describes the traditional method in which ‘sufferers’ become ‘ex-sufferers’. It demonstrates the initial wrong assumptions we manifest and the initial wrong turns we take. It also describes how we eventually attain our freedom.
A Quick Refresher
You now know that stressful situations initially cause anxiety sensations, and these anxiety sensations spook us. The simple midbrain then remembers that we were spooked and puts us into a state of high alert; this state of high alert then produces additional feelings and sensations which spook us even further and we enter the cycle. The fear of fear keeps this whole situation ticking over.
The midbrain then (believing it is doing us a favour by staying on alert) keeps checking for sensations. It manufactures these feelings and symptoms and in turn keeps us on high alert when we react negatively to them.
It is interesting to know that the midbrain can operate at many times the speed of the ‘thinking part’ of the brain, it's designed that way to keeps us safe. That’s why anxiety always gets there first. What a perfect defence mechanism!! The perfect defence mechanism becomes what we believe to be the ‘inescapable’ prison.
How do we escape from Alcatraz?
Firstly it is not at all necessary to escape; many people live out wholesome fulfilling lives without ever leaving, they are wonderful friends, wonderful parents, wonderful children … wonderful people.
But if we do want to escape: luckily, there is always a way or indeed many ways. It’s imperative to fail as many times as we need do.
… As the more times we fail the more practice we get.
The Players
Constant Self-Checking is the observation that you are still in prison, as soon as you wake, you look around at the stale white-green walls and resign yourself to yet another day as a ‘guest’ of the most notorious penitentiary.
The Island Prison, the bars and walls are the limitations you assign for yourself. You hate being in Alcatraz but at least for most of the time you are safe in your cell. The Island Prison is your Anxiety.
The Prison Guard is the midbrain, (specifically the Limbic system, who believes that although you are imprisoned from the outside world, at least you are safe, he moves ten times faster than you do. He is always watching you and tells you what to do, interestingly he’s never told you he will harm you but you are very scared of what he might do. He is just doing his job. You are rarely disobedient
Your Cellmate is your inner negativity who keeps insisting that not only is escape impossible, but harmful, he’s a very fast thinker, he’s very clever but not wise,
He is very predictable because of the following fact … Your Cellmate always wrong.
He’s not malicious, he’s timid, he’s a nice guy, he’s looking out for your wellbeing, he’s been wrongfully imprisoned as well, but he really thinks what he tells you is absolute truth, he wants to keep the both of you safe, and he’s on your side.
Don’t try to shut him up, you need him, your Cellmate and The Guard are your ticket out of here, in order to escape you must convince your Cellmate he is wrong by demonstrating to The Guard that the Island Prison cannot harm you by pretending everything is OK. (Whooah!! … Eh? … What?!! – In other words, just pretend you are OK)
The Other ‘Guests’ of Alcatraz are your fellow anxiety sufferers that you pass messages to, swap prison coping tips and find solace … in the fact that you are not alone. They are amazing people, the bravest of the brave.
Some have been inmates for years; others are ‘new fish’.
No one is better or worse than anyone else, both on the island and on the mainland.
The City Residents are the people you 'view' as normal, conventional, well, having an easy life … etc.
Man-Who-Can Get-Things, He is your GP is and your medication is his supply of extra food, hooch, and interesting ‘literature’ to help you pass the time and plan your own escape. Some inmates don’t need the assistance of the ‘man-who-can-get-things’ others do. He’s a nice guy, he’s there to help and he can help you a lot. He may help you escape the Island Prison completely, if not, he will make your stay almost as good as being on the outside.
You: You are the most important character, you make all the decisions.
The Goal
To successfully ‘pretend’ you are OK.
The By-product Of The Goal
Escape from Alcatraz, take your Cellmate with you, get The Prison Guard a new nice stress free job, and then ultimately free all the other prison inmates.
The Shouts For Help
You shout through the bars to the outside world, “help!!” but the shoreline of San Francisco is miles away and your desperate pleas evaporate in the high winds and rain banging down from the skies. The some times the ocean batters the rocks day and night, other times it’s a calm sea. You can just make out the skyline city lights, a place where The City Residents live their lives oblivious to the hardships that Alcatraz serves up in plain sight of their wonderful and exciting metropolis. Constant Self-Checking keeps you aware of the Island Prison. The more you shout for help, the more the lights malfunction and your cell heater blasts out choking hot air or a painful cold rasp.
You get prison visitations from your loved ones but they don't really understand what life on the inside is truly like.
The Faint Whisper
You hear footsteps outside your door and become fearful, you can just make out a faint whisper from a strange but friendly voice passing your cell door … "Hey … Buddy"… “There’s something in your pocket”.
You slowly reach inside your prison issue clothing and pull out a set of keys.
The Responsibility and Ownership of Your Predicament.
You realise that you have the key to your own cell, the partition bars, the canteen, the governors’ office …in fact you have the keys to every door in the entire complex. The only keys you do not possess is to the cells of your fellow inmates and the boiler room. Having the keys is not enough, you think Alcatraz is a very scary place and although you hate your cell, it’s better than being in the communal areas, or so your Cellmate tells you. You sit in your cell, place your keys on the table and are scared what to do next. Now you realise that you will not be rescued, you ultimately have to do it yourself. At this point you can call on the assistance and advice of the Man-Who-Can Get-Things. He's a good buddy to have in this situation. He can help take your mind off your worries and give you the breathing space to make a good decision.
Decisions, Decisions
You stare at the set of keys for hours, days, weeks, longer… wondering what to do. All that time your timid Cellmate pleads with you not to do anything rash, he tells you every negative scenario that could occur if you were to pick up the keys.
“Don’t pick up the keys!!” he urges time after time.
It does not matter how long you leave the keys on the table, when you are ready to pick them up you will do so … you will be scared but it's ok to be scared, in fact it is necessary
The Reason ...we need the presence of fear to enable us to desensitise ourselves to its effects.
Always remember: Fear is harmless.
Looking Out Of the Cell Door
Finally and full of fear you pick up the keys, turn them in the lock, open the door and fearfully scan the harsh metallic gangplanks adorning the atrium outside your prison door. On first inspection the whole environment seems too ominous, so you scream back to you cell and slam shut your door, you get a dressing down from your Cellmate who give’s you his best list of what-ifs to date.
Stepping Out Of The Cell
This time, you spend longer in the atrium (you are still scared but decide to have a little look around) The Guard orders you back to the cell, the fear in his voice causes your sensations to multiply and you run back to the cell.
Walking the Communal Areas in Full View of the Guard
A few days later, you try again this time you want to know what would have happened if you ignored The Guard. You step out with more confidence than before and stand face to face with the Prison Guard, he is screaming... “Get back to your cell!!” … this time you hear your voice utter the following intention… “I am going to have a look around, would you care to join me?”.
As you walk around you realise there are no riots, no gangs … nothing. The corridors and gangplanks are empty. The Guard is confused and keeps bellowing the same orders over and over.
You ask him why he keeps shouting, he tells you “I’m just doing my job, I’m your guard, and I’m guarding you”. You realise that although The Guard is very good at his job, he’s not very bright.
You are still full of fear but you are determined. You walk the corridors and gangplanks of your prison and The Guard walks along side and tries to block your path at each intersection. You look directly into his professional eyes, and then walk around him until he learns that it is there is no point in blocking your path. This is still a scary sensation for you, but at least you are not confined solely to your cell any more. Later, you confidently return back to your cell to tell him your Cellmate of your progress. You have unlocked your door and walked the prison interiors and nothing he warned you about came true. You were not attacked, you were not harmed in any way and you got to know The Guard a bit better. Your Constant Self-Checking now starts to incorporate this new understanding into its observations, it starts to become your ally.
Looking into the Boiler Room
For your next ‘outing’ you head for the basement. You are keen to check the boiler room. The boiler room is your energy levels; this small but powerful coal driven power station is your adrenal glands. You take a look through the locked gates. It's a very hot, very noisy and powerful place. You look closely at the gate and realise is none of your keys will work in this door.
You are amazed at how much power the boiler room produces. You notice that its power distribution system and the lighting panel have been wrongly calibrated by The Guard. But nonetheless you decide not view this situation with fear but rather with objectivity. You know with slight tweaks to it's calibration settings, the heating system would not be too hot or too cold, the air conditioning would function and lights not be too bright, too dull or flicker constantly. But in the end you decide that as you know the source of these 'discomforts' you decide to make the best of a bad situation and accept your current climate, its uncomfortable yes, but that's all it is
As you exit the boiler room you still notice the heat and light variations of the whole prison complex but now you know the source of the problem you will not fear your surroundings as much as you did yesterday.
You’ve tried to tell The Guard about the climate settings in the past that you assumed that either he just didn’t understand the way the system worked or indeed the system was broken beyond repair.
You remember your strong desires for life on the mainland where you know every building has correct environmental control settings, but decide that you can live hear a while longer.
The Governors’ Office
For your next excursion you decide to visit the Governors’ office, this is definitely new territory for you and comes with its own fears, but you have come this far … why not take a look?! The Guard tries every fear trick in the book to stop you. By now you realise all he does is shout, the poor guy can’t even touch you! He’s only doing his job.
You open the frosted glass door have a quick look around the plush office and head straight for the filing cabinet. Your prison file is your mental and physical health. You have a sneak peek at our own file and a wash of realisation surges through you. You read your file and see that you have committed no crime ... there is nothing wrong with you! You cast confused expression at another prison file, you see that this person has committed no crime either; you hurriedly scan through file after file and see the same word repeated again and again:
…
“Prisoner 25601: Innocent”
“Prisoner 25602: Innocent”
“Prisoner 25603: Innocent”
“Prisoner 25604: Innocent”
You then take a look on the oak shelves and scan through The Guard’s weekly log-book. You read through his section on building calibration. “Prisoner 25601 has been complaining a lot lately, he’s always shouting for help; I keep recalibrating the boiler settings and adjusting the lighting panel to no avail, I’ll keep trying until I get it right”. You realise that all this time he was trying to help you.
Back to the Cell
You rush back to your cell to tell your cellmate. He doesn’t believe you at first but you find you are talking so quickly about your discovery that he has trouble getting a word in.
The Sunshine on the Prison Garden
For your next outing you decide to visit the prison garden, this time you take your Cellmate with you. He is still very timid, but now this is to your advantage as he cannot say no to you. You, your Cellmate and The Prison Guard in tow walk out of the walls of Alcatraz and stand in the sunshine. This is the first time all three of you have shared a common experience for quite a while. You are all enjoying the sun and you stand in unison with the hint of a smile on your faces. You don’t want to beam quite yet, but you are all happy to know that even if you had to spend the rest of your days here in Alcatraz, then you are damn sure that it will be on your terms. You accept your prison because it is nowhere near as bad as you originally thought.
You spend many fulfilling days walking around the island and are happy to return to your cell knowing you can have a good day tomorrow too. Yes the environmental controls are a bit screwy. Yes The Guard is an odd fellow. Yes your Cellmate is a bit of a whinging doom monger. Yes you are still in prison but at least you are making the best of it. Your Cellmate still gives you safety advice from time to time, but nowadays he complains less and less, he too is starting to become confident.
Exploring Your Island Further
You walk on the rocks and climb unoccupied sniper towers to gaze upon the Pacific, your fears of the ocean start to become overwhelmed by your amazement at its magnificence. Sometimes you peacefully walk alone; sometimes you walk with your companions. Sometimes The Guard shouts, sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes you even run back to your Cell. But that’s ok.
You can get sustenance from the canteen and read books from the library; you make furniture for your cell in the workshop and plant crops in the vegetable patches. You live happily for a while until one day The Guard has a change of mind and offers to pilot a launch to the shore for an excursion.
You don’t want to leave your amazing island … but The Guard insists.
You realise that, as before, you can ignore him or listen to him, it’s up to you … it always has been. You decide that on this occasion to listen. You know that you can return whenever you want.
The Boat to the Shore
You realise that The Guard knows that he’s unemployed without you, he needs a purpose and you are now the one who writes his job description. He skilfully pilots you and your Cellmate towards the shore of the city and all three of you look with wonder at the opportunities and challenges that the city presents. As you launch skips across the blue-green waters your Cellmate's worries are muffled by the wind rushing past your ears.
You are out of Alcatraz; you rescued your Cellmate, and have The Guard as your personal bodyguard for the rest of your long happy days.
San Francisco
You become once again a fully useful member of the city. There are times when you look upon Alcatraz island and remember vividly the times you spent there … sometimes with fear, sometimes with fondness for the wisdom provided … and sometimes with hope, for the other inmates still inside, there are other times when you look directly at the island and don’t register it at all. You become caught up in the thrills and spills of city life once again. There are other times when you don’t want to think of it at all because it brings back too many painful memories and you’re worried you still may be sent back one day.
In order to quell these nagging fears you decide to take a few trips back.
The Alcatraz ‘Tourist Attraction’
This place is now your tourist attraction, and you visit from time to time, you still remember the unexplained sounds and strange echoes that poured through its walls, you still remember the emotions you experienced, it brings back the sad and painful memories. But each time you visit, it is on your terms, every corner you look around, every stairwell you walk and every gangplank you stand upon gives you more confidence. Your painful memory associated with each location and situation is slowly overwritten with new a new memory of more recent visits.
The more you visit, the more you understand; you even consider a job as a tour guide as you know the more time you spend here the less of the bad times you remember.
You find yourself actually wanting to spend more time within this stunning piece of functional architecture.
As you walk down the corridors, you think deeply on the journey you have taken.
You become compelled to help someone else. You don’t want to provoke envy, because you know that never helped you, all you want to do is pass on a simple message.
You sneak past the occupied cell of one of The Other ‘Guests’ and whisper "Hey … Buddy"… “There’s something in your pocket”.
Remember the interplay between, rooms and characters can seem complicated at first, but you need none of this knowledge to find relaxation. Remember, as always, just Pretend.
Intrusive Negative thoughts
New negative thoughts in the mind are like deer tracks in the woods, the more they are used the more trodden down the deer tracks become, soon other animals and people start to use these path ways, these path ways become bridal ways, these bridal ways become B roads, then A roads, then Motorways. They seem unstoppable.
One method of removing the thought is to change the meaning of anxiety to what it truly is; a beneficial tool for survival.
[Example thought: "my heart is palpitating" - <MOTORWAY> - Conclusion "I'm going to have a heart attack!!!!!!"] = FEAR
Using this example this is the way you can make anxiety work for you:
You can't simply get rid of the ‘motorway’ short term, but you can find the benefit.
[Example thought: "my heart is palpitating" - <MOTORWAY> - Conclusion "I'm making my heart stronger !!!!!!"] = REASSURANCE
This is the reason why we need to view anxiety as a positive thing because in truth it is.
Sticking with the above example the subsequent pattern emerges, as the reality of the reassurance outcome is realised the motorway becomes less used (because we do not fear the outcome) and returns to being the deer track, and eventually this pathway is bypassed completely by a new beneficial pathway.
Know that thoughts are harmless; I viewed my negative thoughts in the same way as I would watch subtitles on my television set. They are merely thought patterns. I learned not to fight the thoughts, but simply accept them. They would come and go; it took me a while to let them flow freely in and out of my mind. But once I did this the vicious circle began to fracture. In the anxiety ‘disorder’ negative thoughts cause the physiological changes and the physiological changes cause the negative thoughts. You only have to eliminate one of these for the circle to dissipate.
Viewpoint
Anxiety is a viewpoint. All the symptoms we get at the same as someone would get if they were vigorously exercising, the person would not be bothered by a racing heart, breathlessness, dizziness, depersonalisation etc because it is normal to do so under those conditions. Anxiety is the same, it is just the body doing what it does, what it is supposed to do but at some point in the past it spooked us and we turned our deer tracks into motorways.
Simple Geometry
Think of a diamond shape - that is anxiety
Think of a square shape - that is normal body/brain function
The are both the same thing just viewed at a angle difference of 45 degrees
Change the meaning of the outcome anxiety and acceptance arrives easily. When acceptance arrives, we can 'Let's Pretend' more easily, the more we do it ... the more innappropriate anxiety dissipates and eventually dissappears.
Yet again the goal is not to rid ourselves of anxiety, because if we did we would lose our greatest ally.
Is Anxiety a Weakness?
Some anxiety sufferers believe it to be a weakness, this could not be further from the truth, it is the constant fighting against anxiety that makes you experience anxiety.
You are the creative and intelligent. Any new psychological sensation is proof of our awesome creativity. Once you channel that creativity (not away from anxiety but) towards something else you will be amazed how enviably creative and imaginative you are. GAD & Panic 'sufferers' are the energised. Anxiety is proof of your awesome energy, like creativity once this energy is channelled towards something else you will be amazed what can be achieved with so little effort.
The Software Analogy
Software engineers would refer to these anxiety symptoms as BIT testing. (Built-In-Test), a self diagnostic tool running analysis algorithms to check on the heath condition of the software. Anxiety does the same thing. Think of the Mind-Body combo as a perfect operating system. Anxiety is when we loop the BIT testing. This temporarily slows down the performance of the operating system itself, once the BIT test is complete the operating system functions exactly as it did previously, and in many cases the performance is improved. The BIT test never breaks or damages the OS (operating system) it improves it. Having anxiety is similar; it is a process of self improvement. Just remember your OS and complementary BIT diagnosis tool was not hastily put together by a few engineers who submitted the lowest bid. It was put together by 350million years of evolutionary perfection. Anxiety is an amazing diagnostics tool. Home PC users can look at it as virus checking software. (it temporarily slows down your PC but all in all it is beneficial).
Ownership
If you ever read anything which made you feel better, ultimately it was not what you read which calmed down your anxiety it was you. Every time something happened which relieved your fears just remember it was you … every time. You can do it, you have done it, you may be doing it right now, and you will do it again and again and again. You own your anxiety. It does not own you. Ultimately it never has and it never will. It is nothing without you.
Adrenaline is the Fight/Flight hormone.
It’s just a natural energising chemical. It can make you frightened or it can make you powerful or a mixture of both. I believe that if you take small steps in changing the perspective from fear to power from victim to victor you can really make adrenaline work with you and for you. You can also remove it by 'Let's Pretend'
If you have trouble accepting the presence of Anxiety whilst 'pretending'
That intense feeling you get in the pit of your stomach, it starts with the butterflies, and then escalates into higher nervousness and starts the fear cycle.
Well view this as energy.
Ultimately, fear is the energy that enables us to turn goals into reality.
You are the potter, it is the clay.
By having experienced anxiety and panic you are: Courageous; Brave; Gutsy; Valliant; Daring; Audacious; Intrepid; Heroic; Fearless; Bold; Gallant; Heroic and Powerful.
I am not overstating this! Each anxiety symptom only prolongs its own existence because you are scared of it. Each time you stand in the midst of your fears you become stronger, braver and more empowered. You own your fear; it never owns you. It is not the avalanche that chokes you; it is the mountains of your making that you stand surefooted upon.
The Chemical Imbalance
Here we enter the contentious issue of the chemical imbalance.
The medical profession believes anxiety is caused by a chemical imbalance, others believe it is not caused by a chemical imbalance but can cause one. The truth is … it does not really matter.
Maybe the catalyst was bereavement; maybe it was stress at work; a new baby; moving house; maybe an assault; maybe it is unidentified.
The initial catalyst(s), is (are) irrelevant.
Yet again, it’s not what happens it’s how we respond.
As explained when we enter the fight/flight response we undergo some amazing changes to keep us from harm, we filter out all the fun bits because the fun bits are not necessary for survival.
The body is exceptionally well designed, efficient and adaptable. As far as our survival/anxiety circuits are concerned it is unnecessary to be happy during the fight/flight response.
Our body is not working against us, it is working for us.
The chemical imbalance referred to is the imbalance that causes the re-absorption and subsequent non-use of Serotonin.
The chemical messenger Serotonin (the happy chemical) is still produced within the brain, but as it is transferred across the gap from one brain cell to another it is ‘sucked’ backwards, broken down and its energy reused. Not only is it not necessary to keep us safe, its presence could be detrimental to the speed of the fight/flight response.
To explain this in a pre-historical setting, when we chance upon a face to face meeting with a wonderfully designed predator intent on turning our very existence into lunch, it will do us no good whatsoever if we stand there smiling happily within its presence. It will serve us best if our body makes us feel so awful that within milliseconds we are running for our very lives, or if cornered, playing dead, or clobbering it over the head with whatever’s handy.
During the anxiety/panic disorder we are constantly within this state of self-protection, thus happiness and all other positive emotions elude us, the protection system concludes that there is no point in being happy or positive during the fight/flight response.