What are you anchoring to your panic attacks?

[Rix]

Today I took some time off from solving my endless problems, in order to post a breathing exercise on my blog.
As I did that a bit of nostalgia took a hold of me as I remembered using that exercise to calm myself before my anxiety and depression period.
Nowadays I don't use it anymore because I'm afraid it would bring my anxiety back.

Now...how can a relaxation technique bring anxiety back?

Simple: When I had my first panic attacks, knowing how well the exercise had worked when I needed relaxation in the past, I would do it again and again in futile attempts to calm myself.
What this would do is anchor the panicky feeling to the movements and sensations of the exercise, just like Pavlov anchored his dog's salivation to the sound of the bell.
So if I try nowadays to do it, I won't feel too calm...

Anyway, what have you anchored to your anxiety sensations?

Edit: I just remembered something, back when I had bad panic attacks, whenever I was a bit relaxed and saw even the word anxiety I'd totally freak.

[Itzomi]

Interesting that just the word "anxiety" gave you anxiety!

I don't quite have the same thing, though there was a CD I used to play at the end of my mom's life, but now I can't bring myself to play it because it'd remind me of that sad time. :(

[Sparkai]

As weird as it sounds mine is my windowsill. Just sitting on it brings up anxiety.

I was majorly depressed and suicidal a while ago and would think about throwing myself out the same window.

While I don't have suicidal thoughts so often anymore I still associate that feeling with the window...


Strange thing

x

[forwells]

Howdy all



Now...how can a relaxation technique bring anxiety back?

Its not bringing anxiety back but recalling a memory . The brain when it stores things also stores other information with it so it can recall it .

This is where fears come from . Someone that is scared to go to the supermarket may simply be because they had a attack there and our brain didn't know what it was . So it store what it sees and the next time it happens it knows that you were scared when you were last there and will in turn start to react with flight and flight to protect you from what it has learned is no good for you. This is why you have to face the true fear and that is the fear of the symptoms .

I have this with a few things as many people do. Lets take a smell and how it can bring you back to the past . Or a song and you remember a time in your life when you listened to that song .

The key to this is to replace the emotion that your brain has placed with the memory from a negative one to a good one .

Example
though there was a CD I used to play at the end of my mom's life, but now I can't bring myself to play it because it'd remind me of that sad time. If you were to play this song again and again and think of all the good times with your mum then it will remind you of her in a good light . It is alone the emotions that we attach to things that make thing good or bad .

I had this with driving . Driving never worried me but i had a negative memory of it from when i was addicted to benzos so my brain would recall negative things when i drove and would cause fear and the flight and fright . Once i replaced those memories with good ones i was fine .

My best one was Christmas . One Christmas my stress went though the roof for no other reason than the year before at Christmas was my worst time for anxiety and my brain was remembering it and thinking that it was coming again . Once i faced it and proved to my brain that all was ok it was never a problem.

Others would be anxiety .
People saying ive had anxiety 20 years
Knifes
Talking about benzos


cheers kev :D

[Rix]

Interesting that just the word "anxiety" gave you anxiety
Ha ha, I used to play the Japanese board game called "Go" and I had a lot of my replays burnt on a CD on which I had written "Go CD". But that reminded me of OCD and gave me anxiety as well. Sounds so hilarious now...back then it was horrible.

[Itzomi]

"Go CD". But that reminded me of OCD and gave me anxiety as well. Sounds so hilarious now..

Ha!! That IS funny. Sometimes it's just good to step back and laugh at ourselves. :)