When looking for help with panic attacks there are three basic points you should be made immediately aware of. The first point is that panic attacks have nothing to do with mental illness.
Anxiety is a behavioral problem that can easily be corrected with the right guidance and information. That’s a really important point because many people fear that their anxiety problem is a sign of a mental illness. It is not.
The second point is that panic attacks have nothing to do with a lack of courage, in fact it is quite the opposite. People with panic attacks actually do the bravest things.
They get up each day and face their anxiety. They pick themselves up after every setback and deal with inner challenges the average person never has to face. Those close to the person experiencing anxiety have no idea how intense it can be.
I have worked with people like firemen, police officers, and soldiers who have done very brave things in their line of duty, but tell me privately that dealing with their anxiety has been the greatest challenge for them. Of course, the average person can’t understand why it’s such a big deal to drive on the freeway, or go to church, or even go shopping.
But for the person who needs panic attack help, accomplishing these things can be a massive achievement. It doesn’t make headline news, but facing your fears daily is real bravery.
The third and final point to make about panic attacks is that you are not in any danger from a panic attack. A panic attack will not harm you.
The fight or flight response that you experience during a panic attack is a built-in mechanism, going back to our cavemen days. It is there to protect you from danger, not to harm you.
Rest assured that your body’s primary goal is to keep you alive and well. Panic attacks are not your enemy; they are the result of you misinterpreting the signals your body is sending—a bit like a false alarm. Think of all the panic attacks you’ve experienced and how you’ve always come out on the other side—possibly petrified, but nevertheless alive and undamaged. Aren’t you still here, after all those attacks that convinced you that you were going to die?
So to summarize, remind yourself of these three basic points whenever seeking panic attack help.
-It is not a mental illness
-It is not a lack of bravery
-A Panic attack will not harm you
Tags: Anxiety Problem, Average Person, Bravery, Cavemen, Courage, Facing Your Fears, False Alarm, Firemen, Flight Response, Freeway, Greatest Challenge, Headline News, help for panic attacks, Important Point, Line Of Duty, Mental Illness, Panic Attack, Panic Attack Help, Panic Attacks, Police Officers, Setback, Signals
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Social interaction can cause many people to experience bodily reactions that make them feel highly uncomfortable around others. Common social anxiety disorder symptoms are blushing in public, sweating, and trembling hands. None of these are harmful in any way, but if people become overly conscious of these symptoms, it can lead to shying away from social contact, sometimes to the point of leaving their jobs. I’ll describe the approach I teach people to help them end this problem. I’ll use the example of a trembling hand, but the approach is the same for both blushing and sweating as well.
I’ve communicated with many people—from dental hygienists to professional athletes—who are desperately seeking a way to stop their hands from shaking when they’re anxious or under pressure. In such situations, their careers were directly impacted. Other people may experience trembling hands with less frequency, such as situations in which they have to sign their names in front of others.
The trick to ending this social anxiety disorder symptom is using the opposite approach from what they’re already been trying. Take, for example, the dental hygienist who immediately starts to shake as soon as the patient sits in the chair. It only takes the memory of previous shakes to start her hand trembling. She gets upset by the shakes, and she desperately tries with all her will to make it stop by tensing her hand and arm muscles. All the effort and stress only causes her hand to shake further.
To end the problem, she should reverse her approach. Instead of forcing her hand to be still with all her mental power, she should allow it to shake. In fact, she should encourage it to shake even more. If she can fully accept the shakes and encourage more of them, she ends the pressure she puts herself under, and with that, the shakes begin to fade away. The effort used in trying to stop the anxiety actually caused more of it. The answer is found in moving with the experience not against it. This same approach works for nervous sweating and blushing as well as other social anxiety disorder symptoms.
Note: if the hygienist didn’t care what others thought of her shaking, then the problem would disappear overnight. None of these problems (blushing, sweating, trembling) are ever a problem if people are alone. The problem is directly related to how people feel they’re being perceived in the eyes of others.
To ensure a complete recovery, you can train yourself to be less worried about the opinions of others. Tackling the social element of this problem is best done through visualizations. Each night, before going to bed, imagine yourself in a situation that would normally produce the reaction you’re trying to stop. This time, however, see yourself responding in the new manner:
My hand is shaking, but I’m not getting upset or embarrassed.
My face is red, but I’m completely composed.
My brow might be wet from sweat, but it doesn’t faze me.
You fully accept whatever way your body behaves, and you don’t get upset. You might even make light of it to those around you. The whole situation passes without any embarrassment.
This takes practice, but the goal is to override the idea of social embarrassment and replace it with acceptance and grace under pressure. Generally, people with social anxieties are too hard on themselves. In most cases, other people are never aware that there’s a problem in the first place. The real issue is in your mind because you distort the reality of the situation.
Tags: Anxiety Disorder Symptoms, Anxiety Symptom, Anxiety Symptoms, Arm Muscles, Dental Hygienist, Dental Hygienists, Jobs, Lead, Memory, Professional Athletes, Shakes, Social Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder Symptom, Social Anxiety Disorder Symptoms, Social Interaction, Stress, Trembling Hand, Trembling Hands
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Agoraphobia is linked to the experience of panic attacks. This is the fear of open spaces or of being in crowded, public places like shopping markets. It’s associated with leaving a safe zone, such as the home.
Because of feeling vulnerable, people who experience this fear often suffer from panic attacks in these “open” situations. It’s true to say that many people who have regular panic attacks experience different degrees of agoraphobia. Some have a lingering background anxiety about being away from home should they experience a panic attack. Others are so immobilized by this fear that they find it very difficult to leave their homes for even a short period.
When beginning agoraphobia treatment, the primary issue to address is believing in the safe zone. To clarify, when I talk about the “safe zone,” I refer to the zone where the person believes panic attacks don’t occur, or at least where they occur infrequently. Because comfort is found there, it’s where the person tends to spend more and more time. The safe zone from anxiety is a myth sustained by the mind. The mind has developed a habit of thinking that dictates the safe zone is the only place to feel secure.
If you are seeking agoraphobia treatment, watch as your mind comes up with reasons why it believes only a certain area is safe and another is not. Those reasons range from being near the phone or people you trust to having familiar physical surroundings to reassure you.
The reality of anxiety is that there’s no such thing as a safe zone. There’s nothing life-threatening about a panic attack, and therefore sitting at home is the same as sitting under the stars on a desert island. Of course, your mind immediately rushes to tell you that a desert island is a ridiculous place to be because there are no hospitals, no tranquilizers, no doctors, NO SAFETY.
Review your previous experiences of panic attacks. Aren’t you still here, alive and well, after all those attacks during which you were convinced you were going to die?
Yes, when it comes to conditions that need medical attention—such as asthma, diabetes, and a whole litany of other conditions—then having medical aid nearby is a big asset. But no doctor in the world would tell someone with anxiety that there are only specific safe zones in which he or she can move.
I know more than anyone how terrifying it can feel to move out of your safe zone as the feeling of fear wells up inside, so I don’t wish to sound harsh. Agoraphobia treatment is not about chastising people for their behaviors. It’s a way of looking together at solutions and seeing through the myths that form prison walls. The goal is to enable you to return to a richer and more meaningful life. I also realize that people around you can’t understand why a trip to the store would cause you such discomfort. You’ll have to forgive them and try not to be upset by their lack of understanding of your problem.
There’s one thing I’m sure you’ll agree with: the only person who will get you out of agoraphobic thinking is you. These are your thoughts that are creating the prison walls, and only you can begin to bring those walls down. Agoraphobia treatment can be a slow process at first. But once the results start happening, it moves faster and faster until you reach a point where you find it hard to believe that going out was ever such a difficult task. You will get those results with my program, Panic Away.
Tags: Agoraphobia, Agoraphobia Treatment, anxiety, Desert Island, Doctors, Experiences, Fear Of Open Spaces, Habit, Hospitals, Myth, Open Situations, Panic Attack, Panic Attacks, Physical Surroundings, Ridiculous Place, Safe Zone, Shopping, Short Period, Tranquilizers
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I get several requests from people asking for my recommendation on natural anxiety remedies. Well to begin with, it goes without saying that its important to get the right balance of vitamins and minerals in order to treat anxiety naturally.
All the vitamins and minerals we need are usually found naturally in the food that we eat. However, the vitamin and mineral content in our food has diminished over the years therefore, it may be necessary to take supplements.
To help reduce feelings of anxiety I suggest you take a good B complex vitamin along with Magnesium Citrate 3 times a day in powder form. You should also take omega-3 oils. Omega-3 is not only good for helping ease anxiety, but also has many other reported health benefits, such as lowering blood pressure and possibly reducing the risk of coronary heart disease. These are good anxiety natural remedies.
When it comes to herbal supplements to help ease anxiety naturally there are several options available and it can often be quite confusing when trying to decide which ones to try. To add to the confusion several herbal supplements come combined in one remedy and are sold as all-in-one ‘natural cures for anxiety’. After several years of communicating with people who have used various different supplements, I can recommend two herbal supplements that appear to be effective natural anxiety remedies. Passiflora and Valerian.
Passiflora (Passiflora incarnata) has traditionally been used as a folk remedy for anxiety and insomnia. It contains many active ingredients. The most widely studied of these constituents, maltol and ethymaltol, seem to be responsible for much of the anti-anxiety effects. It works on the physical body, relaxing muscles to reduce tension, which can be particularly effective for people who feel physically tense e.g. tight shoulders or the sensation of a knotted stomach. People also report good results using this herb to aid sleep. It should not be taken with sedatives unless under medical supervision.
Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) is believed to have used for its calming and soothing effects since at least the time of Hippocrates (460-377 BC). Right up until the introduction of prescription sleep medications is was used as a natural anxiety remedy for a variety of conditions such as insomnia, nervousness and headaches. The primary use for valerian today is to treat insomnia but it is reported to reduce feelings of general anxiety. The active constituents in Valerian appear to be valerenic acid and valerenal. These compounds have a calming effect because they interact with the neurotransmitter GABA. As with most herbal supplements it generally takes a few weeks of use to feel the full benefit. Valerian may cause sleepiness or daytime drowsiness and should not be used with other medications for insomnia or anxiety.
It is important to be aware that herbal supplements are not a magic pill. In most instances people report only mild improvement from anxiety natural remedies and it is not uncommon for no benefits to be felt at all. Again you should discuss these or any other supplements with your doctor, especially if you are pregnant or taking any kind of medication.
Tags: Active Ingredients, B Complex Vitamin, Coronary Heart Disease, Folk Remedy, Health Benefits, Herbal Supplements, Lowering Blood Pressure, Magnesium Citrate, Maltol, Mineral Content, Natural Anxiety Remedies, Natural Cures For Anxiety, Natural Remedies, Omega 3 Oils, Passiflora, Sedatives, Tight Shoulders, Valerian, Vitamin And Mineral, Vitamins And Minerals
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One of the most effective ways to lower your anxiety is to increase your acceptance of it.
Anxiety works like this. The more resistance you create towards it, the more anxious you feel. The friction of fighting against your anxious feelings fuels it on even further.
Each time you think ‘I cant handle this anxiety! I can’t handle these bodily sensations’ the more fuel you toss on the fire.
There is a way to reverse this and end the anxiety. You can do it by simply
increasing your level of acceptance towards the anxiety you feel.
Imagine for a moment if you could sit in absolute and complete acceptance of all the anxious sensations you feel? First of all, the type of thoughts you think would immediately change. You would no longer be worried about your health or if you were losing your sanity. Your attention would switch over from worry to the present moment.
Within a few minutes, the bodily sensations that triggered the anxious thoughts would be much less noticeable. They may still be present but at such a low level that they would hardly register on your awareness. Over the course of a few days, as your body adjusts to this worry free state, your general anxiety level would drop right down and you would feel a deeper sense of peace and calm.
That’s the goal I am sure you want to achieve. Of course the above example is the ideal state. No one is expecting you to automatically switch into such a high level of acceptance overnight. What you want to aim for, is to achieve this gradually over a period of a few weeks starting right now today. Here is how to start.
Decide to raise your level of acceptance for a short period each day. Decide that for just 10 minutes, you are not going to get upset by any of the sensations or thoughts you are having. You are going to accept them all to the very best of your ability. It’s only for 10 minutes and after the 10 minutes are up you can go back to resisting and worrying.
You think to yourself ‘OK I feel very on edge and uncomfortable right now but instead of getting upset about this like I always do, I am going to accept the experience fully for the next 10 minutes.
Remind yourself it is only for 10 minutes and that you have the rest of the day to worry and resist all you like.
By adopting this approach even just once a day, you will increase your acceptance of how you feel and create a very strong momentum for full recovery.
Remember you are not doing this with the sole intention of eliminating anxiety. If you think in those terms you will only be half accepting and half wondering why it is not working fast enough.
Instead approach it with the sole intention of practicing acceptance. Acceptance brings a state of calm as it flows and washes away feelings of anxiety. You reach your goal of feeling like your old self again through the act of acceptance.
Tags: Absolute, Anxiety Level, Anxious Feelings, Anxious thoughts, art of acceptance, Bodily Sensations, Calm, Deeper Sense, end general anxiety, Few Days, Few Minutes, Friction, Health, Imagine, Lower Anxiety, Peace, Present Moment, Resistance, Sanity, Short Period, worry
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