Stopping Anxiety Naturally
Can we stop anxiety disorders ourselves? Given the right
understanding of these problems and knowing what to do, we can ... many people
do.
Anxiety :
Characterized by physical symptoms such as fast heartbeat, fast breathing, being jittery, on edge,
trembling etc. and symptoms of thinking including excessive worrying,
planning and apprehension.
It is essential to our survival, yet for a number of reasons it can increase in
strength and presence. It may come to be with us more intensely and give rise to anxiety
disorders involving such things as persistent worrying and apprehension, panic, phobias, OCD and
depression.
These problems can seem too powerful to deal with and yet, when we understand what is happening
with them and how to stop it, they can be successfully overcome ...
At Help-For, we don't agree with the classification of anxiety problems and
disorders as various illnesses. Indeed, this classification, in itself, reflects the human
drive to control the uncontrollable by categorizing and ordering just as the anxiety disorders
themselves do.
They may reflect different ways of thinking (more sensitive, self-protective ways), but they are
not, in a sense, mental illnesses - the vast majority of people with these problems are extremely
intelligent - more so than the average population - and are aware of the inappropriate thoughts,
feelings and behaviours, yet feel powerless to stop them.
Anxiety problems and many types of depression are generally the
result of life experiences that have made us feel afraid and unable to cope. Not usually single
frightening instances (with the exception of some forms of PTSD) they more likely develop from
general living situations which involve such things as: constantly being put down, being
ridiculed, being made to feel ashamed, made to feel guilty and made to feel
worthless.
What underlies them is the same and they develop and grow in the same way. Heightened anxiety associated with constant
worrying and planning in generalized anxiety disorder is the same as that of the social phobic thinking about facing a fearful
situation. Excessive shaking in panic is the same whatever gives rise to the panic as are the depressed feelings of
frustration sadness and despair, whatever gives rise to them.
The unstoppable thoughts of the teenage anorexic girl and the panic associated with eating and being fat works
just the same as the uncontrollable thoughts of the man or woman with obsessive compulsive disorder
and the panic associated with not carrying out the rituals.
Feeling bad, uncontrollable negative thoughts and images, physiological symptoms of anxiety, panic
and tension lie at the heart of all anxiety disorders and most forms of depression ... they also
lie at the heart of their cure.
*****
The key to these problems is understanding how they
work. Like everything in life, when we know how and why something works we know how to stop it.
To try and overcome them without this understanding is exceptionally
difficult for whatever we may try, as soon as any symptoms occur, we think that it's not working,
it isn't the answer and continue the never-ending search for the 'real answer'.
To stop anxiety disorders we have to know why what we are doing works for it to work - otherwise
the unknown will always overpower us. To overcome these problems we
have to know how they work and, more importantly, how the way to stop them works - only then will
we have the knowledge and power to overcome the natural setbacks that
occur.
Self-help (the right kind) is the only way to permanently stop
these problems - only you can change the way you think and act - no one can get inside you and do
it for you. (Guidance and support from a good therapist can help, but even with this, we still
have to do it ourselves).
'Get-well quick' methods cannot work - how can something that takes years to develop,
something that's an integral part of how we think, feel and act, be removed in a matter of minutes,
hours, days? (Excepting some simple phobias which can be overcome quickly - but
not by 'get-well quick' methods).
Medication, sometimes good for symptom relief cannot cure these problems - pills work on a
physical level, these problems are psychological and most people's problems run too deep to be
cured by merely stopping the symptoms.
When we understand how these problems work, much of the anxiety is
removed.
*****
Anxiety problems can be overcome. Many, many
people have done it, usually after years and years of experience, research and experimenting with their problem
... this website and book could save you this time.
The Website
can help you to realise that you are not alone (many people feel
the same way) and to see your problem and how to deal with it differently.
Many people find just reading the site helpful.
Read the
Website
The Book
explains how these problems develop and grow and shows you step-by-step the things to do that
weaken and stop them. Things anyone can do, things you can start to do straight away to alleviate them.
It has helped many people to deal with long-term anxiety-related problems, often where years of
self-help, medication and therapy have failed.
How the book can help
Every single one of us has the potential to become stronger and
wiser for our experiences (whether they are good or bad) ... we just need to know what is happening
and what to do.
