First, let me congratulate you on being aware of your anxiety. Most people live in denial. They do not even know they are anxious!
Since you know you experience anxiety, such as tightness in the chest, you are a big step ahead of people who don't know they are anxious. Physical symptoms of anxiety and stress can be scary.
Panic
attacks and anxiety attacks occur when you get caught
up in your irrational, out of control thoughts. Anxiety
and panic attacks are similar, with panic being more high
pitched than anxiety.
Here are some Anxiety Attack Symptoms:
1. Tightness in the chest
2. Upset guts, flipping stomach
3. Hyperventilating
4. Cannot catch breath
5. Thinking something terrible is going to happen
6. Racing thoughts of disaster
In the old days --that is what I call my post doctoral
training at the Behavior Therapy Unit at Temple Medical
School in the 1970's with Joe Wolpe, MD, Father of Behavior
Therapy-- we used systematic desensitization to treat anxiety.
Anxiety is a maladaptive conditioned response. Whereas, fear is a healthy response to real danger.
With systematic desensitization we taught people to relax
their body and then imagine the things they were afraid
of in small steps until they were no longer afraid. Flooding
was another technique. We exposed people to the anxiety
stimuli all at once until their anxiety diminished.
Both approaches are effective in helping you unlearn anxiety. Use desensitization
on your own any time, it is safe. But be careful with flooding,
you can make your anxiety worse if you avoid the stimuli
before your body returns to relaxation.
Both
systematic desensitization and flooding reduce surface
phobias, stress anxiety and GAD symptoms which are already
in your conscious mind.
However,
these techniques do not deal with the source, the root
cause of what makes you anxious in the first place. Neither
does the most popular current treatment for anxiety, Cognitive Behavior Therapy,
which teaches you to think positive thoughts.
Having
to think about thinking is probably the reason Cognitive
Behavior Therapy has a 80% recidivism rate according to
the last study I read. Thinking keeps you in stuck in beta
brain waves.
As a holistic psychologist I teach people natural, empowering ways to overcome anxiety. To remove anxiety from your body, you need to get to the source of your anxiety problem so you can relax and enjoy life!
If
you are in the midst of an anxiety attack or a panic attack
right now you need to take action to help yourself. The first thing you need to do is stop
hyperventilating.
To stop an anxiety attack you need a more powerful treatment than psychotherapy. Talk therapy
does not touch the
chaos in the lining of your stomach or the conditioned
responses in your muscles.
You learned to be anxious and you can unlearn your anxiety.
To
succeed, you need to learn how to live in your body so you can keep your anxious energy grounded.
Anxiety is like lightning. In nature lighting is immediately
grounded. In humans, your anxiety is not grounded. You
let your out of control thoughts go on and on.
Your
anxiety energy flies all over the place scaring
you and everyone else. This is why your anxiety
disorder, GAD or social anxiety problem becomes a serious mental
health problem, emotional health problem and physical
health problem.
If
lightning in nature really did fly all over the place,
the real world would be chaotic and it would be very,
very scary. But reality is not chaotic and scary. No, it is not. Lightning does not fly all over the place.
Nature
immediately grounds lightning. The real world is not out
of control. When you are anxious you need to bring yourself back into a safe, natural, real state as soon
as possible.
Your
energy needs to be literally plugged into the ground for
you to be safe. Just like the electricity in your wall,
you need to get your anxiety grounded, immediately.
Out
of control energy is dangerous. You are in a train headed over the cliffs. You need to slow down your
train and get back on the tracks.
You can learn
to keep your train on the tracks and stop your irrational
thoughts from ruining your life.
How Can You Overcome Anxiety Naturally?
Learn what the source of your anxiety is and work at the source. Learn how to relax your body, calm your nerves, stop anxiety attacks, live in your body and keep your energy grounded.
Then you will reduce your anxiety when it occurs and face your real fears as you expand your world bigger and bigger each day.
Options to Help you Reduce Your Anxiety and Relax:
1. Overcoming Anxiety Naturally online course. Take the affordable Overcoming Anxiety Naturally e-course. This is a complete, basic anxiety course which teaches you how to stop anxiety attacks, relax your body and calm your nerves. All the learning information, body awareness, emotional awareness and mind body tools you need to reduce your anxiety is included in the: "Overcoming Anxiety Naturally, anxiety e-course."
2. Anxiety Class in person in Philadelphia. Take
Dr. Jeanette's Overcoming Anxiety Naturally in person class in Center
City, Philadelphia. Click here for more information.
3. Anxiety Coaching. Let
Dr. Jeanette coach you into relaxation, self confidence and physical security. Write her or Call 215-732-6197.
Copyright,
2000, revised 2007, Doris Jeanette. All rights reserved.
