Panic Attacks Support Group

The Anxiety Lie

I just had a two hour conversation with a famous anxiety doctor therapist/writer who is a friend of an old school friend who hooked us up. He brought up a concept that I had thought about and been told but this time it hit home.

He said that the disorder lies to us into thinking that we have to keep researching it - reading about it - finding support and talking about anxiety to recover or stay safe. When in fact the very act of believing the lie is what keeps the condition going. He said that the focus on anxiety tells the brain there is danger or something wrong or needs to be fixed.

That something needs to be fixed gives the brain signal that there is danger and it responds to this by up regulating into more anxiety. He said anxiety lies to us and the more we believe the lie and give it time the sicker we get and the more compelled we are to find a solution. He said there is nothing wrong with us and there is no solution - the fix is not to fix anything and stop the focus on a problem that has no solution except not to engage it.

Being trained as a research scientist I am into doing research and being male I feel a need to fix things. So according to the this doctor I am keeping the condition going by engaging my educational tendencies of research and by entertaining anything to do with anxiety.

I hate to say this but it is exactly the same thing I was told by the respected anxiety doctor Elke Zuercher-White I went to see who has been treating only anxiety for 31 years and has a host of books on the subject. Unfortunately she was too aggressive in wanting me to just go back to a full life tomorrow and that seemed too overwhelming....so I discounted her.

After this long conversation I need to process it but I have tried everything but letting it all go. I will say in my last anxiety breakdown in 1989 I was tortured for 6 months, near house bound and nothing worked until I decided I wanted a new motorhome and a new car and started spending time researching them a few hours a day on the net. Once I had all the info I went out and started shopping - in three weeks I went from almost 100% disabled to almost well and in another month I was back to work full time and traveling out of the country - was it the intense distraction - ????
Posted on 04/28/12, 10:43 pm