Anxiety Support Group
Anxiety is a physical condition marked by intense and persistent feelings of distress, fear, angst or dread. General anxiety caused by routine day-to-day stresses usually passes quickly and is experienced by almost everyone at one time or another. However, such feelings that linger over time and are very difficult to cope with, and which lack a clear cause, may indicate...
From being on this website and learning a lot more about panic attacks/anxiety from the internet, etc, I'm beginning to understand bits and pieces of it and some of why I have panic attacks, etc. But the problem is, a lot of my anxiety seems to come from nowhere. Or, I'm not even sure if it is anxiety, although I'm fairly sure it is. For example, all day (and for the past 2 weeks when my major anxiety was triggered) I feel just scared for no reason at all. I'm just doing normal things, goign through the day, controlling my anxious thoughts, but I still FEEL anxious and like I want to cry. And i guess part of it is, I have the thoughts that I'm not going to get through this and I will end up being instinutionalized or something, and not being able to take care of my kids. But that only comes after these scared feelings. Is this still anxiety? Why am I feeling it all day for no reason?
And that brings me to wonder about medication. I'm trying to get over this without medication. I don't have anything against it, but I just want the confidence to know I can get back to my normal self without it. But since it seems like just feeling anxious/sad is out of my control, that maybe I have an imbalance or something of whatever it is in your brain that medications help. I know I can deal with my issues by talking about them with a therapist, but what do I do about the feelings? Does this require medication?
Lastly (sorry this is so long) will CBT even be beneficial for me since it sounds like it just teaches you methods to get through panic attacks? I know that would be beneficial for me too, I'm just thinking 'what if I can't be helped, then what? ' I'll be extremely devastated if I can't be helped and I don't get much out of CBT. Anyone have any advice?
And that brings me to wonder about medication. I'm trying to get over this without medication. I don't have anything against it, but I just want the confidence to know I can get back to my normal self without it. But since it seems like just feeling anxious/sad is out of my control, that maybe I have an imbalance or something of whatever it is in your brain that medications help. I know I can deal with my issues by talking about them with a therapist, but what do I do about the feelings? Does this require medication?
Lastly (sorry this is so long) will CBT even be beneficial for me since it sounds like it just teaches you methods to get through panic attacks? I know that would be beneficial for me too, I'm just thinking 'what if I can't be helped, then what? ' I'll be extremely devastated if I can't be helped and I don't get much out of CBT. Anyone have any advice?
If you go into a panic attack, don't fight it, ask it what it's trying to teach you and also tell it it has 20 seconds and that's all the time it has, start counting backwards from 20 slowly and the feelings will subside. It has really helped me.
As for medication, I won't take it. It only masks the anxiety. I was on anti anxiety meds for the majority of my life and as soon as my body got used to it I would start to have panic attacks again, they would up the meds and the same thing would happen. Everyone is different, but for me meds are not the answer.
I am sorry you are going through this and if you need anything please ask for help. It gets better everyday, it's just a very slow process. Be patient with yourself and praise yourself for your accomplishments.