From Anxiety to Comfort - A Guide to Treating Anxiety

Anxiety disorders are becoming a common cultural issue affecting more people than one might think. Seeking relief comes naturally under the influence of anxiety and often leads to developing coping mechanisms, which are not necessarily healthy. What might help your anxiety in the moment may make it worse later on hence it is important to draw a distinguishing line between techniques that help and the techniques that do the rather opposite.

Generally avoid the following:

Alcohol and cigarettes - sure they bring immediate relief with each gulp and puff, but also cause considerable damage if you rely on these aids daily and solely. Both exhibit neurotoxic and carcinogenic properties and fighting anxiety by inhibiting/pruning already malfunctioning neural connections does not induce relief, but on the contrary, produces anxiety.

Consuming excess sugars - dwelling on soft, sweet drinks as the primary source of fluids is a habit you might consider dropping. It is true that glucose is absolutely necessary for proper brain function, but only to a certain point. Beyond a saturation point you are inducing more brain fog and mood swings than clarity.

Lacking sleep - Sleep is absolutely necessary for proper body and brain function and regeneration. You might have noticed that a day after an inadequate sleeping session you find yourself experiencing elevated anxiety or depression levels, both of which you are here to avoid.

What you might consider implementing into your daily routine in order to bring relief without sacrificing, but rather preserving, long-term health:

Exercise - Aerobic exercise including jogging, swimming, cycling and many others do more good for your mental health than you would expect. Exercise results in formation of new neural connections within the brain region, inherent to memory formation and retention, known as hippocampus, so it actually induces morphological changes!

Meditate - Meditation too causes changes in brain's structure for the better - it results in thickening of the cerebral cortex, which is associated with a broad set of cognitive functions including self-control and focus.

Eat healthily - try to include, often repulsive yet healthy, vegetables and fruits in your diet and spread your meals into several small ones rather than few ample portions. A healthy diet equals a healthy brain. All the essential amino acids and vitamins, deficiencies and imbalances of which might contribute to the feelings of anxiety, are usually found in green foods.

Follow this basic guideline, or at least a part of it, and enjoy the gained benefits for yourself. If you do not feel like taking up on some of these tips then just supplement/substitute the items on the list with any additional techniques you consider are worth employing, you never know what might work the best for you.

As my guide to treating my anxiety I have used this web-page:
Treating your depersonalization -
It provides all the information about the supplementation, medication and natural techniques that will help you reduce and finally overcome your anxiety

I wish all of you the best and a quick recovery!

Paddy

Original article

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Panic Attacks

If you experience an unexplained, sudden, and intense fear and anxiety that causes your body to have intense physical symptoms, such as, rapid heartbeat, sweating, chest pain, or hyperventilation, you may be having a panic attack. If you experience regular attacks, your doctor may diagnose you with panic disorder.

The two typical panic attack treatments are medications and psychotherapy. Sometimes, the two are combined. However, medications have many potential side effects, some of them serious. For this reason, you may want to consider therapy first.

The most common, and studies suggest the most effective, therapy for panic disorder attacks is cognitive behavioral therapy (also called CBT). CBT usually lasts for 10 to 20 sessions with a cognitive behavioral therapist.

Goals of CBT

The goals of cognitive behavioral therapy for panic attacks are for you to understand the nature of your attacks, reduce your fear of attacks and their physical symptoms, and reduce your fear and avoidance of situations that in the past have triggered panic attacks.

CBT will teach you to change your reactions in situations that provoke anxiety and panic and to change how you associate panic attacks with certain situations and bodily sensations. In other words, you learn to replace thoughts that support attacks with more accurate thoughts about yourself and the situations in which you find yourself.

How CBT Works

Although your therapist will use CBT techniques specific to your condition, the basic steps of CBT are:
You learn how to identify anxious thoughts and reactions as they happen. One technique is to keep a daily journal where you record anxious and panicky thoughts and the events related to them.
You learn to understand and challenge your well-established and automatic thoughts and reactions.
You complete behavioral homework assignments from your therapist to help you change your behavior.
Through observing yourself and your reactions, you start to recognize the false assumptions underlying your anxiety and panic.
As you recognize these assumptions, you find and implement new ways to deal with your fears.

According to the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, CBT typically has a lasting effect, with low rates of relapse, without continued psychotherapy or medication. Other supportive therapies that are part of CBT include general counseling and deep breathing exercises for relaxation.

If you experience panic attacks, help is available. Talk to your healthcare provider about cognitive behavioral therapy and other panic attack treatments.

Carol Wiley is a freelance writer who writes a lot about health and wellness, among other topics. For more information about panic attack treatments, visit http://www.squidoo.com/panic-attack-treatments-for-you.

Original article

Tips for Fighting Panic Attacks May Not Have Considered Before

People, who suffer from panic attacks must remember that such a problem is nothing but a feeling. It should be allowed to have full control on mind. One may feel some signs of sweating, fast heart beat and other erratic movement of the body, for example, trembling and shaking. When a person goes through continuous fear and isolation, then these can make the attack more serious.

For the person who is suffering from attacks, it is advantageous to know that they do not have to be embarrassed of their situation or feel disgraced. Just have to know that how to be able to control it and help it in soothing.

Constructive tips for battling panic attacks;

There are a few tips may not have considered before when trying to get rid of attacks.Here, are a few tips that one should consider battling panic attack:

To avoid attacks must realize what caused them. There are many causes why people have these attacks such as, phobias, drugs, heredity and distressing events.

It is hard to remain calm particularly in a busy schedule crowded with monotony, stress and many other problems, but above all these, should try to be relaxed. Panic is called for when severe conditions occur. But trying to be relaxed daily one will gradually get use to the thought that small issues should not cause panic or mess in mind.

Avoid cigarettes and coffee and other caffeinated drinks. These common things cause much harm to one's system. So, too much of these will make exposed to panic attack. It is also suggested getting away from diet tablets, and non-sleepy medications as these can hold tonics.

Try to get more and more exercise. It also aids blazing extreme adrenaline. By constant exercise, one is able to release panic.

Panic attack without any medication is muscle relaxation. Soothing the body by targeting one muscle group at one time can reduce overall tension. The more relaxed one is the less anxious one will be.

Learning to overcome feelings of panic and fear begins with a mental state because to what one thinks can either aggravate the condition. One's panic will continue if persistently expects failure or that anything awful will occur. The power of constructive thoughts can succeed over negative thoughts.

When one feels that is on the edge of experiencing a panic attack, it is advantageous to take a bath with warm water or cold water.

Read books and solve puzzles to keep mind busy, so that one does not think about core panics. There are many puzzles and books are obtainable for people who experience anxiety problems or panic attacks.

If feels that anxiety takes over the body, it is advantageous to drink a glass of water comfortably and promptly and it is also advantageous to have a cup of tea.

Taking deep breaths can be helpful to eliminate attacks because one is able to power the hypertension. When one is competent to control the velocity of breathing, can also control the racing of heart. This will develop the feeling of being faint, trembling and any other sign of attack.

These easy tips can help to cure stress and panic attack and keep the whole lot under control, so one can recover one's life and do not influence by this depressing feeling that can harm one's way of living.

Visit http://www.anxiety-and-panic.net/ to get more information on panic attack.

Original article

Anxiety Disorder - The True Causes

For a very long time, I believed that anxiety and depression are illnesses that "just happen", something that we do not have any control over. I am thankful now for the increased awareness that there is not an external reason for what happens to us physically, rather we are the creators of our life. This knowledge gives us greater control over our lives and allows us to challenge limiting beliefs that we hold.

Increased adrenalin prepares our body for the "flight or fight" response. This causes us to experience physical symptoms. When the perceived danger disappears, the physical symptoms also disappear. Think about when you are watching a scary film, your fear (flight or fight response) returns to normal once the film has ended. If however stress continues over a long period of time, the increased adrenalin can cause complications. For some people this results in anxiety, depression, insomnia and various other conditions.

When I suffered from post natal anxiety I experienced a few panic attacks but mostly it was generalised anxiety. The physical and mental symptoms were quite extreme, including breathlessness, shaking, tingling sensations, constipation, extreme insomnia to name but a few. These symptoms were all a result of the increased adrenalin in my system.

The biggest problem with prolonged anxiety is that your body starts to believe that this increased level of adrenalin is the norm and the body resets itself to produce this amount of adrenalin. As we go about our daily lives we have the fight or flight response when doing completely "normal" activities i.e. shopping, going out, in the house. What is our response to this? We start to adapt our lives in many ways to avoid the "perceived" danger. But it is danger that does not exist, well only in our mind. We can see why many people attempt to use behavioural approaches successfully to re-train the mind.

The irrational thinking can quickly escalate out of control. The thoughts can continue to a level that is disturbing to anyone. This can very easily lead to feeling depressed, depressed at the inability to control the anxiety. With very few options available it is no surprise that many people take anti-depressant medication.

The adrenal glands also produce steroids including corticosterone. People who are depressed tend to have high levels of these steroids. Basically as was described with the adrenalin, the feedback loop is out of control and the body continues to produce these excess levels. People can get stuck because the feelings get retained in the memory. To break the feedback loop you have to stop sending the message to produce more steroids and reduce the chemical levels in the body.

It is also understood that serotonin levels (neurochemical) are low within people who are feeling depressed. Anti-depressant drugs can be used to block the re-uptake mechanism, allowing excess serotonin to flood receptors, aiming to correct the imbalance.

My own experience is that antidepressants are a short-term fix when there does not appear to be an alternative option. They do not cure, they are like a plaster and the wound still needs to be healed when you remove the plaster.

Top tips

Look to eliminate or reduce all stress in your life.
Avoid sugar in your diet, try to keep your blood sugar levels steady.
Take control of your mind rather than letting it control you!
The Law of Attraction teaches us the importance of what we think and speak about. We will attract more of this in to our lives. It is therefore very important to become aware of the way you think and speak so that you don't attract more of this in to your life. Start writing affirmations etc that will help to challenge the irrational thoughts. The quicker you can reduce your adrenalin levels you will start to feel better.
Make a list of all the things that you have adapted, avoided because of your irrational fears. The sooner that you return to everyday activities without adapting because of irrational fears the quicker life will return to normal for you.
Find activities that will help you to relax and divert your mind, watching TV does not work! Something that will help you to focus your mind will help.
Think carefully about taking antidepressants whilst they can be useful for a short-term fix, it is worth noting that no studies have been carried out as to the effect that these medications can have on other areas of our body.
Be aware that our body has a natural way of producing all the hormones that we need, we just need to know how!
Serotonin can be increased naturally through a healthy lifestyle including diet, exercise, laughter, sex and reducing stress levels.
Most of all never believe that there is an external factor causing your illness or believe that you need medication to manage your life longer-term. This will mean you live your life in fear, fear of it returning! Fear of not being able to control it again.

Kelly Menzies, Change and Personal Development Leader has been working in HR, Change Leadership and Learning and Development for ten years. She is currently working with fitness and nutrition professionals, using personal development techniques to help them attract and retain more clients and build their business. Get started today with her FREE 7 Day Training Series, "Build Your Client Base and Make More Money" http://www.life-is-now.co.uk/

Original article

Debunk These Common Anxiety Myths

A few common Anxiety Myths are:

Anxiety is a mental illness.

Anxiety attacks stem from a lack of courage.

Anxiety can only be cured with prescription medicine.

An actual panic attack or anxiety attack causes harm to your body.

Although the scientific cause of an anxiety attack or a panic attack is yet to be proven in the medical field, many doctors attribute the body's specific symptomatic reactions to a chemical imbalance, thus treatable with medicine.

This diagnosis is attached to many other illnesses for the motivation of prescribing medicine to a particular client. However, there is no medical test to diagnose an "imbalance" in the human brain. Therefore, the label "chemical imbalance" can be attached to certain patients to justify the need for medication. It is important to note that anxiety can be cured without the use of medication.

The most common triggers of anxiety or panic disorders stem from exhaustion that is either physical, mental or emotional. Internal conflict such as past issues of trauma or various categories of abuse can also trigger panic attacks.

Physical exhaustion can be the direct result of poor diet, any type of substance abuse, or hormonal changes such as menopause.

Mental exhaustion is the result of extreme worry or stress. Emotional exhaustion might be related to life's traumatic issues such as grief from the loss of a loved one or divorce from a spouse.

If any one of these exhaustions linger, the mind and body try to cope with the change by experiencing feelings of "different" and "heightened" bodily sensations. The heart beating fast, the tightness of chest, the feeling of being closed in are all sensations felt by a person having a panic attack also known as an anxiety attack.

The mind tries to decipher the different feelings in the body. Since the response the body goes through seems abnormal, it then becomes anxious or fearful in dealing with these bodily responses that are unusual.

The fear and heightened sensitive feeling becomes ever-present in the body of the person who has experienced these same symptoms previously. As a result, the lingering fear that the feeling will return stays in the thoughts of the person who has suffered from a panic attack. The mere thought of the attack returning again and the intense occasion of fear is a constant reminder of endangerment and entrapment of the person who has suffered from an anxiety attack.

The panic attack sufferer then continues this cycle of fear thus avoiding all circumstances which serve as a reminder of the fear and entrapment experienced previously. A person can then develop a fear of flying, driving, social interaction, public speaking, etc.

There is a cure for Anxiety Disorder that does not involve medication. Medication only serves to mask the feeling or cause the heightened sensations of anxiety and panic to subside.

To read more information and resources about this topic visit http://no-more-panic-attack.com

Tiffani has suffered from anxiety attacks, panic attacks and depression for many years. She successfully cured herself from these disorders without any medication or professional intervention. She now dedicates much of her time to helping others experience the same freedom from fear, panic and worry. To read more about how to cure yourself from anxiety visit http://no-more-panic-attack.com/

Original article

Suffer From Driving Anxiety

Does your heart rate increase every time you get behind the wheel of a car? Does your chest feel tight and do you experience difficulty breathing? If you experience these emotions, you suffer from driving anxiety. Many people suffer from this problem, and while some have been able to conquer their fear, there are those who have given up driving all together. It is important to understand why this happens, and why you are scared of driving. Having the knowledge and understanding is the best way to overcome the problem.

Those who suffer from driving anxiety find that it is extremely difficult to do many things. Visiting family and friends becomes difficult, and even the act of going to work everyday becomes nearly impossible. Fortunately, this does not have to be a permanent condition. Many people have managed to overcome the problem, and they do not have to suffer anymore. Once people understand what the anxiety is, and what causes it, they can find out what to do about it. They will be able to overcome it, and can start living a normal life.

Anxiety occurs due to brain conditioning and the subconscious mind. Those who experience the anxiety, do so because the brain has been conditioned to experience fear. They feel the presence of danger every time they are behind the wheel. This fear often develops and increases over time due to certain experiences, or situations that occur on the road. With time, the experiences cause the subconscious mind to develop an association between driving and the danger. Fortunately, these conditioning can be reversed. In most cases, the reversal is fairly simple and takes a short time once the concept has been grasped.

Once you have understood how the anxiety was developed, it is easy to overcome it. Everyone has something they fear, and in most cases, the fear is quite irrational. We tend to build up negative experiences, and every time you do this you create a problem. For most people, their fears do not affect their daily life and can be set aside. When the fear affects or interferes with your normal life, it has to be dealt with. Your brain and your subconscious mind have learnt to associate driving with the fearful experiences you have gone through.

It is important to remember that while there are dangerous situations while driving, the same can also be said of walking, crossing the street, and virtually everything we go through every day. It is important to see the fear for what it is. Once you are able to confront it, you can deal with it. The anxiety is brought about by blowing fear out of proportion.

Original article

PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and NLP

What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (or simply PTSD) is categorized as an anxiety disorder. PTSD develops'post-trauma' which means the individual was exposed to life-threatening and extremely frightening incidents or situations both natural and man-made. While people are experiencing trauma long before the word was coined, PTSD was only recognized as a diagnosis in 1980. NLP has gained credibility as an effective therapy for PTSD as more and more people have benefited from it. When you have PTSD, your brain still continues reacting with nervousness even when the original trauma is over. PTSD is a delayed reaction by which the symptoms may manifest themselves after months of experiencing or witnessing the traumatic event. NLP helps the patients to better understand the changes that they may experience and to interpret their experiences in a positive manner.

Is it fatal?

A person with PTSD suffers both physiologically and Psychological. This means that the brain activities and functions are being altered somehow. PTSD sufferers are likely to become delicately sensitive even to usual life experiences. Nonetheless, sufferers tend to overlook the physiological effects as they are often mistaken as physical issues like headaches or dizziness. NLP therapists are able to provide help to the patients in a manner that they learn to change their brains' physiology back to normal. Psychologically, PTSD sufferers are likely to develop self-destructive behaviors, eating disorders and psychoses. NLP therapists are skilled in diagnosing and helping with the symptoms of destructive behaviors or other disorders.

Is it age related?

Anybody who is exposed to a traumatic event may develop PTSD, and so it is not really developed with age. Nevertheless, what you have experienced earlier in your life may affect your ability to cope with traumatic events in the future. People who experienced traumatic event in childhood are more likely to develop PTSD when an equally terrifying event or incident happens again. Thus, children and adolescent who experienced or had witnessed a traumatic event are at more risk of developing PTSD when they are older.

Is it gender related?

While more men experience traumatic events in their lifetime, women are twice as likely to develop PTSD. There have been incidences where men in combat suffer from PTSD after they return. NLP therapists use can use a gender specific therapy to help men and women as the reasons for PTSD may vary between them. While women are not exposed to these types of violence, however, women are more likely to experience sexual assault like rape and or suffer from domestic violence which explains the prevalence of PTSD among them. Further, women almost always describe their experience as a perceived life threat and extreme fright. On the other hand, women are more likely to cope with PTSD than their male counterpart. Women report about the disorder as an anxiety disorder but men commonly associate the disorder with external factors like substance or alcohol abuse. NLP techniques can help in better understanding reasons for the symptoms and hence in a better treatment.

Is it transmittable?

PTSD is very subjective since it relates to a specific life experience either experienced or witnessed by a person. However, PTSD may also develop without actually experiencing or witnessing any life threatening event. When a family member is harmed, for instance, another family member may develop PTSD. There are people who suffer from PTSD after watching movies or news programs which contain visual presentations of a terrifying event. NLP therapists need to explore the underlying causes as well as vulnerabilities in order to develop an accurate NLP approach for individual patients. PTSD is effectively treated by the help of NLP. NLP training enables the victim to rethink and readjust his mental coding about the traumatic event and to view it in a less hurtful manner. NLP therapy encourages the victim to tap into his inherent strengths and to face the traumatic event in a manner that renders it harmless.

Visit our website today to learn more NLP Australia

Original article

How To Overcome Your Fears Of Anxiety And Panic Attacks

Controlling the amygdala is the main thing to mastering precisely how to halt panic and anxiety attacks naturally. These symptoms believe it or not execute a useful purpose as their purpose is to alert one of approaching threat so that one can do something to assure ones own survival. This procedure is called the fight or flight response. Panic and anxiety symptoms occur once this process becomes too easily induced due to over excitement of this response. The good word is that panic attacks and anxiousness are a behavioural patterns which one acquires over time when one is in contact with stressful stimulus.

Any kind of behaviour that is accepted may be unlearned as well. This is how to stop panic disorders naturally. Although there are natural remedies for these symptoms such as natural herbs, they simply give you short-lived reduction because the secret is to understand this behaviour, rather than manage it using drugs. Learning how to overcome one's anxiety and panic attack, necessitates finding out how to do a few easy techniques that can halt this pattern. It is easy to avert anxiety and panic attacks as soon as one feels anxious by carrying out psychological exercises which have been intended to retrain the amygdala.

The essential approaches to getting to understand how to halt panic attacks naturally is searching out how to breath the right way. When a panic attack arises ones breathing becomes quicker and shallower, It is a sign of the fight or flight response being triggered. By taking action over ones breathing by taking extended deep breaths one will be able to seize control prohibiting an anxiety attack. It is important to make deep breathing exercises a part of ones everyday process because this will help one to become a more calmer individual and less at risk from the stimulus that bring about these symptoms. The most rewarding step you can take with regards to ending panic attacks naturally would be to take vitamins or supplements each day. They are the most safest and most reliable way to help people with this condition. The best help I have found with regards to understanding how to halt anxiety symptoms easily are with vitamins and supplements. They are easy to take and you do not need a doctor's prescription. These self-help products are made for assisting one to simply triumph over any form of panic and anxiety disorder. Myself and also 1000's of other people have found these products to be effective in helping them with their anxiety and panic attacks.

If you are having panic attacks, or you are feeling down and depressed and you would like something for your condition, than just follow this link to a new you.

http://www.vitaminssupplementsnutritionalmedicines.info/

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