Overcoming Test Anxiety To Pass Any Test

I have written other articles talking about abuse issues and how verbal abuse can be so harmful to self-confidence and self-esteem. In this article I will talk about how this impacts children and even adults with test anxiety. When we think of having test anxiety we normally think of kids. Not true many careers institute tests for promotions. Police Officers and Fireman for example have to pass a test to be able to advance in their careers. Law students must pass the BAR to be able to practice law. My point is that test anxiety needs to be addressed as children. The Institute of Heart Math and Claremont Graduate University states that students high levels of anxiety may jeopardize validity, thereby compromising testing results. What does this mean. 61% of all students report being affected by test anxiety. 26% of students reported frequent high levels of test anxiety. Twice as many females experienced high levels of test anxiety as compared to males.Students with high levels of test anxiety scored on the average, 15 points lower on standardized tests in both Mathematics and English-Language Arts than students with low test anxiety.

Why does this happen? As I have talked about in my previous articles, the mind can be your friend or your enemy. This means it responds out of programming from the input it hears. If the student hears negative be it from teachers, students, parents or even from outside stimuli. The confidence is effected. These are called blocks in the hypnosis world. Have you ever studied all night, went to take a test and totally forgot everything you know you remembered before taking the test? What happened? Blocks. The subconscious has retained the information it just will not allow you to retrieve it. Hands start to sweat, heart raises, sound familiar. Ever been there?

What do you do about that. As hypnotist we work with the subconscious. The first step is to get rid of the blocks. The next step is to give the subconscious a trigger that will be allow the subconscious to retrieve the stored information. When self-confidence is restored, relaxation is replaced. With relaxation, the subconscious will allow the stored information to come forward. Sounds easy? It really is to a trained professional. The rewards are life long.

I would like to talk a little bit about what I call the writing on your walls. This is your belief system. If we believe we cannot do something where does that come from. We are born with only 2 fears the fear of falling and the fear of a loud noise, the rest of the fears are learned. They are instilled in us by what other people have written on our walls. If your Grandma instills her belief that you must always be an over achiever, that very well by be your belief. Lets explore how that may impact you in regards to test anxiety. Let me be clear some anxiety is good. It keeps up motivated, but when it becomes emotionally stifling, that is a condition that can stay with you your entire life. Hence test anxiety occurs. In the instance of the Grandmas writing on your wall being an over achiever you may be very hard on yourself and expect perfection from your efforts. The result? Nervousness and anxiety about failing not only the test, but yourself and others you think may be disappointed in you. When I work with a Client the first thing I talk about is relaxation. This is the key. Some of the methods that work are meditation, yoga and self-hypnosis. How does self-hypnosis benefit someone with test anxiety? Simply this it not only teaches relaxation but also helps to train the mind to think differently. More positive, productive and respond to retention of what has been read and studied but also being able to retrieve what has been learned. With this method a trigger object is used. For example a pencil could be used as a trigger object that will stimulate the retrieval process during a test. Relaxation is important. With self-hypnosis someone can learn to use his or her mind to automatically relax.

With this article you will learn techniques to use to over-come test anxiety. If you suffer from test anxiety you can learn the signs the solutions to solving this problem and the possible causes of test anxiety.

Original article

Cuing Into What Makes You Tick: Overcoming Your Anxiety

We live in an age that wires us to worry. We get way too much information from the TV, radio, and especially the internet. There are no more secrets and almost everyone has 900 "friends" keeping them busy every minute of the day. There is never enough time to do the things we want to do. We often feel rushed, overwhelmed and frustrated that it is never good enough, fast enough or satisfying enough.

We want instant gratification and become angry or anxious when it doesn't occur. We have less and less patience and are becoming more and more anxious. This doesn't just affect us as adults, but also seniors, teens, and it is now showing up in our children who are exhibiting symptoms of school and social anxiety, as well as fear of being bullied.

We know that anxiety is not life-threatening, and we do survive it, but it can take over your life. People who experience anxiety attacks describe it as one of the most unpleasant feelings one can have, without being physically ill. People often are misdiagnosed as having heart attacks when actually it is an anxiety attack. Feeling that you can't breathe, hyperventilating, sweating, shaking, feeling flushed, overwhelmed with heart palpitations are only some of the symptoms.

The best way to deal with these anxious feelings are to observe them early on and use your toolkit of techniques to decrease their power. What most people do is ignore the signs, hoping it will go away, and then it just gets stronger and stronger until you feel overwhelmed with a tidal wave of anxiety and at that point nothing will work but riding out the storm.

If you have experienced your extreme worry or anxiety as a 10 on the scale, you want to be noticing it coming on when you are a 4 or 5. If you cue into the early warning signs and you use the techniques I am recommending, it should greatly lessen the anxiety and in some instances, when used often enough, clients have reported anxiety attacks ending completely.

1. Become aware of your body's signals. For example, let's say you have to make a phone call or confront someone, and your palms start to sweat or your mouth becomes dry. This is the time to start your deep breathing exercises. Inhale slowly, through your nose, to the count of 4, hold it in slowly to the count of 4 and exhale it through your mouth to the count of 6. This exercise is VERY effective in reducing worry and anxiety, but like all tips I will give you, they only work if you use it. If you are a worrier, you should be doing the breathing exercises at least 5 times a day.

2. Another technique known to quiet worry is to ask yourself the question, "In 5 years from now, how much will this matter?"

3. It also helps to be more proactive in certain cases. If you found a mole on your skin and are worrying about it, taking action will help you to eliminate the problem. Calling your dermatologist and arranging an appointment will help you find out if everything is ok and if not the doctor will take care of it.

4. Statistics help too! When you are worried about something like skin cancer. The statistics I believe are something like 95% of skin lesions are curable if caught early. Of course, the worriers will say, what if I am in the bottom 5%. But just knowing that there is a 95% cure rate is reassuring and will lessen the anxiety.

5. Distract yourself. One of the things that most worriers tend to do is over think and over analyze. You know you won't come up with a better plan, but you can't seem to stop yourself from re-thinking it. This would be a good time to take your dog for a walk and notice the trees, the sky, the peace in nature. Other options are going to the gym, taking in a feel-good movie, Distract yourself from the nagging thoughts.

6. You know the expression, "Misery loves company". Well worriers also tend to attract other worriers. While, it may initially make you feel better that you're not the only one worrying, it can just multiply other worries. Try to find a supportive friend who will validate your concerns but help you see the positives in the situations or at least make some helpful suggestions as to how you might deal with it. That way you won't feel so alone and will feel supported, which will also help lower the anxiety.

7. Another statistic worth remembering is that they say that 95% of the things you worry about, never actually happen.

8. Become aware of your self-talk. The average person thinks 60-80,000 thoughts a day. If you are feeling anxious and worried that means that those are the thoughts you are thinking right now. While you can't be aware of each of these thoughts, you always know how you are feeling. Notice it and then ask yourself if it is true. Is this a real concern? How likely is this really to happen? Is there something I can do about it? Are these old tapes from my childhood or my parents voices? Figuring out where these worries are coming from can help you to see that it may not even be your worry. These may be old tapes you have inherited from your parents.

9. If you are a parent who worries, there is a good chance that you have a child who worries too much also. Your child learns how to deal with life, not just from the words you use, but by your behaviour and how you handle stress. If you are anxious and worried, the messages many children receive, is that the world is not a safe place. If you are a worried partner, chances are it affects your ability to feel confident, to trust and relax and have fun in your relationships. Worry isn't an issue only affecting you, it affects the tone, the joy and feelings of peace that accompanies you into your home and with your family.

10. If you have tried these and other tips and still you live your life with anxiety, worry, and a constant feeling of distress; it may be time to accept some outside help. Whether it is some anti-anxiety medication from your doctor or cognitive tools and techniques from myself or another therapist, please consider it. See this as an opportunity to take back control over your life and find the solutions to lowering the anxiety, increase your confidence and learn how to dance with life.

Rhonda Rabow, M.A.

Author's Bio Rhonda Rabow is an author and a psychotherapist living in Montreal, Quebec Canada. She has over 25 years experience counseling individuals, couples and families facing a variety of life challenges; from parenting, grief, depression, and self-esteem issues, to conflict resolution and marriage counseling. Her approach is empowerment and she accomplishes this by helping her clients find solutions to their problems and teaching them the skills and tools they need to feel back in control of their lives. She has also recently published an e-book called, "Discover the 3 secrets to living happily ever after".

http://www.helphelpmerhonda.ca/
http://www.rhondarabow.com/

Original article

Overcoming Anxiety Forever

If you have recently been diagnosed with anxiety or even just suspecting that you are suffering from some kind of anxiety disorder, you are probably feeling scared, overwhelmed and powerless, very alone and frustrated that people around you just do not understand what you are going through. Overcoming anxiety is not an easy work to do but there are some practical things you can perform in order to regain the control of your feelings and your life. In addition to this, a panic away program is a powerful and effective method to release stress and to get your life back.

The first thing to do if you want to overcome anxiety is to stop being judgmental about you and your disorder and not agonize about how you got in this situation. You are dealing with a difficult situation and from this moment you must have a positive attitude and focus on how to move on and feel better. You have to admit that panic attacks and anxiety are medical disorders and doesn't make sense to be dramatic because chemical and physical changes in your body are the main cause of this problem. It is just another illness that requires special attention and you must involve all your efforts and positive attitude in order to push panic away from your life. Understanding this disorder and the reasons why it occurs is already a major step in the process of overcoming anxiety. If you experience sensations such as dizziness, nausea, light headedness and a pounding heart and sometimes they even occur simultaneously, the first thing to do is to regulate your diet and your body and then regulate your mind and emotions. You also need dedicated examination and therapy and avoid anti-anxiety drugs and antidepressants because they can only help you on short-term.

Overcome anxiety is actually possible and you must strongly believe this and learn to deal with your worries in more productive ways, making any necessary anxiety-reducing lifestyle changes. Learning and practicing relaxation techniques such as deep breathing and and meditation will help your nervous system to become less reactive and thus you will have an increased resistance to stress and anxiety. It is also very important to learn how to self-sooth because this can make a great difference in your struggle to push panic away. This is an effective method that usually incorporates one or more of your physical senses, the senses of sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. If these self-help methods are not enough and the anxiety and panic attack persists, you should combine them with therapy or other treatments which are very useful and also side-effect free.

Regarding this matter, panic away program is a natural technique which doesn't involve medication because it is based on cognitive behavior therapy. Moreover, most of these techniques can be implemented in just a few minutes and they provide long-term relief and the possibility to eliminate anxiety forever. When you deal with this kind of problems you need to find a permanent solution to keep panic away and this program might be just what you need. This program has a proven formula and it instructs you how to break the panic cycle, to reestablish you self-confidence and get in control of your life.

Panic away program is different from other treatments since it fully empowers you instead of just instructing you ways to manage and deal with panic attacks once they have happened. The reliability of this program is proved by the fact that it has the largest collection of testimonials than any other treatment program and they can be affirmed thus panic away might be your chance to live a normal life.

For more resources about panic away or about panic away program or even about overcoming anxiety, please review these links.

Original article

7 Tips for Overcoming Panic Attacks Naturally

To have any hope of overcoming panic attacks naturally, you need to know as much as you can about them. Panic attacks, sometimes called anxiety attacks, are very frightening experiences. And if you have suffered one or more, then you know just how terrifying they can be...

As well as the symptoms you are enduring, you feel alone and isolated during an attack. The best way to help yourself in these circumstances is to understand what they are and what causes them. Knowledge is indeed power in this case.

Panic attacks usually come out of the blue without any prior warning, which is why you feel so fearful and apprehensive. Attacks last for between 5 to 30 minutes on average, with a peak of intensity at around 10 minutes.

The symptoms are devastating; tightness across your chest/throat, rapid hear rate, sweating, shortness of breath, irregular breathing, dizziness/light-headedness, and so on. No wonder you feel such terror and feel so alone and isolated.

They can be caused by anything; being in a crowded place, in a traffic jam, speaking in public, shopping in a busy supermarket, crossing a bridge, etc. They are usually triggered when your overall anxiety shoots up to such a peak that your body reacts in a pre-programmed way and a panic attack is triggered.

You'll normally get treated using tranquilizers and antidepressants to manage the cognitive issues and perhaps beta blockers to handle the physical ones. But many folks just don't like these types of drugs and prefer to approach their condition using more natural means. Perhaps you're like them too. If so then here are 7 tips on overcoming panic attacks naturally...

7 Tips for Overcoming Panic Attacks Naturally

1) Recognise that there isn't anything mentally wrong with you. You just have a behavioural issue that can be treated successfully. Once you understand this, then you're in a better position to take back control, which is a vital step in overcoming panic attacks naturally.

2) Make a list of several family members and/or friends who you feel closest to and can fully trust. Have their mobile/cell phone numbers ready so that you can contact them during an attack. They can help to reassure you, and perhaps even be able to get to you if they are near enough.

3) Practice proper controlled breathing techniques. Controlled breathing can help to re-balance your oxygen/carbon dioxide ratio and so help to reduce and bring some of the symptoms under control. See also No. 7 below.

4) A good night's sleep is very important. Not only do you have more energy next day, your overall anxiety levels are reduced with a proper sleep cycle, which helps to reduce the risk of panic attacks.

5) Studies have shown that folks who have panic attacks are more sensitive to certain foods than people who don't. So avoid foods like, Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), caffeine, alcohol, and processed sugars.

6) Make time during the day for relaxation exercises to help reduce the stress in your life. Do this every single day. Learn yoga, go running, walking, cycling, whatever you prefer, but do it as a daily routine.

7) Be prepared. As mentioned above, have the 'phone numbers of trusted ones in your cell/mobile 'phone. Carry a paper bag with you to help you 're-breathe' so that you can help to re-balance your oxygen/carbon dioxide. Even knowing that you're prepared, can make you feel better.

No matter what the cause is that triggers a panic attack you can start overcoming your panic attacks naturally by understanding what they are and that they can't harm you...

To understand even more about overcoming panic attacks naturally, especially about using a special technique to help you break out of your vicious anxiety cycle, you may wish to go here http://www.thepanicattacksite.info/.

Original article