Anxiety And Vice

“throw moderation to the winds, and the greatest pleasures bring the greatest pain” – Democritus

The word vice is rather strong when you think about it. It is defined as “a moral depravity or corruption”. In my view and for our purposes a vice is something less and is generally something we should avoid or at least not over do. Anxiety sufferers have to deal with so much it’s no wonder that many of us turn to vice for relief and why vice becomes a coping tool.

We end up doing things that we ought not do or definitely over do because we are desperate for peace. One of the first things that comes to mind is the over consumption of alcohol. This is a vice that should be limited but not necessarily eliminated. Many of us use alcohol to help ourselves relax or even numb the senses.

In a way that is exactly what alcohol does to our central nervous system which makes sense being that it is a depressant. In addition to that it helps people, particularly is social settings, to be more comfortable with others and their own self image. This is what some people call liquid courage.

The problem of course is that like any drug alcohol only serves to mask the real problems that we face. What’s worse is that in the long run alcohol actually perpetuates anxiety and makes us prone to more panic attacks and other anxiety symptoms.

If that weren’t enough long term abuse of alcohol can also lead to health conditions that effect the liver and kidneys for example – all around not really a good deal.

But it’s not just alcohol that we abuse. It’s drugs, both prescription and otherwise, shopping and even food that we misuse to help us cope. I guess you could say that some of us get too creative with our coping strategies and this in the end comes back to haunt us.

For someone like me alcohol is not a problem because I can’t really drink. Call it a traumatic experience that lead me to basically fear alcohol. But on the other hand I am not afraid of milk shakes and admittedly milk shakes make me happy. But it’s precisely for this reason that I have to ration my visits to the milk shake place.

We have to take care to not let our anxiety become an excuse or crutch to explain or even justify the vice’s we indulge in. Don’t allow your chronic state of anxiety to open the door to behaviors you know will only cause you harm. Although it is tempting to not deal with the issues that keep you anxious trying to cover them up with a temporary band aid is no solution.

Self medicating can be a dangerous prospect and it’s one you should not take lightly. I only give warning sense I know that dealing with anxiety day in and day out is a struggle. It is a struggle that can lead to negative habits if you let it. So when things get hard and you look for that something that will take off the edge remember to let moderation be your guide.