You can find reasons to be anxious about almost anything. You can even become anxious about a disease that affects roughly 300,000 people in the United States. To give you some perspective, that's less than 1% of the population. Not exactly an epidemic right? Nonetheless, the fear of developing a serious disease is a common fear for many anxious people. A fear that I think, and deep down you know, isn't reasonable. So today I want to explain why your fears are likely overblown when it comes to one disease in particular. That one is
Why A Fast Heart Beat Isn’t Dangerous
For many people a fast heart beat is a waking nightmare. A constant reminder that something isn't right. I think of a fast heart beat (tachycardia) in less intense terms. I consider it a sign of stress and not death. Tachycardia (100 heart beats per minute or more) simply isn't the killer you think it is. This is an important topic to address because it's a symptom that has likely affected you. You see, when you get tachycardic, you imagine all sorts of horrific scenarios, many of which probably involve a sickness of some kind. It's
Does Talking About Your Anxiety Help?
Does it really help? If it ever works for you the reason boils down to two things: You have someone you can trust and you're ready to talk. But to tell you the truth, even trust and motivation isn't always enough to help you come clean about your anxiety. Think about it. What's easy about baring your soul? It can be hard to do, especially if it goes against your nature. After a few months as a student therapist I can attest to the difficulty some people have with sharing how they truly feel about their problem(s). Adults are masters
The Dangers of Negative Self-Talk
We all have private thoughts. You probably have thousands a day. But you only share a small percentage of what you think with other people. Most of that stuff you 'discuss' with yourself. You don't do this like a schizophrenic talking to a building though. It's subtle. In fact, it all happens in your head. Now, think about how many times a day you have anxious thoughts. What do you tell yourself when you're anxious? When I had high anxiety I'd think things like, "What if anxiety causes me to have a heart attack?" "Can I survive a
Is Anxiety a Life Sentence?
Some people are born anxious. This is according to numerous studies conducted over the past several decades. For example, did you know that some infants have a stronger startle response than others? That's just the beginning. Psychologist Jerome Kagan of Harvard has said that many of these 'high-reactors' tend to grow up nervous. They worry a lot, feel insecure, and some even develop anxiety disorders. There are those that don't believe in a genetic basis for high anxiety, but you know what? I'm not one of them. I believe that some
How to Use Acceptance to Stop Anxiety
Learning the facts about abnormal anxiety is a good way of getting your healing efforts off the ground. But chances are that you'll need more than facts alone. I say that because most people who read this blog are anxiety experts that stay anxious despite their impressive knowledge. All you have to do is read the comments on my most recent article to verify this. The power of anxiety, worry, negative thinking, and hopelessness are such that no matter what you know, it's not always enough to keep anxiety away. What helps more, I think,
Want a Free Ebook?
I want to ask you an important question. And that is: Why are you stuck? What is it about your experience with abnormal anxiety that's made it difficult to overcome? I know that for me it was the sense that anxiety symptoms would somehow hurt me, either physically or mentally. I had a hard time convincing myself that anxiety wasn't dangerous. But, in time, I learned how to defeat this pattern. So I wrote about it. My new eBook, The Big Idea, deals with this important problem. The problem I'm talking about is resistance. Resistance to
My Appearance on the Happy Hour Radio Show
I recently had the privilege of appearing on the Happy Hour Radio Show. I joined Anxiety Gal and her co-host Holly (pictured left) to talk about my past anxiety problems, what I did to get better, and about my work at Anxiety Guru. At one point during the segment, Holly put me on the spot and asked me to explain abnormal anxiety in just a few minutes, and I'm glad she did. It gave me a chance to give a spontaneous and honest answer to a question that I've wrestled with for years. I usually don't have a chance to get introspective about
How I Got Anxiety to Leave Me Alone at Night
Two things ran through my mind when I used to get anxious panicked: I'm going to die and It's just anxiety. Especially at night. It's a dual consciousness that you've probably experienced too. That head game tends to happen over and over again. Even if you tell yourself, everyday, that you're not going to let anxiety do that to you. That's why I was surprised when I stopped doing it. But I'll be honest with you, I didn't do it consciously. Actually, it happened on accident. How could that be? Well. Every now and then I used to wake
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