Going to the dentist is a much hated proposition for many people but if you have an anxiety disorder this can be an extraordinary ordeal of cosmic proportions. O.K. that was clearly an exaggeration however it can really be difficult to go and see a dentist if you have a "nervous problem". In my last post (Dental Debacle ) I wrote about my hellish visit to the dentist. It was all related to an "overdose" or more accurately a misplacement of local anesthetic that contained adrenaline without me knowing it. And although I did include a no
The Anxiety Gaze
I have heard veterans say that they can pick out other veterans of armed conflict because of their thousand yard stare . It is a deep stare or gaze that is not focused on any particular thing. But its born from the trauma and severe mental stress of combat. Having an anxiety disorder is nowhere near like experiencing combat, its not even the same sport, but anxiety can cause you to stare blankly without any thought or purpose. It happens to me a lot at work or even when people are talking to me. I get this glazed look in my eyes (I've been
Anxiety Induced Chest Pain
Picture it, you're enjoying an average day at work when all of sudden you get a sharp jabbing pain in the center of your chest. You go from totally relaxed to "oh no!" in 3 nanoseconds. This is a very typical reaction to anxiety induced chest pain. Chest pain can create a swift and focused sensation of fear all over your body in what feels like an instant. Your first assumption is that you're having a heart attack and that you're going to die suddenly. After several minutes of experiencing chest pain, even though you haven't died
Ace in the Hole: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Recently I have talked a lot about various forms of therapies for anxiety disorders. Some of which are considered somewhat fringe or unorthodox. There is one therapy however that is widely accepted as being extremely effective and more in line with old school psychoanalytical techniques. It's called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT for short. I have sprinkled CBT throughout my blog as a reference point for how to cope with your anxiety. But today I wanted to actually go into detail about what it is, how it works and how it can help you.
Losing Relationships to Anxiety
After I developed generalized anxiety disorder I began to get tremendously focused on only that. I lost interest in a lot of the things that I used to like and instead spent my time worrying. But as I worried I failed to notice that I was starting to lose friends in the process. I stopped going places so people stopped inviting me to go out. When I did go out I couldn't drink or relax so I became something of a bore. I would usually chalk up my loss of friends to regular relationship attrition. I figured that as you get older you naturally
Fear and Anticipation
Much of our problem as anxiety sufferers lies not only in the "now" moments of anxiety attacks and symptoms but also in the "maybe" of these same things. To a large degree I think it's the maybe that causes most of our angst and worry since it stimulates and prolongs the very emotions and feelings we hate so much. In his 1872 work called The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals the naturalist Charles Darwin wrote that "if we expect to suffer, we are anxious; if we have no hope of relief, we despair".
Top Ten Signs That You Have An Anxiety Disorder
Have you ever wondered what exactly makes you officially anxiety ridden? I have thought about this question a lot and I wanted to a create a list of behaviors that say anxiety disorder loud and clear. Now this stuff is only funny when it's not happening, but it can be funny. You know you have an anxiety disorder when... 1. You enjoy checking your pulse AND have other people check your pulse too. 2. You can't sleep at night and watch colorful, cheesy and old television shows to help you fall asleep. 3. You question your sanity at
Color Yourself Calm
When I was a kid my mom and her sisters would have "coloring sessions". I never understood why adult women would gather around a table to color in coloring books, but it turns out that they were calming themselves. In family circles it was a well known fact that my mom and some of her sisters had anxiety issues, but what they didn't know was that coloring was actually serving them as an anxiety therapy. When we color it brings our brains into a semi-meditative state. So what you think of as child's play is in fact an inexpensive and effect
Automated Tranquility
It would be great if we could easily undo the accidental Jedi mind tricks that got our anxiety levels to this point. But the reality is that we will have to actively work on relaxing as part of our quest to manage our anxiety. To help us along I started a series of post related to alternative anxiety therapies. At first I wanted to talk about just a few over the past week. But I quickly realized that there were in fact many different types of therapies available to help an anxious person chill out and so I'll be introducing a few more this
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