I never hide the fact that I still get anxious sometimes. Despite not having the overt symptoms that I used to have, there are days when my skills get put to the test. Case in point: My recent vacation to Cozumel. After years of feeling pretty Yoda like, I figured this vacation would be no big deal. That is, of course, until I started to think about all the various things I'd have to overcome to make this vacation happen. Suddenly I was faced with 7 of my greatest fears. Sure, I know a lot about anxiety and anxiety reduction, but the truth
Why is Anxiety so Stubborn?
Lately I've noticed an increase in people asking me this question: Why won't my anxiety go away? The short answer is because it's hard to forget. This has become AG's $64,000 question. I produced a short screen-cast to try to explain why this is, but just in case you want the text version, here it is. Human beings evolved over many millions of years and during that time our brains changed, expanded and adapted to the environment in incredible ways. However, despite all that cool evolution of the brain, there were still certain
Are We Bothering Others?
Today's guest post is brought to you by Daniel Stelter from the Anxiety Support Network. For many social anxiety sufferers including myself, a common thought that we often struggle with is the belief that we are bothering other people by talking to them or asking them things. Sometimes, this belief arrives from the experience that when we were so afraid of doing things on our own, we would ask so many questions of others that we actually did end up bothering them. Once it became clear to us that we were overstepping our bounds and
Attention: Anxiety Does Not Cause Insanity
The fear of going crazy is common among anxiety sufferers. Actually, and unfortunately, this fear is almost universal among the nervous. However, this fear is also unjustified because anxiety does not cause insanity. No part of anxiety can make you crazy, even if you sit around thinking that insanity is imminent. What I want to share with you is that you think that you're going to go nuts not because you are, but because you're under a lot of stress. This in turn causes a great deal of worry and introspection. But that's about it.
Lessons from Rocky Balboa
Let's talk belief. I spend a lot of time writing about specific things that you can do to counter anxiety, but today I want to delve into a more intangible quality that can help push you over the hump and propel you into the "normal zone." And instead of getting all technical or philosophical about this, I'm going to use the Italian Stallion to illustrate my point. I know, I know, this sounds corny, but lest you forget the awesomeness of the original film. So, why Rocky? I chose Rocky because this cold war hero is the epitome of what a
Getting the Paranoia Out of Your Head (podcast)
Typically when people think of anxiety or anxiety disorder they don't think about paranoia at the same time. But if your anxiety has been severe enough for a prolonged period of time you can certainly develop mild to moderate forms of paranoid thinking. Today's podcast is about telling you what that means and how to stop it. First though, I want to point out that just because you have paranoid thoughts this does not in any way make you crazy. Instead, being paranoid is more a symptom of being wrapped up in your thoughts and concerns. It's
Finding Your Place in the World
Today's guest post is brought to you by Dan Stelter of Anxietysupportnetwork. Does social anxiety make you feel lost some times? Like you just don't fit in anywhere? Dan's article is a great starting point for you if you've ever felt this way in the past. Dan has a lot of useful insights about social anxiety on his site and I'm glad that he was willing to share some of those ideas with us here. For those of us suffering from social anxiety disorder, we often find ourselves being run-down by others and being pushed outside of the group.
Researchers: Fearful Memories Can Be Erased
Researchers from New York University recently conducted a study which they hope will uncover therapeutic techniques to erase fear memories. The experiment involved creating a fear response in subjects and then extinguishing those memories during whats called the "reconsolidation phase" of the memory forming process. Although their findings are still general in scope, the researchers believe that eventually behavioral modification therapies could be developed to recall fearful memories and then rewrite them much like computer files are
The Habit Of Fear
After 10 years of not being able to rid myself of anxiety I've learned a lot. And perhaps one of the most significant lessons I've learned about anxiety is that much of my own anxiety is self inflicted and habitual. It sucks to say but it seems to me that at times I'm my own worst enemy. The fact that fear can even be habitual is not surprising when you think about it. I think the same can be said of any thought or feeling that evokes an intense emotional reaction. For example, if someone tells themselves that they are fat, well