The Anxiety Survival Guide
Buy Alpha Stim Here
Anxiety and panic
attacks are no fun at all and are one of the most crippling emotional/psychological
problems any human can face. The main problem is that it is hidden, often
unrecognised and receives little sympathy or understanding from others. "Just
pull yourself together", "Feel the fear and do it anyway" and
other such nonsense is usually best met with a hard slap.
Medications such as the SSRI class of anti-depressant are often used, along with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Some people improve very quickly with these approaches whilst others find no benefit whatsoever.
Usually by the time a client has come to me for treatment of their anxiety, they'll have been through the mills and will have tried several medications including the minor sedatives (Lorazepam, Diazepam, Xanax and so on), anti-depressants (Prozac, sertraline etc), homeopathy, hypnosis, flower remedies, accupuncture, ear candling and so on. "You are my last resort" is something I often hear. Thanks guys.
Chronic anxiety is exhausting and leads to numerous other problems including a plummeting self-esteem, sexual problems, relationship difficulties and severe shyness, insomnia, undesired weight loss or weight gain, persistent low-level health problems (aches and pains, tendency to RSI, coughs and colds etc, bad skin, skin rashes, bad breath, body odour and/or excessive sweating, headaches, tics and twitches etc.) and an overall feeling of failure. Besides that, the anxiety prone person is often left wondering just how much of the emotional pounding their heart will be able to take before it finally bursts or something equally horrid.
And I know well that there is nothing worse than having a panic attack in public, collapsing and/or hyperventilating and being rushed off in an ambulance to the local casualty department and all you did was to go out for a pint of milk and a newspaper.
Here are some tips and hints I have for the anxiety sufferer that I've gleaned from working with more than my fair share of people with this condition.
1. Buy some juggling balls. Sparing you the technical clinical details, essentially anxiety is a condition that originates from one side of the brain. Therefore, if you deliberately use both sides of the brain, you reduce the brain's ability to simultaneously produce anxiety and use both hemispheres. Try this - concentrate on your feeling of anxiety and build it up to a score 10 out of 10 (where 10 is the maximum, and zero is no anxiety at all). Now concentrate on this feeling and keep doing so as you throw a ball from hand to hand, you will notice the anxiety will reduce. Keep throwing the ball and concentrating until the anxiety reduces to a zero.
Next, stop throwing the ball hand to hand and think about the anxiety again. Chances are it will come back, but only not as strongly. Repeat the procedure of reducing the anxiety down to a zero. Stop and rethink the feeling again. Keep repeating these steps. Do this daily - you are training your brain to change direction and calm down.
Any activity such as juggling, knitting and so on will achieve a similar result - throwing a ball hand to hand is just easier.
2. Learn and practice the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). Buy at least the basic training DVDs and practice daily. When done properly this is possibly one of the best treatments for anxiety I have come accross. EFT Website Here
3. Learn "Pranayama" breathing techniques. This is fairly simple - count rhythmically 12345678, 12345678, 12345678 or whatever number suits you best, breath in......breathe out...breathe in.....breathe out.... whilst counting. This is a simple mantra type recital (use positive affirmations if you like, but the content of the wording is fairly irrelevent) that is timed against your breathing. Do this sitting/kneeling for 5 minutes at least each day.
The next step is to do the following whilst lying down in bed at night. Place one hand on your chest, the other on your abdomen. Take alternate breathes, breathing with your upper chest and then breathing with your abdomen. The first two or three should be as slow and deep as you can go. So, breathe in/out with upper chest, the next breath with your abdomen, breathe in/out with the upper chest, the next breathg with your abdomen, and so on.
4. Check your diet. Follow the guidelines I've posted here
5. Aerobic Exercise. This is essential - especially so for anxiety sufferers. All that shortness of breath that so often accompanies even low-level anxiety is significantly reduced with regular aerobic exercise. Anxiety sufferers often take no exercise at all.
6. Alpha Stim. The research and reports on the Alpha Stim (SCS) were impressive enough to convince me to buy one. A few experiments and trials on some willing volunteers demonstrated good results and I now have these in stock for £239 (I cannot sell these to anyone in the USA or Canada). These devices although effective are expensive and you may want to try out the other methods first. The Alpha Stim Page is Here
Any other tips or hints? Email me!
