Help Figuring This Out Please?

[zengarden]

Hi, I wrote a post over in the Panic section but haven't had much of a response so I thought I'd try in here. I hope it's not concidered spamming, and please accept my appologies if it is. I'd just really appreciate a bit of advice. Thanks. This was my post:



Hi, I've been having anxiety over everything lately, talking to people, being with people, not being with people (!). I just realised earlier that it can't be EVERYTHING making me panic so it must be in my head. There's no panic waiting to pounce on me in these situations so it must be me.
I find that quite scarry! I think it's because that means no espcape or avoidance. I can't quite grasp how it works. I've tried telling myself it's just automatic negative thinking, then how I re-act to that. I am not the trigger, certain situations are so it'll take a while to get used to acting and thinking differently.
Have I missed anything? My brain gets the 'it's me,' part, but not the how I can solve it part! I hope I've managed to make sense. I just wondered if anybody had any advice please, to help?

[Mitzie]

Sorry to hear your going through this, I know panic can be a frightening experience. Do you know why you are panicking, for me it's thoughts and worries that set me off. Have you spoken to anyone ie a doctor or counsellor. Cbt might help.
Take care.

[MB]

zengarden

Your figuring out seems highly plausible thus far. You ask if there's anything else to figure out. Here's my 2p... Your body and mind are just doing what they've probably done for some years - a little like shortcuts on your computer screen.

To take this analogy a little further, you at one time or another deliberately or inadvertently set these shortcuts up - so your computer is just doing what it's being programmed to do based on previous data input.

Time to check the data input!! (and distance this process from your being!).

Maybe you don't need (following my analogy further) to escape or avoid - maybe simply "delete", or "undo" and crack on.

What I'm not trying to say is that our minds operate like a computer. But we have the same options to press in our thoughts as we do on our keyboards.

Sorry to hear how your feeling at present - and if it helps, I'm suggesting looking at your situation as input or processing errors. They're not (if they truly exist), the fabric of your being, any more than your computer at present settings is symbolic of all that is you. They're glitches. Nothing more, nor less. Something to sort through. Something to be aware of. But no more than this. No more than this. You,your existance, and your being is much, much more than this.

Hope, truly, that this may help in some way...
Peace to you and yours.

MB

[vicky23]

can I just check I understand this? If the panic is coming from you rather than the world around you, you cannot escape from yourself in the same way that you could for example, run out of a supermarket if you're having a panic attack for the panic to go away?
This makes perfect sense to me, we're all looking to escape the feelings of panic, no-body wants to experience the horrible sensations of panic.
Your post is certainly not spamming and wouldn't be classed like that but I think maybe the reason you're not getting as many replies may be because the whole anxiety 'thing' is a very complex system and really quite difficult to explain.
hmm I think I will have a think about this one and get back to you when I can write a response that's not my rambling on lol

---------- Post added at 13:41 ---------- Previous post was at 11:03 ----------

ok so:
- yes the tendancy to panic is coming from within you not the situations. But so also is the ability to find a way to deal with those panic feelings.

- Your nervous system is doing it's job perfectly well. There's a part in the brain called the amygdala, this is responsible for keeping us safe and triggers the fight or flight response. so if you were to see a lion your amygdala would send a message saying 'danger danger' so your mind and body react extremely quicky, sometimes without us consciously knowing it. Our muscles tense, our hearts pound etc so that we can be in the best position to keep ourselves safe.
- Now we are unlikely to encounter a lion but our amygdala still reacts to anything that might be dangerous with the fight or flight response.
- when things become problematic and anxiety disorders develop is when the amygdala is triggered by things inappropriatley. This is then compounded by the fact that when we are in a situation such as a shopping centre, we get the panic, so our minds create a shortcut as MB says so that shopping centre=triggering of flight or fight=danger
so we associate the shopping centre with panic.
There is no danger is the shopping centre so we just need to consciously tell our selves that until our amygdala gets the message and stops firing off inappropriately.
This system is the same whether you panic in the supermarket or with friends or on your own etc which is what you've identified here : that it's not the outward situation that's causing you to panic.
-Because you've been experiencing panic attacks your mind is on 'high alert' so you're constantly aware, assessing the situation, being cautious of 'danger' that might be danger to your physical self but also to your emotions. Therefore as you're finding your amygdala is being triggered much more easily because you're so alert.
- the way to start to overcome this is by repeating self coping statements that will be good for you. For me when I'm feeling anxious I tell myself 'there's no need to run away, I don't need to escape these feelings, they're just my amygdala trying to keep me safe but on this occasion I know that there's no danger here so I just have to ride out the unpleasant sensations. They're just anxiety and can cause me no harm'

Hope this makes sense! :blush:
Reply back if it doesn't and I'll try to clarify