View Full Version : Is it instinct? Need advice please
Do you ever worry that your instincts are telling you something is wrong? That if there was nothing wrong surely your brain wouldn't be trying to tell you that there was? I'm in a bit of a flap today, I've no symptoms and aside from what's going on in my head I feel physically great but can't shake this feeling... Impending doom and it's affecting me terribly
Does anybody identify?
Yes. But it is just your mind making things up. there is psychological reason for this feeling, though I can't remember it.
The idea of mindfullness can help, just let yourself accept the thoughts and if you find yourself focusing on it keep repeating over and over it's just anxiety or something like that
The trouble with relying on instinct is that because we are anxious a lot of the time we end up re-training our brains. Instead of keeping the 'fight or flight' response for times when it's needed, our bodies produce adrenaline at inappropriate times, or with very little stimulous.
I suffer from palpitations and it only takes a few to bring on a surge of anxiety or panic. However, many times I am feeling fine but am suddenly overcome by a wave of anxiety. I can only describe it as like when you feel sick - it comes in a wave of nausea out of nowhere. There is no reason for it.
What I do then is try to calm down and go through any symptoms I am feeling. How do I really feel? Pains? Aches? I usually come to the conclusion that physically I feel fine, and therefore feeling dreadful is just a concoction of my mind and nothing to do with my physical state. This is what they call emotional reasoning in cbt - "I feel dreadful so I must be ill" - when really what you feel is emotional anxiety, not physical illness. Your nerves bluff you, as Claire Weekes puts it.
As Jen says, mindfulness is helpful. Don't push the feelings away, accept them but don't get drawn into the thought stream. See the thoughts as twigs floating down a river. Notice them but let them drift past. This is the same as the Claire Weekes idea of floating. It's hard to do at first, but it does help.
Hi Why,
I have been having that quite a bit but i'm under a lot of stress so i'm trying to put it down to that. But I feel like once I'm settled my brain programmes itself to put the fear of god into me that something is about to happen, a constant feeling of dread. Your not alone! x
I think the problem with this kind of approach is that it takes some of the responsibility away from the person who's suffering.
What I mean is this: your brain isn't telling you anything, it's the way that you're thinking that's usually the problem. Your brain comes in when it picks up on the anxious thoughts and reacts to that, but it's the thought itself that causes the initial anxiety.
For example, if you find a lump somewhere on your body your brain doesn't automatically send you signals that something is wrong with you. It's just a lump, but it's the thoughts you create around the lump that cause the problem. What actually happens is that you assume that the lump is a bad thing, and your brain will follow suit and dump stress/emergency hormones into your body. This will make you feel more anxious, and eventually you get into a cycle of anxious thoughts and stress hormones.
This is why it's so important for anxiety sufferers to look at our patterns of thinking through CBT and other therapies. We're often simply victims of our own unhealthy thought processes. It's not our brains controling us, but we control our brains stress/anxiety reactions with our own thoughts.
Of course we read about cases where people talk about having an instinct about something wrong with them and it turned out to be true. But if you look around these boards you'll find that this is incredibly rare, and in most cases our worries are simply unfounded. There are also certain health conditions that can induce anxiety, but it can still be managed in the same ways that any of us would manage it.
Impending doom is very common with anxiety, and if you look closer into it you'll find that it's the way that you are thinking that's creating this feeling. It's often not something we are aware of until we really start looking at how we think. Therapy is really so important for this kind of issue.
As Hamlet says, "There is nothing either good or bad...but thinking makes it so".
Yes. But it is just your mind making things up. there is psychological reason for this feeling, though I can't remember it.
The idea of mindfullness can help, just let yourself accept the thoughts and if you find yourself focusing on it keep repeating over and over it's just anxiety or something like that
Thankyou for replying. Mindfulness is something I do try, I have to remind myself though, it's not something that is coming naturally. I feel sad that my mind will make things up, surely I'm in control of it, it's mine! Yet I'm letting it do this to me.
I feel guilty because it's like I'm doing this to myself and just can't figure out how to stop
---------- Post added at 12:21 ---------- Previous post was at 12:18 ----------
The trouble with relying on instinct is that because we are anxious a lot of the time we end up re-training our brains. Instead of keeping the 'fight or flight' response for times when it's needed, our bodies produce adrenaline at inappropriate times, or with very little stimulous.
I suffer from palpitations and it only takes a few to bring on a surge of anxiety or panic. However, many times I am feeling fine but am suddenly overcome by a wave of anxiety. I can only describe it as like when you feel sick - it comes in a wave of nausea out of nowhere. There is no reason for it.
What I do then is try to calm down and go through any symptoms I am feeling. How do I really feel? Pains? Aches? I usually come to the conclusion that physically I feel fine, and therefore feeling dreadful is just a concoction of my mind and nothing to do with my physical state. This is what they call emotional reasoning in cbt - "I feel dreadful so I must be ill" - when really what you feel is emotional anxiety, not physical illness. Your nerves bluff you, as Claire Weekes puts it.
As Jen says, mindfulness is helpful. Don't push the feelings away, accept them but don't get drawn into the thought stream. See the thoughts as twigs floating down a river. Notice them but let them drift past. This is the same as the Claire Weekes idea of floating. It's hard to do at first, but it does help.
Accept the feeling but don't get drawn into the thought. I need to put this into practice, I need to read claire weekes. This is really helpful what you say. My nerves do bluff me
I feel guilty because it's like I'm doing this to myself and just can't figure out how to stop
This is what CBT is for! It's not always easy to see our destructive thought patterns.
Hi Why,
I have been having that quite a bit but i'm under a lot of stress so i'm trying to put it down to that. But I feel like once I'm settled my brain programmes itself to put the fear of god into me that something is about to happen, a constant feeling of dread. Your not alone! x
Hi, I think we spoke yesterday. I feel so full of fear at the moment, I can't shake this fear or this feeling that something terrible is wrong with me :weep:
---------- Post added at 12:26 ---------- Previous post was at 12:23 ----------
This is what CBT is for! It's not always easy to see our destructive thought patterns.
Thankyou so much for replying. I'm on a waiting list at the moment x
As Hamlet says, "There is nothing either good or bad...but thinking makes it so".
That's a great quote Saab, especially for people with anxiety problems :)
GlassPinata
16-02-14, 23:05
Absolutely.
And as a mom, it doesn't help that the common wisdom is, "Trust your instincts when it comes to your kids' health. If you think something is wrong, then it probably is."
Because I have anxiety disorder, I frequently think something is wrong, and I am rarely correct.
The instincts of individuals with this disorder are awry, and can't be trusted.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.