Exposure "after effects"

[Neurotic Nick]

Well another question about exposure, not my first and probably not my last :)

I have noticed that if i've done well with my exposure, gone a bit further, did a bit extra that sort of thing, well then at first i feel elated of course. But often late at night on a day like that i feel much more anxious. And of course very tired.

Can anyone relate to this? Is this the bill being presented for pushing hard?
I must say i have trouble with it as it seems unfair that my brain punishes me for my efforts instead of rewarding me! :P

[kirsty74]

I get this too. I don't know why it happens, but apparently it is really common. I usually end up thinking 'give me a break'!!

Well done for getting on with it:)

[VictoryIsForever]

Thats the main reason I stoped exposing myself..... because if I do, I don't feel well for rest of the day.

Anyway, if u do it every day, u will feel better. I can tell it from mine personal experience. I did exposure for nearly one year, I'v made a huge progress and everything was fine but then I suddenly had one "unexpected" panic attack which messed me big time. That was 4 months ago.... can't still get the courage to go out and do it EVERY DAY, because mine horizon has shrinked again, I can't do stuff which i did prior that major panic attack.
I used to take buses, go to shopping center, going on teas in many different coffe bars and so on....
Mine biggest achievement was 6 hours away from home. That day way great :)


The point of this post is that YOU have to do it EVERYDAY, that is the only way to get better.

[Jamesflames]

I also get the tiredness after prolonged exposure. I think it is just that it's such an effort! I also get sore muscles across my shoulders which is probably because those muscles tend to tense up when I'm nervous, and several hours of exposure is a lot of nervous time.

I think the trick is to focus on all the victories that successful exposure gives you. When you can be overcome with panic but just stick with it and watch it fade away again, that is the achievement that will ultimately get you well again.

[GingerFish]

I get this too. I think with me, the reason why my anxiety rises after the victory is because I worry that I will do the thing I just done again and it wont be as easy as it just was.

[Davit]

Going to stick my face in here.

If you are having trouble with exposure then your coping skills are not adequate or well established.

This side of the pond, the coping skills are what cures you, exposure is just a measure of how well you are doing. Done right exposure is no longer exposure. It becomes life and isn't even noticed. It is not true that CBT has to be practiced for the rest of your life.

[Jamesflames]

Going to stick my face in here.

If you are having trouble with exposure then your coping skills are not adequate or well established.

This side of the pond, the coping skills are what cures you, exposure is just a measure of how well you are doing. Done right exposure is no longer exposure. It becomes life and isn't even noticed. It is not true that CBT has to be practiced for the rest of your life.

If you are having trouble with exposure then you are an agoraphobic. We all know that we have trouble coping... That's why we're here.

Surely the route to coping via exposure is to go outside your comfort zone and stay there until the anxiety subsides a bit and once you have learned that you won't go mad/collapse/die etc. This does involve some discomfort.

I can't see what you are getting at here.

[Neurotic Nick]

Wow davit 500 plus posts in 2 months, you must really be convinced your words approach works. Im gonna assume you mean well but me personally im getting some very good therapy atm (finally) and will defer to that.

The exposure still tires me out a lot but im making progress!

[Davit]

The threads are just information that is proven to work totally. And it does work. The choice is yours. Me I never did this flooding exposure and never would. It has a poor record, but if it works for you, do it. It has a side effect you will have to live with. The aggression you have to use to do exposure will colour your attitude, it has no other choice.
You can live with that, but can your family and friends. Or are you going to tell me you have two attitudes and can keep them separate. You know what I will say to that. The exposure in cognitive restructuring is an entirely different exposure to this.

And yes I am positive cognitive restructuring works. I'm not the only one it has cured. The others are just smarter than me they wouldn't attempt to teach something to people that are not interested enough or possibly incapable of understanding the concept. I didn't say it was easy, but it is painless, you can not say that about exposure therapy.

[Neurotic Nick]

The internet is lousy with people like you who claim to have the 100% foolproof painless method for curing anxiety. The onus always being on the sufferer for "getting it" or not.

Often they will ask money for these magic secrets wich is when they become really harmfull.

I dont appreciate your tone and the bizarre assumptions you are making about me and our conversation is over. I just hope that you dont lead too many people desperate for answers down the garden path.

[Sam123]

I joined this site after a very long, long time struggling with anxiety, health anxiety, and PTSD. I can vouch for Davit.


Often they will ask money for these magic secrets wich is when they become really harmfull.

I'm not sure where money has come in to this? We're all here to help, give advice and share knowledge surely?
No it isn't magic at all, unfortunately :lac:.

As said above what ever works for you, do it. It's great to see people moving forward and positive threads are what we need.
I am 100% sure Davit is trying to help, and he is extremely knowledgeable on this subject i am sure most others on here will agree.

For the last few weeks i have been doing Cognitive restructuring myself, i've put a lot of time in to understanding how panic and anxiety works, memory and core beliefs.
In this short time i have over come more than i have in 8 years. I am feeling very positive that i will be successful in beating anxiety altogether. I know i'm not the only one either.

[Davit]

You know this is an open forum. You don't own it, if you don't want comments then don't post because you will get them. I'm not on the internet and I'm not asking money, But I know what you are talking about but you haven't done your research have you, all those books are offering exposure therapy. Not one is offering cognitive restructuring. No one can sell a five step program when all the competition is offering a one step exposure therapy. It is a buyers market still and the buyer is looking for the simplest quickest answer and there isn't one. And I'm certainly right about you, you have enough anger and aggression to do exposure therapy so it is going to work for you. Unfortunately we are not all like you. We need some thing better than that. And anger is not a coping skill even though it seems to work. Someone always gets hurt. And it is never the angry person.
Good luck and you can have your thread back I won't comment any more. Oh and I do mean good luck because I really do care if people get better. Even you.

[PanicAttackGurl]

If this is the deep end exposure therapy, good luck to you.

I took Davits route and am doing just fine. I'm a type B personality though. This truly defines personality traits as type A and type B to be able do different types of exposure therapy.

I only relapsed once and that was when I was thrown into deep end exposure therapy. No Thank You to that ever again.

Good luck!

[23tana]

Davit I appreciate you are trying to help but many of your posts spout theory without examples of practical backup and are very supercilious in tone. Please could you help with simple practical application and less aggressive dismissal of methods other the those you prefer. Not one way fits all.

[Davit]

23tana, I'm not dismissing any therapy but I am separating coping from cure and for that I will take flack and don't mind. I am not new to this, it is not something I got out of a book, it is five years of research some that only therapists like mine have access to. So since some of what is information is not on the internet I didn't post it here. Everything else is. Let me clarify, I am only posting information that is backed up elsewhere. It is an option. It is being read though and I hope that is sending people to the internet for confirmation because it does work. Did you notice the catch phrases in your post and the assumption. Nick at least accused me of leading people down the garden path. There are practical applications in the thread "words". In that case it is for agoraphobia. Which by the way is not a fear of the outdoors. Find me elsewhere I will not comment on this thread anymore

[MyNameIsTerry]

Here is the NHS Moodjuice guide for Agoraphobia:

http://www.moodjuice.scot.nhs.uk/panic.asp

If you look at the way it is structured, it discusses tackling thoughts before attempting exposure. I think this is part of what Davit is saying from reading his other posts.

Cognitive Restructuring isn't a guru gimmick, its part of CBT just as exposure therapy is. CR goes muchy further than the snippets this guide has but thats because it is aimed at a wide range of issues.