pablo0977
01-04-17, 19:18
So I have been reading books by anxiety specialists, doctors, and surfing online for everything I can get my hands on regarding health anxiety. There are two major things I have come away with.
1. Anxiety is a mofo, and can cause or exacerbate (directly or indirectly) every physical sensation you can imagine and that it can last for days and even weeks after the initial panic.
2. A really cool concept: Starving Your Health Anxiety
I got this from reading Dennis Simsek (merely giving credit, not endorsing him). The idea is that you personify you anxiety as something that feeds on your fears, obsessions, and compulsions. Every time you feel the urge to check your pulse, count your twitches, google your symptoms, and etc., you are feeding the beast. So when you feel the compulsion to do these things try and visualize yourself refusing to feed it.
The beast will howl and bark, trying everything it can to get you to give in. But you mustn't, because if you do it will come back. It will always come back. The only way to get the beast to leave you alone is not to feed it. It will eventually move on. The beast will occasionally come back to see if you have changed your mind, to see if it can convince you to feed it again, but you must refuse.
The beast doesn't want to help you. It knows that you feel better feeding it. It also knows that you will be enslaved by the process. The beast doesn't care. It needs to feed. Sure, something bad will happen to you someday and the beast will be the first one to say "I told you so." But nothing you did for it prevented that from happening. Remember that the beast only wants to be fed.
There is a physiological component to this that I have inferred from basic reading on anxiety. Anxiety releases adrenaline and, if you have a significant enough episode, over a period of time your body will become dependent on that rush. I am no doctor or psychologist, but that sounds very similar to other forms of chemical dependency. We create a state that our body gets used to: that it defines as normal, and it will do its best to maintain that state.
I hope this helps. It has been helpful for me since Jackrabbit and I pledged to personify and kick our anxiety to the curb. Good luck and best wishes!
Pablo
1. Anxiety is a mofo, and can cause or exacerbate (directly or indirectly) every physical sensation you can imagine and that it can last for days and even weeks after the initial panic.
2. A really cool concept: Starving Your Health Anxiety
I got this from reading Dennis Simsek (merely giving credit, not endorsing him). The idea is that you personify you anxiety as something that feeds on your fears, obsessions, and compulsions. Every time you feel the urge to check your pulse, count your twitches, google your symptoms, and etc., you are feeding the beast. So when you feel the compulsion to do these things try and visualize yourself refusing to feed it.
The beast will howl and bark, trying everything it can to get you to give in. But you mustn't, because if you do it will come back. It will always come back. The only way to get the beast to leave you alone is not to feed it. It will eventually move on. The beast will occasionally come back to see if you have changed your mind, to see if it can convince you to feed it again, but you must refuse.
The beast doesn't want to help you. It knows that you feel better feeding it. It also knows that you will be enslaved by the process. The beast doesn't care. It needs to feed. Sure, something bad will happen to you someday and the beast will be the first one to say "I told you so." But nothing you did for it prevented that from happening. Remember that the beast only wants to be fed.
There is a physiological component to this that I have inferred from basic reading on anxiety. Anxiety releases adrenaline and, if you have a significant enough episode, over a period of time your body will become dependent on that rush. I am no doctor or psychologist, but that sounds very similar to other forms of chemical dependency. We create a state that our body gets used to: that it defines as normal, and it will do its best to maintain that state.
I hope this helps. It has been helpful for me since Jackrabbit and I pledged to personify and kick our anxiety to the curb. Good luck and best wishes!
Pablo