cause of general anxiety

[another_adam]

hey, i been reading alot of self books for the past year. This one book called psychology of awakening by john welwood has helped me loads.

I believe the root of my general anxiety comes from bad experiances in the past, negetive feelings i had supressed which im only now inquiring into.

Does anyone else has a thoery why they suffer from general anxiety?.

adam.

[kate]

Hi Adam,

Good question, and maybe one to which there is no single answer!

I can only speak from my own personal experiences.

I had my first PA some 20 odd years ago and over the years have gone through depression, PA's, and eventually arrived at general anxiety.

I think that once you have been anxious you will always be anxious to a certain degree.

My anxiety had diminished considerably following 3 hypnotherapy sessions and I was a lot better.

However, my daughter was diagnosed with OCD shortly afterwards, and my general anxiety has now come back with avengence.

My best mate at work and socially has now also left and got herself another job so this has added to my anxiety.

So, to sum it all up, I think that general anxiety relates to both past experiences and your life at the present time.

All in all, a very complex condition!

Kate x

[vernon]

hi adam, glad u have got some help from a book i have had comfort reding claire weekes essential help for your nerves too. I find reading what is happenning to us does help us not worry as much. thanks for the book title will look it up. take care Vernon

[mico]

Hi Adam

For me, I think a lot of mine is hereditory. Even though I can tell you the exact point when my anxiety 'officially' began I think it has always been there to some degree but it never really affected my life in such a way as it does now.

The situation that I'm in now, I believe stems from a lot of lost confidence which mostly came about from avoidance due to my first panic attacks, and since then there has been a lot of avoidance in my life. So, now, I still often avoid things I have avoided in the past - much of this is now set in my memory and is difficult to change - which accounts for much of what I would call my 'anxiety' now.

Although the avoidance, I don't think, is the entire picture, but much of the rest is what has been there my entire life.

I never liked much to look at it that way, thinking I would never be able to escape from it because it's in my blood, but I don't think that is nesecarilly the case either. If I could go back to how I was before my first panic attack then I'm sure I would have quite a smile on my face, and since I've been there before, there is no reason why I can't be like that again, although some un-learning needs to take place.

This still paints a slightly grim picture - like I can only get so far - but I believe that that, again, isn't nesecarilly the case either. I believe that we all have the power to be free - or at least have normal levels of anxiety, I don't think anyone is really completely free from it. It's just that I may have to put a little more effort in than your average person and learn how to deal with things in a different way that I'm used to.

I'm not really answering your question though am I?

As for past experieneces being responsible I think there is definately ground for that. I'm not sure of this psychologists approach of delving back into the past and dealing with suppressed negative emotions though, I guess it's just one of those things you don't know are going to work unless you try it...so good luck to you with that. It would probably be worth some of my time to look into it though, so maybe I will.

For me it appears roughly 50/50, half physical brain chemistry and half daily thoughts. Incidentally, it has been reported that Buddhists who meditate reguarly do, over time, physically alter their brain chemistry. I think each of them influences the other.

Having said this though, there is also the sub-concious element - which is more what you're talking of with suppressed thoughts and emotions. This is a heavilly grey area though, one of which no one fully understands. It also something I do look into - maybe too much - and usually results in barely intelligible posts on here from my behalf :D. Maybe I should check this book out. I've read quite a bit on the sub-conscious and conscious mind, but learning how to communicate with it is a different matter. Although, like i said before with the 50/50 thing, I think if you can change your conscious mind, or maybe even your brain chemistry, then these things will also have an influence on your sub-conscious mind.

Had I of lived a different life growing up, would I still suffer from anxiety? I really don't know, although I do know that there were contributing factors.

Just some thoughts.

I hope even just some of this makes sense [:P].

mico

[malificent]

hi adam,

i've always been a really social person and never anxious or anything-what a surprise it was to me when i started panic/anxiety disorder! Ridiculous because now i find it hard to go anywhere let alone out to lunch or to parties or anything!

Sounds silly but i didn't have a very good childhood-my mum's boyfriend was violent and very cruel to my mother and myself but i have always been a strong person and it never really affected me. My godmother always used to say my feelings would just build up inside and when i was 16 i would go out and rebel, have a few kids, tattoos, piercings etc (my godmother is very old school-these are bad things in her opinion!) but this never happened, instead here i am at 19 with panic/anxiety disorder. To get to the point, i think maybe what has happened to you a long time ago may be so deep set in your mind, that although you don't think about it conciously, it is still there and is subconciously making you feel like this. I think that's what my problem is, it never is anything obvious though is it??

I hope this helps!

Lucy
xxx

[another_adam]

yes lucy i beleive thats exactly whats happened!
I think the anxiety is the supressed feelings and if we want to get truely better, they will need to be addressed first.


Hello mico yes the sub councious is quite a grey area, especially in western psychology.. less so in the eastern world as i beleive.

I think that book would be worth anybodys time, though its not the easiest thing to read!.
If you approach the book with an open mind and a dictionary if your illiterate like me. :)