is there really a cure

[joy]

having suffered from anxietyfor 3 years after coming off seroxat and tried almost every med going now back on seroxat which isnt working either. Benzos dont work either

Done CBT on line and dabbled with a councillor unsuccessfully. Go out and face the fear all the time

Read and reread Claire Weekes and I certainly cant do the floating thing altho a lot she says makes sense.

Read all sorts of self help books

And I'm no further forward


So where do I go from here

Joy

[Yvonne]

Oooh fancy seeing y ou here Joy !!! Lol

Well of course you and I are in the same boat. I wish I had never come off Seroxat - it certainly didn't work for me second time around but that was of course very soon after I had come off it first time and I have been told I was still in jolly old withdrawal syndrome.

All the books are good, no doubt about that. Reid Wilson is especially good. All the coping stategies are good as well and you do them and you can sometimes feel ok but it's like the fear inside just doesn't go away for some of us.

I don't know if I just don't expose myself enough, but for god's sake I don't know how I could expose more. The exposure to stuff that really scares like eating in restaurants is still hard initially and then I tend to be ok and settle down. I take a little diazepam and it does take the edge off. I could take more, therapist has given me license to take it as and when - that's cos she knows I won't abuse it. However, it is a dopey making med and I don't really want to feel weak and tired. Diazepam works better when you are doing stuff that's for sure.

I'd like to know how others have finally got out of it - what was the "miracle" cure for them. Brain transplant may work for me I reckon.

People rave so much about CBT but that's not easy either - how do you change a mind that goes on automatic pilot into anxiety mode so easily.

I would like to start a poll - or hear from people on this thread as to just what it was that really helped them - some therapy or whatever where they really felt they were at the turning point. Replies please all.

Did anyone see that clip on television a couple of weeks ago, I don't know who the woman was - an elderly sort of lady and she was talking about her encounters with cancer and depression. She was saying that she got immense support and help with her cancer but when she suffered depression she got none. This is what gets me!!! Grrrrrrr

Take care all.

[joy]

Trisha Goddard off the tv has suffered from depression and recently breast cancer and she has said she would far rather have the breast cancer as she found it easier to deal with

Joy

[pooh]

There is categorically absolutely no cure for anxiety. BECAUSE we all live with certain degrees of it. We need it to function. Its when it stops allowing us to function that you experience all those problems. Right now I would say to you to start working on it being part of who you are. Get a piece of paper and write down loads of things that describe you and you'll see that anxiety is merely a part not a whole. When you accept this I believe it becomes easier to manage and quite often can lead to huge reductions of over anxiety back down to normal acceptable levels.

ooh x

[Bill]

As pooh says, it's not a case of finding a cure for something that is natural but rather learning how to use anxiety to benefit us instead of letting it debilitate us.

For instance, a footballer will feel anxious before starting a match and the adrenalin his anxiety produces will help him to perform.

However, if he focuses on his anxiety too much, he's nerves will get the better of him to such a degree that stops him playing.

We might feel anxious before a driving test but if we allow ourselves to focus on our fear, we'll never leave the bathroom.

It's learning how to stop anxiety getting out of control.

I nearly always feel anxious before I go out but if I focused on my fears I'd try to avoid it by trying to stay home. Once you do that though, it becomes a trap so getting out becomes much harder.

We should never give in to fear but it's also very important that we try to fight it in the "right" ways. For instance, CBT doesn't help us if we won't allow it to because CBT is about touching a spider without tensing up and trying to resist our fears. We can either touch it feeling calm or as a nervous wreck but until we allow ourselves to learn how to touch it feeling relaxed, we'll always feel anxious. If we focus on our symptoms, our symptoms will always control Us. If we focus on technique, we'll win our match.:hugs:

[Yvonne]

Bill

Just how do you learn to touch that spider and feel relaxed at the same time. Could you write me a book on this subject please. xxx

Lots of love
Yvonne

[Bill]

:D You don't need a book Yvonne because the power is already within you.:hugs:

How do you feel when you look at a cream cake, a diamond ring or a bouquet of flowers? Remember that feeling and apply those thoughts and feelings to counteract your anxious feelings so that you treat your fears like a bouquet of flowers........then you'll feel relaxed about them.

Easy to say I know but that's the power to untap within us.:hugs:

[Natural Mystic]

I'm coming to the conclusion that it is only us who can heal ourselves.

As Bob Marley would say