Bill
10-11-09, 04:41
Remember the lion in Wizard of Oz? What was he looking for to overcome his fears? Meds? Or was what he needed already within him and he just needed someone to give him confidence and self-belief? So then why do we always look for other "magic" cures or are they to help us cope with fears we feel too afraid to face?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc8bvFlFUcM&feature=related
I was reading an article recently about the addictiveness of supposedly non-addictive ad's. Any idea why they then become addictive? I have a theory.....
Originally ad's were used for people with depression hence their descriptions being "anti-depressants" but later it seems they were used for anxiety sufferers as well because anxiety makes us feel depressed! However, anxiety is based on fear so what is actually happening is that we are prescribed a "support" to help us cope with our fears or daily stresses that have become too much for our minds to cope with. Ad's have become the easy option because to overcome what is actually creating our anxiety takes time and support that isn't easily available.
Once we start down the route of taking ad's, how do we feel if we miss taking our dose? Anxious because we fear that that we'll get a panic or our anxiety symptoms will return or be too much? So to make sure we stay safe, we make sure we take our dose and therefore ad's then become addictive because they are brought into our fear cycle.
If someone said to you to go to work without taking your daily med, how would you feel? Would it bother you? Would you become anxious? If so, you're addicted because of fear.
This is one of my concerns about meds. Yes, they can help us in the short term to "ease" symptoms but they're not a cure and we can become addicted to them without realising it.
One other concern to be aware of is that once we experience a panic attack, it is often our fear of having another panic attack that actually creates more panic attacks. Therefore, if we miss a med and experience a panic, we say to ourselves it must be because we missed our med when really it's the thought of missing the med that has triggered our fear which has actually caused the panic because we've worried ourselves into panic. In this way we convince ourselves the meds are working because we "believe" they are. Our belief in them thinking of them as our support gives us more confidence when in actual fact the meds aren't really doing anything in themselves other than making us think in a more confident way because we convince ourselves they're helping because we feel ill if we don't. See what I mean?
I'm not saying that meds don't help to ease symptoms but we can become to rely on them because we feel they're helping when really it's just the self-belief they provide us with.
When I first became ill, I was prescribed valium which is the old type of med which really is addictive. It took me 6 months to come off them. I was also then prescribed various other more modern ad's which all helped to lift my mood for a short while before losing their effect but they never tackled my fears. I decided in the end to go without and instead look at alternatives to coping such as making changes in my lifestyle, my job, home life etc and I've found it to be much more effective.
When I do get anxious to the point that I need to see the doctor, they know ad's aren't the answer to my issues and I just have to work them out for myself. I must confess there are some issues I'll never be able to confront because I know I would break so some things I just have to accept that I'll never have. However, I know now meds aren't the long term answer to my issues but that they can help to ease symptoms.
I also realise that often we can't do anything about our stresses and feel we do need something to provide us with support and there's nothing wrong in that. In bad times we often need something to ease our symptoms.
It's just that after reading this article, it confirmed what I've always believed that ad's can become addictive because anxiety breeds on fear so we can become too afraid to try coping without ad's because when we do, our symptoms return and we think it's because we've not taken our med when really it's our worry that we've not taken them that has triggered our symptoms so we become addicted to something that isn't and that we probably could learn to cope without in the long term if we wanted to.:hugs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc8bvFlFUcM&feature=related
I was reading an article recently about the addictiveness of supposedly non-addictive ad's. Any idea why they then become addictive? I have a theory.....
Originally ad's were used for people with depression hence their descriptions being "anti-depressants" but later it seems they were used for anxiety sufferers as well because anxiety makes us feel depressed! However, anxiety is based on fear so what is actually happening is that we are prescribed a "support" to help us cope with our fears or daily stresses that have become too much for our minds to cope with. Ad's have become the easy option because to overcome what is actually creating our anxiety takes time and support that isn't easily available.
Once we start down the route of taking ad's, how do we feel if we miss taking our dose? Anxious because we fear that that we'll get a panic or our anxiety symptoms will return or be too much? So to make sure we stay safe, we make sure we take our dose and therefore ad's then become addictive because they are brought into our fear cycle.
If someone said to you to go to work without taking your daily med, how would you feel? Would it bother you? Would you become anxious? If so, you're addicted because of fear.
This is one of my concerns about meds. Yes, they can help us in the short term to "ease" symptoms but they're not a cure and we can become addicted to them without realising it.
One other concern to be aware of is that once we experience a panic attack, it is often our fear of having another panic attack that actually creates more panic attacks. Therefore, if we miss a med and experience a panic, we say to ourselves it must be because we missed our med when really it's the thought of missing the med that has triggered our fear which has actually caused the panic because we've worried ourselves into panic. In this way we convince ourselves the meds are working because we "believe" they are. Our belief in them thinking of them as our support gives us more confidence when in actual fact the meds aren't really doing anything in themselves other than making us think in a more confident way because we convince ourselves they're helping because we feel ill if we don't. See what I mean?
I'm not saying that meds don't help to ease symptoms but we can become to rely on them because we feel they're helping when really it's just the self-belief they provide us with.
When I first became ill, I was prescribed valium which is the old type of med which really is addictive. It took me 6 months to come off them. I was also then prescribed various other more modern ad's which all helped to lift my mood for a short while before losing their effect but they never tackled my fears. I decided in the end to go without and instead look at alternatives to coping such as making changes in my lifestyle, my job, home life etc and I've found it to be much more effective.
When I do get anxious to the point that I need to see the doctor, they know ad's aren't the answer to my issues and I just have to work them out for myself. I must confess there are some issues I'll never be able to confront because I know I would break so some things I just have to accept that I'll never have. However, I know now meds aren't the long term answer to my issues but that they can help to ease symptoms.
I also realise that often we can't do anything about our stresses and feel we do need something to provide us with support and there's nothing wrong in that. In bad times we often need something to ease our symptoms.
It's just that after reading this article, it confirmed what I've always believed that ad's can become addictive because anxiety breeds on fear so we can become too afraid to try coping without ad's because when we do, our symptoms return and we think it's because we've not taken our med when really it's our worry that we've not taken them that has triggered our symptoms so we become addicted to something that isn't and that we probably could learn to cope without in the long term if we wanted to.:hugs: