anxiety names

[scaredstiff695]

i have massive anxiety demons and im trying to beat it and in my effort to get rid i decided to name it.

my anxietys name is gordon the goofer cos its an annoying little puppet lol

anyone else name theres or am the onky weirdo pmsl xx

[Kells81]

That is brilliant! I dont have a name for my anxiety but I think that I might have to get one now!!!

[scaredstiff695]

well quite funny makes me laugh and shut at it detaches it from the real me so i dont lose myself to anxiety again

[blue moon]

I might call mine......Panicky Petra:D

[westofengland]

mine are like a bunch of annoying elves who run around and mess up my head. Actually it's got a bit scary recently as I imagine them a lot, particularly in the morning. I try not to be afraid of them and recognise them for what they are - a manifestation of my stress and anxiety and shame about a botched relationship (entirely my fault, I was dishonest and stupid).

There have been times I thought I was going psychotic

Please god let me not give in to the elves and recognise that despite my mistakes i am fundamentally a good and caring person who can become a better man for the sake of my kids. Or just to accept them and neutralise them that way

[paula lynne]

Mines PAM......Panic Attack Monster
and also the name of my lovely mum, who I miss everyday x

[Nigel]

That’s actually a very good idea – not weird at all. A therapist once encouraged my friend to do something like that with some of her demons. The idea was to separate herself from her various emotional issues so that they didn’t define who she was, and it helped her to deal with them.

Her anorexia became ‘Edie’, Think about it, it was very clever. Sometimes there were spells of binge eating, and that aspect of the eating disorder became ‘Ed’. There were also various obsessions, and they became ‘Loki’ – a rather mischievous little yapping puppy :)

Nigel

[westofengland]

Nigel this is interesting - so visualising your demons COULD actually be kind of healthy? I worry that by 'naming' them they will grow in power and take me over and I'll go psychotic

But when I feel healthy I do imagine them back in their box. And when I hit a punch mitt, i imagine myself pummelling them!

[Nigel]

Probably the opposite because they then become a small part of that person, not the whole. So rather than my friend being anorexic, which was all encompassing, she could see herself as an ordinary person for whom anorexia was just a part.

And like you said, once you separate these issues from who you are, you’re free to play all sorts of tricks with them in your imagination :winks:

Nigel

[westofengland]

maybe i am not going crazy after all - maybe it's time to acknowledge the elves and stop being scared of them as they are kind of pathetic and crap. They are still going to get a good kicking though :)

[mtatum4496]

Some of the names I've called my anxiety are not suitable for mixed company ;) but I recently gave it the moniker of Horace Stumpwater. Why? Because the name to me implies something that is ignorant and manages to get in my way at the most inopportune times.

[scaredstiff695]

wow honestly someone once told me i should not pretend my sanxiety wasnt part of me... but it didnt work for me i thyen think its who i am and its not who i am at all its something tahts invasde me and taking over my life.
so i named it. gordon the goofer is always remebered as will my anxiety (u cant forget some of the things its done to my life) but you dont see him around anymore and eventually my goofer wll pee off lol xx

[Horse]

I always refer to mine as 'Rectum'

After the ****hole my wife ran off with!!!!

Forgive me.

Horse.

[mom1982]

westofenglanuad has made a good point. by acknowleding they are "real" and giving them a cute name, it's like giving them power and and making them into something real (or even friendly). like i have health anx and my fear of health is not actually real cause its my brain playing tricks on me. my health is mostly good (i can realise that on good days) so its like naming something that is not there? just my thoughts as i'm cautious about naming the anx and making it something that can overpower me. its like an imaginery friend, if you name them and keep playing with them or talking to them, won't you lose your mind and start believing they are really there? i'm not making any statements on what is best and what's not, just laying out my thoughts & cautiousness. Well unless i label the anx "the devil" then i guess i wont have an issue with that cause i believe the devil is real and is always attacking us whenever he can.


Nigel this is interesting - so visualising your demons COULD actually be kind of healthy? I worry that by 'naming' them they will grow in power and take me over and I'll go psychotic

But when I feel healthy I do imagine them back in their box. And when I hit a punch mitt, i imagine myself pummelling them!

[AnxiousM]

Mine is Abi...

Annoying
Breathing
Instigator

[harasgenster]

westofenglanuad has made a good point. by acknowleding they are "real" and giving them a cute name, it's like giving them power and and making them into something real (or even friendly). like i have health anx and my fear of health is not actually real cause its my brain playing tricks on me. my health is mostly good (i can realise that on good days) so its like naming something that is not there? just my thoughts as i'm cautious about naming the anx and making it something that can overpower me. its like an imaginery friend, if you name them and keep playing with them or talking to them, won't you lose your mind and start believing they are really there? i'm not making any statements on what is best and what's not, just laying out my thoughts & cautiousness. Well unless i label the anx "the devil" then i guess i wont have an issue with that cause i believe the devil is real and is always attacking us whenever he can.

I think it probably depends on how you approach the exercise. Anxiety is real, in that it is a feeling that you get and symptoms that come with that feeling. However, anxiety is never part of someone's identity, it's just something laid over the top (they would still be the same person without anxiety but they would be happier). I think it sounds quite healthy to give it a name if it helps to remind yourself that it's not a part of you but something acquired which it is possible to discard.

I don't know if this is supposed to be part of the exercise or not but I like this idea because it sort of belittles the anxiety and makes it seem less serious when it has a silly name! I've always found it helpful to make fun of myself when it comes to my silly worries. Not in a nasty way, just in an ability to laugh at myself way. If I've thought something strange or something bad has happened I tell my friends and package it as a joke. It makes them laugh but, more ijmportantly, trivialises the subject for me and suddenly it seems really small.

[westofengland]

Believe me, my visualisations aren't cute - they are sick and scary. But I feel better knowing that it can be quite therapeutic to visualise them as just a part of myself. They don't really exist, and I don't believe in any devils, I think we all carry around heaven and hell inside us all the time!

Harasgenster is right though, we take ourselves far too seriously. I am a terrible drama queen and taking the **** out of myself can be useful

[miss_moose]

I love all these names you call you anxiety:D It makes it less scary if it's got a silly name. Me and my fiance ,Daniel always make fun of my panic, sometimes it's too hard to but for example, i'm scared of people/social situations so whenever theres alot of people about either me, or usually him will go "OOOHHHHH PEEEEEEEEPLE" or if there's alot of cars it's "OOOOOHHHHHH PEOPLE BOXES":scared15: It makes me laugh.

I have OCD too, and Daniel was finding it hard to understand at first so how i described it was like the scary Saergent Bertha Blast that shouts at Olive Oyl in Popeye, shouting in her ear all the time until she does what she's told.

[Nigel]

Hi Mom1982,


westofenglanuad has made a good point. by acknowleding they are "real" and giving them a cute name, it's like giving them power and and making them into something real (or even friendly). like i have health anx and my fear of health is not actually real cause its my brain playing tricks on me. my health is mostly good (i can realise that on good days) so its like naming something that is not there? just my thoughts as i'm cautious about naming the anx and making it something that can overpower me. its like an imaginery friend, if you name them and keep playing with them or talking to them, won't you lose your mind and start believing they are really there? i'm not making any statements on what is best and what's not, just laying out my thoughts & cautiousness. Well unless i label the anx "the devil" then i guess i wont have an issue with that cause i believe the devil is real and is always attacking us whenever he can.


I’ve actually heard other people say that too, so you’re not alone. At the end of the day we’re all individuals and have different things that work and don’t work for us. So if somebody doesn’t feel comfortable with a particular idea, that’s quite OK.

Why some people find it helpful is because saying something like, “I’m an anxious person,” is quite a definitive statement. But thinking of themselves as an otherwise OK person for whom anxiety is one small part makes it easier to work on the problem. They no longer have to change who they are – just one small part.

Then a person can play whatever games they like with that idea. I mentioned my friend’s ‘Loki’ character. It was a nagging obsession about some sort of harm happening to a person she cared about, and she was constantly seeking reassurance that everything was OK. So the idea of this mischievous little yapping puppy evolved into how one would try to teach and control such a puppy. How to set limits and boundaries so it was still free to run and play, but not to the extent that it tied it’s poor owner up in knots. Then how those same ideas could be applied to taming some of the obsessional thoughts and fears.

Nigel

[scaredstiff695]

[QUOTE=Nigel;779671]Hi Mom1982,




I’ve actually heard other people say that too, so you’re not alone. At the end of the day we’re all individuals and have different things that work and don’t work for us. So if somebody doesn’t feel comfortable with a particular idea, that’s quite OK.

Why some people find it helpful is because saying something like, “I’m an anxious person,” is quite a definitive statement. But thinking of themselves as an otherwise OK person for whom anxiety is one small part makes it easier to work on the problem. They no longer have to change who they are – just one small part.

thats exactlly how i feel i used to thnk it was me it was who i was anxiety now ive learnt its not me its just something thats attacking me if you like, i have to imaghine it as something annoying cos thats exactly what it is and i nee dto detach it from the realy me otherwise i will carry on living the way i was.

:)
but everyone has different ways of coping and whatever works for them is good xx