List of things that are helping me with my anxiety

[Sparkle1984]

When you call, they will schedule a telephone appointment with a therapist where they will ask you some questions about your anxiety and then they will discuss options to help you. I think I had to wait a couple of weeks for an appointment.

A few days before the telephone appointment, they sent me written confirmation of the date and time along with a questionnaire to fill in. You need to fill in the questionnaire before the appointment as they will refer to it during the conversation. By filling in the form you will get a rating (score) for anxiety and depression, and this helps the therapist to see how severe your symptoms are. They also asked me questions about how it affects my day to day life, what medication I'm on, my family history (they only ask about that briefly to see if anything in your upbringing could have contributed to your problems), and what sort of help I'd like.

In total, the phone appointment lasted about 20 minutes. Even though I was nervous beforehand it was nothing scary and the lady was very friendly. She gave me the details of the next available Stress Control course - luckily there was one starting in 10 days so I got help quickly.

When I went to the first class, there were about 50 people, which did seem a bit daunting but you're not expected to speak in front of the whole group, so it's not so bad.

This is what the 6 week course covers:

Week 1: Introduction and information about stress
Week 2: Control your body: relaxation and exercise
Week 3: Control your thoughts: learn to think your way out of stress
Week 4: Control your actions: boost self-confidence
Week 5: Control panic
Week 6: Control sleep problems and control your future.

[haylea]

That's sounds ok..I'm gonna give it a go..I'm willing to give anything a go at the moment just to try and live a somewhat normal life

[anncornes]

great list i havee got the relaxation tape on now

[SamanthaAU]

Thanks for sharing your list! Some great extra things on there I will be checking out!

Happy New Year xxx

[unspoken]

Thanks for writing up this list. I also use lavender oil, I thought it was a bit daft but when I tried it I found it really helped me to sleep.

One thing that really helps me is photography. I've found that by focusing on the detail of the world around me, I don't spend so much time in my own head with my own thoughts. I watch birds a lot, something about them flying around clears my head and lifts me out of my own situation. Animals in general are a good distraction, whether it's a squirrel in the park, a cat I meet on the street or visiting a city farm. Since I started carrying a camera (only has to be a phone camera or cheap compact camera), I've noticed I spend a lot less time worrying and I notice things about my surroundings that other people don't.

I also find crosswords help me get to sleep. Cryptic crosswords are especially good because they scramble my brain and make it want to go to sleep.

[Sparkle1984]

I've found photography really helpful too. I've definitely found that I enjoy my walks in the countryside more since I started carrying a camera with me. There is just something uplifting about it, and I know that I'll be able to look back on the photos any time I want.

[spottitchsam]

thanks very informative,many thanks for posting.x

[Charlie11]

Hi sparkle. Excellent ideas. Thank u

[California Girl]

Thank you this is very helpful xxx

[Bekzie]

Wow great list, I have been looking into the bach rescue remedies and decided to search for it on here before creating a new thread. I am glad I did as there are some great ideas here and brilliant info. Thank you