Often I read posts on here which are all entirely different but they can also all be merged into one.
Imagine being born with a secret button in your back. Each time we have a bad experience the button is pushed in a little more. Sometimes we can have such a bad experience that the button gets pushed all the way in in one go.
We can't reach this button and even if we could, we couldn't switch it off or pull it out. It feels it only gets pushed in further.
One day this button can't be pushed any further and it feels too much to bear so we start searching for a way to pull it out again. We look to medications, to different techniques and seek therapy. We feel so niggled by this button in our back that we can't ignore it. It's always in the on position never letting us rest.
Perhaps if we could reverse time we could go back to a day when the button was set in the off position and then we'd avoid all the things that caused it to be switched on but that's not living life.
In reality everyone is born with this secret button but most people don't realise it's there because it's never reached a point of not switching off. Each time they experience a bad event they move on and treat it as just a bad day but each time we experience a bad event they remain stored and so the button never gets released.
Once the button becomes a constant niggle we begin to focus on it more and more which keeps the button firmly in the on position. In all our attempts to switch it off, we've actually done the reverse because we've allowed it to annoy and frighten us.
If we can learn to ignore all the thoughts that frighten us so that we can forget we have a button, the button called anxiety will switch off on its own.
Yes, I know. Easy to say.....but there Are different ways of learning to cope depending on the causes but each case has to be treated individually because after all, we're all individuals who have all experienced different bad experiences.
One thing though. Look beyond the thoughts and symptoms that frighten you and you'll find the real causes that need to be treated then it's a case of facing them or accepting and coming to terms with them.