photo credit: hmerinomx

Now I’m not going to launch into a dissertation about how this recent outbreak of swine flu is like the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 or how it may spread and cause a similar calamity.  In fact, what I want to say instead is don’t panic.

I know that many anxiety sufferers are hypochondriacs and can be overwhelmed by irrational fears.  Over the weekend news reports by CNN, FOX, and other networks have really grabbed a hold of this story and starting Monday ran with it.

photo credit: andyphelan45

Article Highlights

• Kansas City Royals pitcher Zack Greinke left baseball three years ago due to problems with anxiety and depression.
• Greinke has returned to the Royals pitching staff and is performing at a high level.
• Greinke had stayed away from the Royals for seven months before returning.

Click the image to read the full story.

photo credit: giopuo

Most anxiety sufferers don’t go around shaking and biting their nails, however that doesn’t mean that most of us don’t spend a good amount of energy on perfecting and using what I like to call a mask of tranquility.

Outwardly I think we would all like to be seen as confident, steady people that project all the attractive personality traits most people admire.  But when you find yourself nervous a good deal of the time these traits don’t come easily and have to be worked on.

Despite the fact that most anxiety sufferers understand that anxiety in and of itself is not dangerous most still get extremely apprehencious when anxiety does strike.  Most anxiety sufferers are also generally well informed about their condition, and yet we all tend to crumble at times and in our own ways.

Being labeled anything with a negative connotation doesn’t feel good.  However, for better or for worse labels help us to identify things more readily.

When it comes to anxiety disorders we are usually labeled as sufferers of panic disorder, OCD, general anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, PTSD, agoraphobia, and other types of phobics.  But ironically I think the psychologist of the past got it right in one word – Neurosis.

I have long touted the benefits of diaphragmatic breathing (belly breathing) but I felt like more than promoting it this time, I want to give you the basics of this very effective relaxation technique in audio.

I decided to do this in audio format so it is easier to follow along with.  It is kinda of hard to relax and concentrate on deep breathing while your scrolling up and down on your computer.  Here is a brief recap of my version of this breathing excercise.

In my previous post we talked about creating a self care plan, some of the benefits, and the importance of having one.  I hope you were able to come up with a couple things and doing them.  Your self care plan should help bring some joy into your life and give you some tools to deal with a panic attack.

photo credit: jking89

Article Highlights

• Economic downturn causing serious angst for many people.
• Even people without serious economic issues are seeking more help for anxiety and depression.
• There has been an increase in phone  calls to suicide prevention hot lines.
• First time and infrequent patients are experiencing, “relapse and need more therapy and medication”.

Click the image to read the full story.

photo credit: psd

What could be more important than taking care of yourself?  Even if you’re taking care of others you still need to take care of yourself to keep going.  But for those of us living with anxiety, taking care of ourselves can present some special challenges and is even more important for a lot of reasons.
A self care plan will help you to remember what to do to start feeling better and remind you of ways to deal with those sticky moments when you’re feeling anxious or panicking.

During the course of your internet and bookstore searches for anxiety relief one of the most common tips you’ve seen is “stay positive”.  And although we all have some notion of what this means sometimes you have to focus your positivity in order for it to make a difference.

There are a lot of things that you can do to foster positivity in your life, however I’ve decided to shine a light on 4 negative habits that should be avoided because of their capacity to feed your stress and anxiety.