Exercise has long been known as a good way to induce relaxation and promote feelings of well being. As a result I have tried to encourage anxiety sufferers to exercise to achieve some peace in their lives. Although it dawned on me that telling someone what they should do and giving no direction is kind of useless, so I want to provide you with some information about an exercise tool that I've been using for awhile that I feel is an effective means of achieving phyiscal fitness. First I want to outline some problems that I've had with
Archives for January 2009
What Do You Want To Know About Anxiety?
The vast majority of my stint as an anxiety sufferer has been spent in utter confusion about what the hell was wrong with me. It took me years of searching, reading, asking, and probing before I got a clue. Going to my primary doctor wasn't always the best information session because the doctor's reaction was to give me a drug and call it a day. The therapist I've seen never really saw me look or act nervous so they figured I was fine. Therapist: "So you don't want to hurt yourself or others?" Me: No. Therapist: "So you get nervous, have
Anxiety And The Fear Of Happiness
For a long time I was afraid to be happy. I was afraid to laugh too strongly, I was afraid to get carried away with any overly positive feeling because it would make me nervous. It sounds strange to say but I was holding on to myself tightly (emotionally speaking) so I wouldn't lose control, or at least that was the thought process. Anxiety has a way of doing all kinds of things to you and destroying your sense of joy is a major one. It took me years before I realized that laughing hard wasn't fatal and that smiling and talking to others
Here’s An Effective Way To Lower Your Anxiety
Over the life of this blog I have talked a lot about how changing your thinking can lead to less anxiety. But what does 'change your thinking' even mean? Today I want to talk about a specific thing you can do (or think) to achieve the goal of less anxiety. Have you ever heard people say that we should all try and live in the present? Of course you have but who cares right? Well not really, because this simple old school saying (like most sayings) is true and effective. It's just that people hear sayings like this so much that they tend to
32 Strategies To Overcome Anxiety And Depression
I recently wrote about my day in the public library and how I was able to find a few books of some interest. One of the books I discovered is called Healing Anxiety and Depression. The book is filled with helpful information but one of the most useful was the list of 32 effective coping strategies found in chapter 20. I wouldn't say that the list is comprehensive but my goal is to share with you every little bit of information that you might find useful, effective, and worth trying to help you ease your anxiety. I didn't particularly agree
Are You Stopping Yourself From Being Anxiety Free?
The idea for this post came to me today while I was surfing the web. I suddenly asked myself if I was keeping myself from being anxiety free. After I posed this question to myself I concluded that I was, partially. I don't think that anyone keeps themselves anxious because quite frankly this would be pure lunacy. However I wondered if my long suffering with anxiety had conditioned my body and mind so much toward anxiety that I not only expect to be anxious most of the time but also find that being anxious is my normal state of being (low
Study: Social Anxiety Sufferers Are More Sensitive To Negative Comments
It's bound to happen at some point in everyone's life. Somebody makes a negative comment and it hurts your feelings in a big way. But according to a new study conducted by researchers affiliated with the National Institute Of Mental Health social anxiety sufferers react more to these types of comments. The study subjects were split into two groups - those with and without social anxiety disorder . The two groups were shown a series of negative comments and those without an anxiety disorder were found to react far less negatively than their
Can Wearing An Amulet Reduce Anxiety?
An amulet is essentially an object meant to "protect a person from trouble". Almost anything can be an amulet but generally speaking they are small and portable - think rabbits foot. Some people think of amulets as lucky charms or in some cases they are meant to keep away 'bad spirits' e.g., bad vibes. But amulets are also useful because they can serve as reminders. They can remind us of a loved one, an event, or even of our own feelings. This got me thinking a few weeks ago and I came up with an idea. What if I could create an amulet for
The Truth About Chemical Imbalance Theory And Antidepressants
A few years ago I visited my primary doctor because of chest pains and after a few tests he confirmed that I had an anxiety disorder and not heart disease. After the test he spoke to me for about 5 minutes, prescribed Prozac , and told me to have a great day. At first I really didn't think much about this, but for reasons unknown to me, I stuck the little bottle of pills in my pocket and vowed to never ingest any of it. In retrospect it may have been my natural suspicion and anxiety about things I knew nothing about, but over time it