Sometimes I marvel at how far I've come since my first panic attack in 1999. It's amazing really. Yet as happy as I am about all that progress I'll admit that I still struggle at times not with anxiety, but with low-grade, residual depression. You know, sometimes I feel like a worthless, aimless nobody. Now, clearly this is a thought created by a mild depression and has no basis in reality, but it rears its ugly head nonetheless. And although depressive thoughts linger in my mind occasionally without consent, I cope well. That's
Are We Bothering Others?
Today's guest post is brought to you by Daniel Stelter from the Anxiety Support Network. For many social anxiety sufferers including myself, a common thought that we often struggle with is the belief that we are bothering other people by talking to them or asking them things. Sometimes, this belief arrives from the experience that when we were so afraid of doing things on our own, we would ask so many questions of others that we actually did end up bothering them. Once it became clear to us that we were overstepping our bounds and
How is an Anxiety Disorder Diagnosed?
Every disease has a group of signs and symptoms. Anxiety Disorders are no different. However, anxiety disorders are peculiar in that there is no way to test for them. You can't draw blood, or provide some other kind of sample that will tell a doctor if you're sick with nerves. So then, how are anxiety disorders diagnosed? Excellent question. It starts with a visit to your doctor. During the visit your doctor will: 1. Review your medical history. 2. Ask you about your symptoms. 3. Test you for everything that's related to your
The Stone Age Origins of Anxiety
You ever wonder why you feel out of control sometimes when you're anxious? Almost like a primitive being or something? Well, it's because -- at your core -- you're still a caveman/woman. Think about it, if you take away your house, car, iPod, cell phone, and all your other modern gizmos, you're nothing more than a semi-hairless ape, albeit a good looking one. See, in the past 200,000 years humans haven't changed all that much. In fact, with the exception of some major behavioral adaptions about 50,000 years ago, we're fundamentally
Lessons from Rocky Balboa
Let's talk belief. I spend a lot of time writing about specific things that you can do to counter anxiety, but today I want to delve into a more intangible quality that can help push you over the hump and propel you into the "normal zone." And instead of getting all technical or philosophical about this, I'm going to use the Italian Stallion to illustrate my point. I know, I know, this sounds corny, but lest you forget the awesomeness of the original film. So, why Rocky? I chose Rocky because this cold war hero is the epitome of what a
Anxiety Guru Q&A
Recently I've noticed an uptick in the amount of questions and requests for podcast that I get via email. Both of these developments are great and so I've decided to combine the two into a Q&A. So, if you have a question or problem that you want discussed please send it to the email address info@anxietyguru.net and in the subject line put QA. I plan to put this all together as soon as I have enough viable questions to address. I usually think of subjects to talk about on my own, but given all the recent emails I've received there
Finding Your Place in the World
Today's guest post is brought to you by Dan Stelter of Anxietysupportnetwork. Does social anxiety make you feel lost some times? Like you just don't fit in anywhere? Dan's article is a great starting point for you if you've ever felt this way in the past. Dan has a lot of useful insights about social anxiety on his site and I'm glad that he was willing to share some of those ideas with us here. For those of us suffering from social anxiety disorder, we often find ourselves being run-down by others and being pushed outside of the group.
Coping with Anxiety and Criticism
Criticism sucks. There just isn't any other way of saying it. For anxiety sufferers dealing with criticism is especially hard, because it seems to arouse our worst fears about being judged or belittled. And it's not like being sensitive to criticism is unique to people with anxiety, it's just that many of us - like so many other things - react to it fiercely. For example, when I graduated from University and got my first "real job" I wasn't prepared for the rough and tumble world of corporate style criticism. My first reaction
Does Having an Anxiety Disorder Build Character?
About two weeks ago I was watching a t.v. show on the History channel about American prisoners of war and it got me thinking. One of the most poignant moments in the show was when one of the former prisoners was talking about how his experience had helped him. He said it helped him to know himself better, he learned to deal with adversity, and if he had to do it all over again he would. He described how he was kept in solitary confinement for months; the darkness of the cell, the tapping communication code he and his comrades developed to
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