Any resources on conquering irrational anxiety?

[GrandMasterK]

Being addressed forcefully by authority figures, thunderstorms, brooding over past experiences that time hasn't put far enough away, negative tones and ideas of the world around you inflicting morbid mental health. Is there any material on methodologies for working through things like this? Instead of having experiences and becoming stronger from them, I instead feel like I'm just piling more and more weight on me and I'm sinking and that as time goes on I'm just getting chipped away at until when I'm an old man there will be hardly anything left but a ruin of a man, broken and defeated by the world around me instead of being able to successfully create and protect my own world, a sanctuary to keep me safe. I am not hard enough to dismiss or marginalize the views and opinions and actions of those around me that tear me apart.

 

I always supposed it's depression mixed with me just being an oversensitive ***** who can't handle the world around him. My parents won't get me a psychologist because they think it's stupid and I'm just being a baby and I need to suck it up etc. Their neglect for my mental state is also of course a main contributor but despite my sincerest efforts that concept is beyond them and they just get angry at me. For the longest time I believed that when it was really time I could handle it and figure it out myself but that was the biggest mistake I ever made. Nothing happened today, I sat around, listened to music, watched some videos, surfed the net, played with my dogs, had a good lunch, and yet the general mood was just feeling down. I can't pin it on any sources. All I know is now I've been stuck here and I can't make a leap to get back on healthy track and it just gets worse over time.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Irrational fears will not go away if you "suck it up." That's a simple fact.

[1veedo]

Alcohol? (serious)

 

I wouldn't recommend it in your case, unless you're out with friends. Drinking alone at home because of a thunderstorm sounds like a very bad idea.

[iNow]

My first thought was, Scotch. However, drinking will likely exasserbate the problem.

 

Quick tips? Find people you can speak with openly who will not judge you. Sometimes having a friendly ear to listen to your thoughts is enough. Also, exercise. It's amazing the benefit which a few hours of sweating can have on mental health and disposition.

 

 

If you go with the Scotch, maybe do so together with that person who is a good listener.

[blike]

I don't think alcohol is the solution he's looking for.

[1veedo]

You could try meditation. Not the new-age bullshit but actual what they call buddhist "mindful" meditation. The basic form of meditation is a focus on your breathing, and other forms follow the same basic rules you use for breathing. If you look at the science it specifically reduces stress, which could help you some.

 

edit -- Actually if you look at wiki it does help with anxiety, and even depression. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness

[Realitycheck]

Hey man. I've survived a coma, 10 years of chiropractic malpractice, ridicule by so-called "friends" and plenty of other useless trash of the earth, challenges by card-carrying members of Hamas, the list goes on and on.

 

The one thing that got me through it all is faith in myself. You can't be afraid of anything. Fear is the mindkiller. It will tear you apart if you let it. Don't worry about sucking it up, just ignore it and improvise. That is the key word, improvise and overcome, improvise and overcome. Fear is the root of all undoing.

[pioneer]

One way is to find a friend who is just the opposite, who maybe takes too many chances in life. You sort of learn from each other. You teach him or her a healthy dose of practical fear, and he or she can teach you a healthy dose of impulsiveness.

 

Another way is to start with your lightest fear or anxiety and sort of put it to the test. For example, if you sort of have a minor fear of dogs, go to someone who is knowledgeable about dogs. Often they will want to share their hobby. Bring it up about you a slight anxiety. They may help you by introducing you to a nice calm dog. That will demonstrate there are always exceptions even to the rules of fear. Fight the smallest battles first to get you sea legs and then work you way up the ladder.

 

Another approach that often helps is to go to a Martial Arts School. You are not trying to become Bruce Lee, but the atmosphere builds a certain respectful confidence. There are people of all ages and sexes. As time goes on, your muscles strengthen and reflexes get quicker. You can see the transformation as all different personality types seem to merge into a calm confident in themselves.

[Reaper]

If you can't get a psychologist or a guidence counselor who will listen to you (I'm assuming you are still in grade school given that you mentioned being under parental support), you should try to find a friend or a person that you trust so that you can talk about your issues. Also, you should probably take up some physical excersize such as Yoga or even just going to the gym to work out once in a while, as that can calm your anxiety and boost self esteem.

 

When your in that kind of state, the best thing to do is to minimize your all forms of inactivity because that actually contributes to increase in anxiety.

[dichotomy]

Here’s a site that has loads of good advice on Buddhist meditation (and practice).

 

Just use the search engine there.

 

http://www.accesstoinsight.org

 

A direct link to a practical start -

 

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/khantipalo/wheel116.html#ch2

 

cheers.

[Daphniadance]

First and foremost someone should tell you that solutions for anxiety and depression are not one size fits all. What has worked for them may not work for you. I suffer from anxiety and have had my own bouts of depression. I never took kindly to adults telling me I was just a kid or that, I have nothing to be depressed about. There is no on off switch, for anxiety or depression and depression tends not to have an obvious cause, its not one thing its lots and lots of things. I had found that being able to say I have an anxiety disorder and I suffer from depression really helped me to look for solutions.

 

As for myself developing regular sleep patterns is very important I find that if I am not well rested every emotion of fear and self doubt is exacerbated, and my ability to just cope gets very "messed up".

 

Please do not, turn to alcohol or drugs, Im a college student I can tell you its everywhere, but you sound very smart and the relief from drugs and alcohol is only temporary, and tends to just make everything worse.

 

If your school has a psychologist, or you have a guidance counselor, or a teacher that can handle the truth and be trusted, it would probably help you to just talk about how you feel.

 

If you have any interest in yoga, I can tell you that exercise helps relieve stress, improves sleep, releases endorphins etc etc. So if you ever considered joining a sports team id suggest it.

 

I have lots of ideas, if you want feel free to send me a message on this site.

[Mirabelle]

I have tried high dose anti-depressants mainly SNRIs (for anxiety) and they actually made me feel and respond to the anxiety worse. Also, the withdrawls can be close to life threatening if you do like I, the fool, did and stop without correctly stepping down the dose.

I am not opposed to medications at all but for me the treatment for anxiety as a symptom actually made the root cause worse.

 

Maybe I should have tried the scotch...

(OK, I'm still undecided on the self-medicating aspect)

[iNow]

I have tried high dose anti-depressants mainly SNRIs (for anxiety) and they actually made me feel and respond to the anxiety worse.

Did you perhaps mean SSRIs? Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitors? They can be useful to get someone out of a "rut," but should be considered a temporary aid rather than a long-term solution. Anxiety is better mitigated with exposure and/or cognitive-behavioral therapy, and potentially some benzodiazepines if psychological calming is not robust enough to overcome the symptoms which present in the present.

[Mirabelle]

Did you perhaps mean SSRIs? Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitors? They can be useful to get someone out of a "rut," but should be considered a temporary aid rather than a long-term solution. Anxiety is better mitigated with exposure and/or cognitive-behavioral therapy, and potentially some benzodiazepines if psychological calming is not robust enough to overcome the symptoms which present in the present.

 

SSRIs and SNRIs prescribed in high dose. I agree they are intended to aid a person but it didnt work in my case.

[iNow]

No, my fault entirely. I was not familiar with SNRIs, but it turns out that it's a Seratonin Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor. My apologies.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin-norepinephrine_reuptake_inhibitor

Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are a class of antidepressant used in the treatment of clinical depression and other affective disorders. They are also sometimes used to treat anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and chronic neuropathic pain. They act upon two neurotransmitters in the brain that are known to play an important part in mood, namely, serotonin and norepinephrine. This can be contrasted with the more widely-used selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which act only on serotonin.

 

<...>

 

Activity on norepinephrine reuptake is thought necessary for an antidepressant to be effective on neuropathic pain, a property shared with the older tricyclic antidepressants but not with the SSRIs.

 

Depression is thought to be caused by a lack of information flow between neurons in certain parts of the brain. Neurons pass information to each other by means of chemicals known as neurotransmitters, which shoot across the tiny synapses between the cells. After firing, most of the neurotransmitter is reabsorbed by the presynaptic cell in a process called reuptake.

 

Antidepressants work by increasing the number of neurotransmitters active in the synapse, thereby enhancing neuronal activity and increasing the responsiveness of mood. Modern antidepressants usually achieve this effect by blocking the transporter proteins that reabsorb certain neurotransmitters, hence the name "reuptake inhibitors".

 

SNRIs were developed more recently than SSRIs, and there are relatively few of them. Their efficacy as well as their tolerability appears to be somewhat better than the SSRIs, owing to their compound effect.

[Daphniadance]

In my personal experiences medication and therapy were a very helpful combination. Generally if you weren't too bad off I'd suggest therapy first since it is the least invasive, and if you have problems with therapy or your therapist you just dont go back, or get a new one. From what Ive heard the withdrawal from SNRIs is even worse than just the SSRI's, you really must taper the medication off, this is not a cold turkey type of thing your brain sort of goes into shock, and the withdrawal can be so horrendous and long lasting. However, medications like prozac have helped so many people that we kinda just have to deal with the withdrawal.

 

I have been on four different SSRI's in my search to find one that worked the best for me, each had its own side effects and a different feeling. I would certainly encourage people to try another medication if the first one seems to be unpleasant.

 

Thats one thing I would support, I had a therapist who sucked, she was not at all right for me, and I've been on some medications that made everything seem a whole lot worse, do not be afraid to change (clearly under supervision). For the most part switching within the pool of SSRI meds you dont have to taper off one to go to the next, and its amazing how fast you can feel the difference.

 

HOWEVER, I believe the situation with the young man who started this post is he does not have access to therapy or medications. One of the unfortunate parts of being around the high school age is that you really do know alot more than adults will give you credit for, so you may earnestly ask for things that you know you need and they will poo poo it. Another idea is if you could get an adult you can confide in talk to your parents. They will likely take it more seriously if another adult is concerned, but I suppose that depends on the density of your parents.

[Mirabelle]

I think a good therapist is very important.

I do not engage in conversation comfortably nor am I able to "just talk" and I got a therapist who would NOT shut up. I left there feeling worse because she made assumptions about me and I wasn't able to defend myself. What a horrible match that was.

It did make me realize how lucky I was to be able to keep trying different therapists until I found a really wonderful one. Some insurance companies/student services don't allow that.

I find it oddly interesting that after dealing with the different medications "to help" and stopping without consulting my doctor (again this is a BAD idea), I got told by the prescribing doctor that I now have "SNRI discontinuation syndrome" and he prescribed Neurontin. I stood up and walked out on him.

I believe a good doctor is important too.

[Daphniadance]

Well if possible Id suggest a psychiatrist, esp. if you are dealing with things like the SNRIs because they are new on the market and are more likely to cause significant withdrawal symptoms.

 

I am confused however as to why the previous poster walked out on their doctor. I would assume you were seeing him again because you were going through withdrawal. The Neurontin is to relieve the "SNRI discontinuation syndrome" he was trying to make you feel better...

[Mirabelle]

Oh no...He was the reason I was going through withdrawls.

Here is a (not-so) brief:

He put me on the SNRIs, over the past 2 years he has changed his diagnosis at least 5 times and the medications even more often. He had me on 375mg Effexor XR, I spent a almost 2 weeks trying to get in contact with him to approve a refill, by the time his nurse returned my call I was already beyond withdrawl and recovering. I made an appointment to see him anyway and I went in and told him I feel better, he diagnosed SNRI DS. I told him I did not want anymore SNRIs. He told me to try Cymbalta, I explained to him that I was aware of Cymbalta and that I would like him to respect my request to NOT take another SNRI.

He and I did not agree on many things.

He once told me I should lower my morals and standards. I told him he needed to find some.

Most doctors are NOT like this one but it is important to research any diagnosis or medication you receive and speak out if you think the doctor is wrong it will help both patient and doctor.

[Daphniadance]

Well now that makes alot more sense to me... what a turd.

[PhDP]

Most psychological problems of this kind can be solved with a healthy lifestyle, breathing techniques + a cognitive-behavioral therapy.

[1veedo]

Stop smoking weed.

 

Too much of it causes paranoia.

[raptor]

I'd personally recommend you try a herbal product, "St John's Wort".

 

It has long had a reputation for helping with depression in particular, I think it's suspected to act somewhat like an SSRI.

 

I tried taking a few tablets and after a day or so I noticed subtle effects on mood, generally that I was happier, less worried and more emotionally stable.

 

It did seem to also affect concentration slightly, making me feel somewhat sleepy (I actually turned to it because of insomnia but it was still a bit counter-productive sometimes).

 

I don't think it has many drug interactions besides oral contraceptives and some psychoactive drugs especially things like ecstasy or other anti-depressants which i assume you are not taking.

 

It's available over the counter in most places and it's not terribly expensive.

 

In my experience I haven't noticed major side effects or withdrawal symptoms like those reported with SSRIs, though much of this is very subjective.

[Mirabelle]

Also, B-complex taken with folic acid is said to help anxiety.