HELIOSphan.com – The Health Blog

POWER OVER PANIC/IN SEARCH OF SELF: THE FEAR OF CHANGE

Monday, December 7th, 2009

We need to stop and realise that there have been other times in our life when we have made major changes. Although these changes were external, we still feared change because we did not really know what lay ahead. We may have felt this fear when we started work, went to university, got married or had children. That fear is the same as we are feeling now. If we can remember those other occasions we will see this fear is not unique. We have felt it before. Back then, we went ahead and did what we had to do, still feeling unsure, still feeling the fear, the aloneness and isolation. This time, although the changes are internal, the fear is no different.

All we know at this stage is that we are walking into unknown territory and it can seem easier to stop where we are, despite our unresolved difficulties. What we don’t know is that the unknown territory is that of the self. As the ‘disordered’ self breaks down it can mean the birth of our real self.

*103/94/8*

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ANXIETY DISORDERS/WORKING THROUGH THE RECOVERY: PSYCHOTHERAPY

Monday, December 7th, 2009

At this stage of the process some people may go into psychotherapy. As was discussed in chapter four, psychotherapy can be extremely beneficial. Many of us who have an anxiety disorder have suppressed our primary emotions of anger, grief and so on. Psychotherapy helps us contact these feelings. Experiencing them is part of the healing process.

People have asked the question of what to do with their thoughts while working through issues in psychotherapy. There will be issues in therapy which need to be thought through and worked with, and they may cause anxiety and attacks. Again, it means walking a fine line. Be aware of why they have occurred and let them happen.

As our management skills increase we will begin to realise a subtle pattern emerging with our anxiety and attacks. When we are avoiding confronting particular personal issues, or in other words, not being honest with ourselves, we may find ourselves reacting with anxiety or an attack. We can use these subtle guides to get to know and understand ourselves on a deeper level.

*96/94/8*

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ANXIETY DISORDERS/WORKING THROUGH THE RECOVERY: MOTIVATION

Monday, December 7th, 2009

Another important point is our motivation. If it has dropped, we need to look at why. A drop in motivation also means a drop in the will to take power. Sometimes our lack of motivation can be caused by fears of change and of growth.

The working-through process means we are getting in touch with ourselves, perhaps for the first time. We become aware of how we think and react on a day-to-day basis, which usually gives us insights into ourselves which we have not had before.

Sometimes these insights can be quite threatening, as they could signal the need for changes in our life.

The drop in motivation may mean we are avoiding these insights. Everyone wants to recover, but many of us want recovery to mean we will return to our former self. The working-through process means we are getting in touch with ourselves, with feelings, needs and desires we may never have known existed. These will need to be integrated and their integration will mean not a return to the old, but the birth of the new.

Have a look and see if fear of change has caused the drop in motivation. Become aware of how those fears are holding you back.

*95/94/8*

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ANXIETY DISORDERS/RECOVERY: OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY

Monday, December 7th, 2009

This is a very important point. Many people do not give their recovery priority. Although everyone wants to recover, there can seem a million more important things to be done first. Our recovery has to become the most important thing in our life.

Our loyalty has to be to ourselves. This can be very difficult for many of us because we feel we are being selfish in putting our own needs first. How can working towards our recovery be selfish? In the working-through process, especially at the beginning, we need all of our energies for ourselves.

The lack of understanding by those close to us can create extra stress. All of us are extremely sensitive and vulnerable to other people’s suggestions or ideas, even if it means doing the opposite to what we feel is right for us. Part of the recovery process means accepting that we don’t have to go along with what other people expect from us. We don’t have to do, or accept, anything we know is going to be detrimental to ourselves and/or our recovery. Like everyone else, we have the right to do what is right for us.

*90/94/8*

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SUGGESTIONS FOR THOSE WHO FALL SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN FEELING MILDLY BLUE AND SUFFERING FROM MAJOR CLINICAL DEPRESSION

Monday, December 7th, 2009

Technically, those who don’t quite meet diagnoses of major depressive disorder or dysthymia are known as subsyndromal. Studies on subsyndromal conditions have found that they can actually be quite disabling, often causing as much misery and costing those suffering from them as many days off work as the full-blown syndromes themselves. Clearly this is a mid-zone, where judgement is required as to whether to involve a doctor or not. It’s not a cold, it’s not pneumonia, it’s more like bronchitis or laryngitis, something nasty but not deadly. Seeking out medical attention is certainly the prudent course in such situations, but in reality, people often choose to take matters into their own hands. Whether or not you choose to involve a doctor in the treatment of your symptoms, St John’s Wort can certainly be used, often to good effect. Follow the same guidelines for dosing and monitoring as outlined above.

*49/75/2*

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ANXIETY IN THE BODY: NERVOUS DYSPEPSIA

Monday, December 7th, 2009

Discomfort in the stomach felt beneath the ribs in the upper part of the abdomen is one of the commonest signs of anxiety. The discomfort—or if it is more severe, the pain—is very similar in nature to the pain of peptic ulcer except that the pain of nervous dyspepsia tends to be associated with emotional stress whereas ulcer pain is more clearly related to food intake. A mild persistent gnawing discomfort in the upper abdomen is often a symptom of chronic anxiety. This is frequently interrupted by intervals of more acute discomfort as the sufferer is subjected to periods of greater stress. Sometimes it is expressed as a feeling of a void or emptiness in the stomach. Other people react with acute upper abdominal discomfort to any sudden anxiety. They describe it by saying, “It gets me in the stomach.” It came quite suddenly, “almost as if someone kicked me there.” Other people experience anxiety as a sensation of “butterflies in the stomach,” or a feeling that “the stomach turns over.”

*19/57/2*

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ANXIETY IN THE BODY: NERVOUS DYSPEPSIA

Monday, December 7th, 2009

Discomfort in the stomach felt beneath the ribs in the upper part of the abdomen is one of the commonest signs of anxiety. The discomfort—or if it is more severe, the pain—is very similar in nature to the pain of peptic ulcer except that the pain of nervous dyspepsia tends to be associated with emotional stress whereas ulcer pain is more clearly related to food intake. A mild persistent gnawing discomfort in the upper abdomen is often a symptom of chronic anxiety. This is frequently interrupted by intervals of more acute discomfort as the sufferer is subjected to periods of greater stress. Sometimes it is expressed as a feeling of a void or emptiness in the stomach. Other people react with acute upper abdominal discomfort to any sudden anxiety. They describe it by saying, “It gets me in the stomach.” It came quite suddenly, “almost as if someone kicked me there.” Other people experience anxiety as a sensation of “butterflies in the stomach,” or a feeling that “the stomach turns over.”

*19/57/2*

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ÑHILDREN’S SLEEP PROBLEMS/BUILDING THE BASICS: EXERCISE FOR DETERMINING YOUR CHILD’S SLEEP ASSOCIATIONS

Monday, December 7th, 2009

Describe your usual bedtime routine:

What events precede bedtime? (Examples: give bath, put on pajamas, quiet play, put baby into bed, sing lullaby, turn down lights, say goodnight, leave the room.)

Describe the sleep environment. (Examples: lights low, child in own bed, stuffed bear, blanket in bed.)

Who takes the active parts? (Examples: Dad does quiet play, Mom puts child in bed.)

Describe your middle of the night response:

What happens when the child wakes up? (Examples: he cries, he comes to our room.)

What is the child needing from you? What do you do in response? (Examples: feed him, give her the pacifier, scold her, etc.)

Who takes the active parts? (Examples: Dad calls back to her, Mom nurses, etc.)

Assess your child’s sleep associations:

From your answers above, summarize the set of circumstances that your child seems to need and expect to get to sleep -the things that signal to her that all is okay and it’s time to go to sleep.

*18/67/8*

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ANXIETY IN THE MIND: PHOBIAS AND PHOBIC TENSION

Monday, December 7th, 2009

In a phobia anxiety is manifested in a different way. The patient remains reasonably at ease until confronted with the phobic situation. He then experiences discomfort which may vary from mild apprehension to uncontrollable panic. The patient develops a fear of the particular situation which causes him his distress, and for this reason the condition is known as a phobia. Common phobias are heights, being away from home, being in crowds, or being in enclosed spaces such as lifts, toilets, or railway coaches. Knives, swords, and firearms often become the objects of phobias. In a similar way people may develop an irrational fear of certain animals such as mice, cats, moths, or snakes. The sufferer is always aware that his phobia is irrational. He knows quite well that there is nothing to be afraid of in going across the street, but this does nothing at all to relieve his sense of panic as he goes out the door. More and more he tends to stay indoors so that he soon becomes housebound, not venturing forth from one month to the next.

*14/57/2*

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