Anxiety sufferers are quick to ask, is there an anxiety cure that will make me stop having anxiety attacks?
The answer is yes and no.
Do you think you would want to be cured completely?
It's easily overlooked when anxiety attacks become such a problem, but anxiety is there for a reason. It makes us alert when we sense danger. It causes our bodies to prepare themselves for any action that might be required to ensure our safety.
Imagine finding the anxiety cure that removes all anxiety from your body. Imagine being perfectly calm under all circumstances. Nothing stirs you. No matter what comes along, you do not react. Your heart doesn't speed up. Your mind doesn't race. Your muscles don't tense.
You just sit there. Unmoved.
Now imagine that the "something" coming your way is a big old grizzly bear. You're so relaxed you really don't much care that it's a threat to your well being. What do you suppose the result will be?
Yes, the bear might stroll right on by and ignore you. It might, but you can't be sure. It likely will want to sniff you and if it smells something interesting, it just might attack you.
You see, an all-out anxiety cure would be a bad thing, even though you might think it would be a tremendous benefit to your everyday life.
What you're really looking for is an anxiety cure that will teach you how not to get anxious when there's really nothing to be anxious about. Those are the times when whatever you are dreading is what you "perceive" is dangerous when in fact it isn't.
Unnecessary anxiety is a reaction that you learned during some experience that caused your anxiety switch to get stuck in the "on" position. In other words, you attached anxiety to that initial experience, and it stuck. Thereafter, you always get anxious when you revisit that experience, even though the initial danger is long gone.
Believe it or not, anxiety is a good thing, otherwise you'd die. Of course, too much of it can create havoc in your life.
So what kind of an anxiety cure would you be looking for?
It would have to teach you how not to become anxious all the time. It would teach you how to respond only to real dangers as you did early in your life, before something caused such a panic that your anxiety button went awry.
The trick, though, is learning how to cure anxiety, even though it travels at the speed of thought. You probably don't even recognize what triggers the anxiety because it happens so quickly.
Now, you don't want to slow down your anxiety responses because that would be as disastrous as not having any anxiety at all. In an emergency, your body needs time to prepare and in order to do so, your brain has worked out the time commitment required. It knows how long it takes for your heart to pump more blood to your muscles, and for the muscles to respond.
Although this process of preparation only takes a matter of split seconds, it's coordinated with absolute precision. You don't want to play with that.
Instead, you want an anxiety cure that will help you change which things you respond to and when. Remember, at some point you attached panic or anxiety to a specific situation or event, and now, you always respond that way to that event.
Your ideal anxiety cure will help you remove the panic and anxiety from that situation.
One way to do that is through desensitization, which means revisiting that situation repeatedly until you become desensitized to it and no longer attach anxiety to it.
You can also use visualization. This involves visualizing the "threatening" situation and see yourself going through the motions without anxiety. Visualize yourself climbing those open ladders, taking that flight, making that speech with full confidence.
Another step to your anxiety cure is to reduce stress, because quite frequently, persistent stress sets the anxiety stream in motion. Remove the stress and the anxiety will disappear.
There are programs available to help you. You can contact your doctor for a referral to a therapist, you can visit your local mental health clinic, or you can seek a counselor.
You can also take advantage of some of the excellent products that are available that will teach the anxiety cure techniques that have worked for others.
Yes there is an anxiety cure, but you can't stop anxiety completely. The right anxiety cure will enable you to live a normal life again, when you respond with anxiety only to events that truly require it.
Learn more about Anxiety Cure Programs to help you. Sylvia Dickens is an award-winning journalist who has struggled and overcome depression, panic and anxiety. Formerly with the Canadian Mental Health Association, she's written, "A Guide to Teenage Depression & Suicide" and "How To Build Confidence and Banish Anxiety Forever" which is available as an Anxiety Bonus . Visit Sylvia’s Natural Anxiety Relief blog for more helpful articles. |
