anxiety………. ?
ive been struggling with social anxiety for a few years. ive been on medication, therapy, outpatient program, yada yada. nothing works. i avoid anything that involves more than 2 additional people at all costs. is there hope out there? what are some exercises that i can do to help me relax when i am in those situations?
Chosen Answer:
I’ve struggled with social anxiety before so I know how uncertain you feel- one of the things that I’ve tried that helped me a little is doing biofeedback- I don’t know if your clinic offers one, but many community mental health centers offers it. Basically, you get hooked up to a monitor that lets you see your heart and breathing rate and you work with a therapist to figure out exercises to do during a stressful situation to make yourself relaxed.
I don’t know what else you’ve done, but you could try group therapy too even though that may sound frightening. Group therapy can be helpful for getting and giving feedback to other people who may have the same problems as you do. The members usually make a pact to respect the confidentiality of things shared in the group so there’s no one else who will know about your secrets except you and your group.
And finally, don’t let people’s opinions get a hold of you- validate yourself and try to be your own person.
Good luck!
by: cantabilemusic4fairy
on: 21st October 08
14 de October, 2008 at 9:12 pm
well people say do breathin excersies but it does’nt help me at all. i don’t know.
14 de October, 2008 at 9:19 pm
ohh i’m sorry to hear you haven’t had much luck with all your efforts to beat this before. please don’t be too discouraged or give up because you can live a normal life, but i honestly do think the best people to help you are professionals, perhaps combining some therapy with medication. it sounds like you’re getting desperate and maybe that will be enough to really make therapy work this time.
if you’re looking for exercises to relax yourself you could try concentrating on your breathing, in through your nose and out through your mouth.
you could ease yourself into being around a small group of people by catching up with your friends individually and then maybe two at the same time, and then maybe a few of them at the same time, and remind yourself that you know these people and have hung out with each of them in the last few weeks.
good luck and hang in there!
14 de October, 2008 at 9:32 pm
I’ve struggled with social anxiety before so I know how uncertain you feel- one of the things that I’ve tried that helped me a little is doing biofeedback- I don’t know if your clinic offers one, but many community mental health centers offers it. Basically, you get hooked up to a monitor that lets you see your heart and breathing rate and you work with a therapist to figure out exercises to do during a stressful situation to make yourself relaxed.
I don’t know what else you’ve done, but you could try group therapy too even though that may sound frightening. Group therapy can be helpful for getting and giving feedback to other people who may have the same problems as you do. The members usually make a pact to respect the confidentiality of things shared in the group so there’s no one else who will know about your secrets except you and your group.
And finally, don’t let people’s opinions get a hold of you- validate yourself and try to be your own person.
Good luck!
15 de October, 2008 at 1:18 am
Negative emotions (like sadness, stress, anger, etc.) causes your Serotonin production to be low; when your Serotonin level is low, you are more prone to getting Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Depression, etc.
Medication like Antidepressants (SSRI – Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) helps to boost Serotonin level.
But there are natural ways to do it without medication. There’s this strange herb called “St John’s Wort” – it is said to be more effective than Prozac. No, it is not for mild depression only and ignore those sayings. In fact, it does help anxiety and panic-attacks as St John’s Wort works like prozac. Other natural ways will be exercise, diet, more exposure to light, etc.
The problem is that, even if your Serotonin is balanced… you have that “learned behavior” in your mind. You need to break that initial cycle to destroy that learned behavior – Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) does this. A technique that you can use without CBT will be Distraction… There are several other techniques to help cope them!
Ok, to use Distraction: Firstly, try to….
Extracted from Source.