Anxiety self help requires self diagnosis and then befriending the anxietyAnxiety self help can never be as precise as for depression. So it may well be that external help will be necessary – as long as it is the right kind of help. The strategy of this self help for anxiety page is to invite you to do as much as you can on your own but also to discover more precisely what it is that is at the heart of the problem. There are five steps to your anxiety relief and self help. Step One is to immerse yourself in understanding what anxiety is – and the role invariably played by the trauma like firing in the limbic system (or more precisely the amygdale).
Step two of anxiety self help is to identify the trauma or traumas that will be the source of the unconscious and uncontrollable firing of the flight response – the prime source of the anxiety. It may be obvious to you – an abuse, an accident or a awful panic attack. It might though be more subtle and imprecise – such as an extended period of loneliness or lack of support, or it might be quite surprising – such as an experience of humiliation that you have almost forgotten.
Step three of anxiety self help will be learning relaxation techniques and methods that work for you and then to ensure that you have some mastery over them.
The purpose is to keep arousal as low as possible so that you are less at risk from boiling over. A good way to see the anxiety is as the temperature of a pan of milk on the stove – the lower is the heat then the less likely is the milk to boil over if the gas is turned up to full heat for a short period. Step four is to discover what are the precise sources and patterns of your anxiety – by awareness and note taking and a careful reading of the special anxiety pages.
Is there awful Trauma and PTSD Perhaps there are one or many quite precise Phobias? Could it be a more generalised Anxiety & Worrying with subtle sources? Often social situations are a problem - Social Anxiety? Or it could be linked clearly to Performance Anxiety Step five is to make friends with your anxiety and remove its power over you.
Building that better relationship with anxiety is normally, after de-traumatising the most important element of anxiety healing - as your relationship with fear/anxiety will be unhealthy.
Go to Generalised Anxiety & Worrying Back to Self Help from Anxiety Self Help
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Anxiety Resources
From Patricia
I have tried my best to maintain the ideas you have put forward to me i.e. 7/11 which works every time and remaining in calm surroundings and definitely not taking on tasks which I feel will get me anxious. I drove on the A12 this weekend for the first time in about four months and it felt great. So at this present moment in time I feel like my old self again.
From Gail
By attending my sessions with Andrew I found out that he considered that I have been through a trauma. This was such a different way to look at that time as a twelve year old when I just hadn't been able to cope with the bad luck of being bullied and trying to commit suicide, in the middle of my mother dying from Alzheimer's disease. Okay. I now see how I might not have been unreasonable in feeling awful a lot of the time because behaviour now tripped me back into that bullied child.
From Vicki
I have been driving around, and even drove all the way down to Exeter, from my house to go to an interview for a student’s associate scheme placement. It involved all the aspects of driving I worry about, including country lanes, main roads and most of all parking in car park and reversing. I coped really well, had a couple of moments where I worried, but I was able to dismiss them quite easily.
The flight or flight response, activating the amygdale is at the heart of all anxieties – even though they may manifest in many different ways.
| If you just set people in motion they'll heal themselves Gabrielle Roth |