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Anxiety Cures

September 3rd, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

One day last spring I was sitting in the garden enjoying the beautiful weather after a long cold winter. I was thinking about my long term struggle with anxiety. Suddenly a thought popped into my head. An idea that eventually led to me overcoming my long-term struggle with anxiety.

Over a two month period I developed the idea I now call the “Mind-Body Flip” and used it to finally defeat the nagging anxiety I have had since childhood.

Mind-Body Flip

The mind-body flip is simply a different way to look at the problem of anxiety.

Our anxious thoughts can lead to specific physical behaviors. I go “into my head” and pull away from others, I tend to stay in bed longer and sit around and watch TV.

The same thing is true when we are feeling happy. Happy and empowering thoughts also cause specific behaviors. When I’m feeling happy, I talk to friends, work outside in the yard and listen to uplifting music.

Step 1 – Record Your Behaviors

Each of us reacts to stress and happiness differently. The first thing you need to do is figure out exactly how you react in these situations. Just keep a small notebook handy and when you notice yourself feeling either anxious or uplifted, take a moment to notice how you are reacting.

  • How are you moving? (Quickly or Slowly)
  • What are you doing? (Watching TV? Staring into space? Talking to friends?)
  • What is your environment like? (Are you around people? Are you exercising?)

Step 2 – Flip Your Behavior

When you catch yourself feeling anxious begin to do the things you do when you are feeling happy.

The mind-body connection isn’t one way. Thoughts cause behavior and behavior causes thoughts.

By changing your behavior you will change your thoughts.

This method is very simple and effective. Notice that I used the word simple and not easy. It will take some effort on your part. When we are anxious we don’t “feel like” doing the things we do when we are happily. You will just have to force yourself at first.

Step 3 – Keep Learning

It is possible to control your anxiety without the use of drugs or spending years at the therapists. New development in our understanding of how the human mind works now allows your to bring your panic and anxiety under control quickly and easily. In fact you can stop anxiety attacks in 5 minutes.

Are Anxiety Attacks Dangerous?

August 26th, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

Periodically, in fact quite often now, we see a programme on television devoted to Anxiety and Panic Attacks. What I’ve noticed about these presentations is that while in many ways they answer questions about which people are concerned, firstly, the answers are often so convoluted by the time everyone’s had his or her say, that their real meaning has been lost.

Secondly, the core facts are seldom, if ever, addressed. Having suffered such attacks myself and studied the reasons behind them, it seems that there are 5 issues that cause people particular concern. These are:

1. I Might Die From A Heart Attack.

2. I’ll Die From Suffocation.

3. I’m Having A Stroke.

4. I’m Going To Faint.

5. I’m Having A Nervous Breakdown.

There are three other concerns which we’ll address at a later date, but these 5 are, for fairly obvious reasons, the ones that cause the most worry, particularly if this is the first attack you’ve experienced.

I won’t be going into the actual causes of Anxiety or Panic attacks, (they’re one and the same, actually), in this article. Suffice to say that the unconscious mind triggers them and you’re more apt to suffer an attack if you’re stressed or anxious about something in particular. Now let’s have a look at the 5 fears.

1. I Might Die.

No, you won’t! Since I’m aiming this article at people who’ve never had such an attack before, they’d be particularly frightened. No-one has ever died of an Anxiety attack, and there are positive reasons why they wouldn’t.

2. I’ll Suffocate to Death.

It may well feel like it, but again there are good reasons why you won’t, so expel the fear of death right out of your mind.

3. I’m Having A Stroke.

In all fairness, you haven’t a clue what’s happening to you, so you may well be afraid of this. But again, you aren’t going to have a stroke. I realize fully that you’re being carried along on the wings of something particularly unpleasant, so such thoughts are quite understandable.. but without any basis whatsoever in fact.

4. I’m Going To Faint.

I’m afraid to say that this is possible, due to the fact that you’ll very probably feel dizzy. It also depends where you have this attack. If at home, then no, you probably won’t faint. If you’re in a crowd of people in a stuffy atmosphere, then there is a possibility. But so what? It isn’t the end of the world.

5. I’m Having A Nervous Breakdown.
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Again, no you’re not. People don’t suddenly develop nervous breakdowns out of thin air.

So the sum of all this is that, while they’re most unpleasant, Anxiety Attacks, believe it or not, are natural, but completely harmless

A Summary of Panic Attack Help

August 23rd, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

Many people find themselves desperately looking for panic attacks help once they have suffered their first anxiety attack, but when this condition keeps repeating itself, the search for this panic attacks help becomes far more desperate.

This is the typical cycle which anxiety attacks put into motion as the fear of the next attack is very often one of the main triggers which causes the next attack to occur and so this spiraling torment continues to grow.

Because anxiety and panic attacks affect an individual mentally, it is very often the case that the individual is unable to think calmly and rationally when they go in search of panic attacks help, but the secret to actually finding effective help truly requires them to be able to still the mind and think rationally.

To be able to overcome such a mental disorder, one firstly needs to calm and quiet the mind so as to be able to get a better understanding of what it is which is causing these attacks in the first place. Once you have been able to understand where from and why the attacks are occurring, it is then far easier to be able to find a way to stop this from happening.

There are various mental exercises available to you which will help you to quiet the mind so as to regain perspective and to be able to effectively apply anxiety and panic attacks help which is widely available. Many of these exercises come in the form of guided visualization, meditation, breathing exercises and brainwave programming.

Once one has effectively been able to quiet the mind it then becomes far easier to start to analyze the causes of these anxiety and panic attacks and be able to start to rid the mind of this negative programming and replace it with far more beneficial positive brainwave programming.

This is a very natural and healthy way in which one is able to actually overcome the problems and disorder which these attacks very often bring into your life. The best part about it all is that it no longer takes years of practice to be able to learn mind control and effective mind stimulation as technology has advanced so far that it is there to assist you.

Surely it makes sense that to be able to address a mental disorder effectively one needs to focus on ways to change the ways in which the mind is working.

Self Help Anxiety Treatment

August 22nd, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

We begin at your fear of having a panic attack. You must learn to catch yourself starting to fear the pain of anxiety. You can’t run or hide from it, and trying will only make it worse. You will have to face it head on.

Why do you have to confront your fear of panic attack? Well you’d really like to get back to your old happy self and be free from the pain of panic attacks right?

Good, so I have your attention! Self help cures for anxiety include: gratitude, thankfulness, catching the patterns, refocusing while the anxiety attacks, and getting control over the panic attack.

How can gratitude help with curing anxiety? Gratitude helps because you start to focus on something else that you are thankful for. Quickly for maybe 7 seconds just try to think of something that makes you very happy. Think of something that you feel you couldn’t do without. When you have that thought just let yourself smile and try to whisper something. Whisper “I’m thankful for…” and then mention that thing you are thankful for. Doing this over and over again like a habit should help you focus your attention away from the fear of anxiety.

Another self help method for treating anxiety is noticing the different patterns that bring anxiety. For example, is it a certain location that makes you fearful? Is it certain people that give you panic attacks? Is it the trigger of a memory? You can’t keep running from your fears. You must confront them if you want to control them. When you notice that a pattern is forming and that you feel you’re about to get a panic attack, you’ll start to worry about the pain.

Think about the pain that you fear will happen when you have bad anxiety. Do you fear you will get sharp pains in the back of your head, or do you feel you will faint? If you feel that you will get a bad pain in a certain part of your body, then you need to be aware of that. Be aware, and the next time that you are starting to get a panic attack, you need to think about trying to control the pain.

Control the pain? Yes, because when you start to get control over your anxiety and the fear of it, then you start to become more powerful than the pain is. You have the ability to get over the panic and anxiety, you just have to experience it! So if you fear that you will get a terrible pain in your arm, then don’t let that fear build the pain in your arm.

Instead of building that pain with fear in your mind, try controlling the thought of pain by telling Mr. Panic Attack that he has only 15 seconds to make that pain in your arm and then he isn’t allowed to anymore. Put a limit on the pain that Mr. Panic can put in your body.

Do Children Have Anxiety Disorders?

August 21st, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

It is normal for every child to exhibit some sort of fear while they are growing up but it is another for that fear to continue into adulthood. Normal fear in children usually does not extend past maybe a few jitters over an upcoming test or being the new kid in school; these will not cause anxiety disorders. Children that do exceed those normal examples however, most likely will have an underlying reason for the severity.

Children are very precious and we do our best to protect every part of their wellbeing, but sometimes it is out of our control and we can’t protect every aspect of their lives. Some of the types of anxiety disorder children go through are closely related to adult anxiety. There may be a child who will overly worry about things that happen in school, home or social situations. Everyone wants to do well and succeed. If a child does a project and it just does not look right to them they may feel the need to start it over and over until it is perfect to them. It may not have anything to do with an object, it just may be psychological and they may need the constant reminder from a person of authority that what they are doing is great. Just a simple reminder to them can make all the difference in the world and keep them on a path free from worry.

Children may also exhibit signs of OCD, which is an obsessive compulsive disorder. This tends to plague a person with thoughts that are not wanted or a fixated thought that you can’t stop thinking about. It may cause a person to do the same thing over and over again and by doing these repetitive motions their anxiety will become less powerful. The normal age for a child to be diagnosed with OCD is 10 but it has been shown that children as young as 2 or 3 have shown signs of it. You can usually tell if a child has OCD if you notice things like excessive hand washing, fear that they are doing things wrong, rechecking things over and over, or counting items.

Panic attacks are another disorder that has been seen in young children in the adolescent years. This can be diagnosed if you notice that a child has had two or more unexpected panic attacks and a fear of thoughts of having more. There are also phobias that a child can suffer from along with irrational fears towards certain objects, places or situations. Symptoms can be harsh for a child and create stomachaches, headaches, tantrums, becoming clingy, or freezing in place. Things can be even worse if a child has to deal with death of a parent, a natural disaster, an accident or a physical assault. Children may also show their stress by not sleeping, not eating, emotional numbness, nightmares or fears that it will happen again. Some children may not be able to tell you what is going on but they can verbalize in other ways such as being clingy, crying or throwing fits. These symptoms will differ from child to child.

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Medicines to Treat Anxiety Disorders

August 19th, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

There are so many factors that can cause anxiety disorders. They cannot be treated overnight. The first thing that needs to happen is that you need to think of all the symptoms that you are having and discuss them with your doctor in order to be treated properly. This will give the doctor a better understanding of exactly what the problems are and the proper line of attack in treating anxiety disorder. Getting yourself to talk about your problems will make it easier on you as far as proper treatment. This is not always possible because of the fears that you may possess and it is usually the fear that you fear the most.

When you are beginning to treat anxiety disorder it is best that you make sure that you have gone over everything with your doctor so that you can be properly treated. There are different routes that you can go for treatments; behavioral therapy, medication and in more severe cases you will need a combination of therapies to help you out.

There are two other therapies that are more drastic ways of treatment; these are known as behavioral therapies which are a way to change negative to positive thoughts. It is possible to retrain your mind to think of situations in a whole new light, but you need to be willing to put forth the time that it may take for healing. Generally it will take the normal sufferer 5 to 20 weeks of aggressive therapy in order for it to be successful.

Exposure therapy can be very stressful in the beginning and this is the most extreme of all therapies. This method will put the sufferer into a situation where they feel the most fear and keep doing that until they know that they will not be harmed. Facing your fears head on will not be easy, but this is done in controlled setting with you and the team of specialists. You are not alone in any type of therapy that you choose for yourself. Medications along with these therapies will most likely help the process move along a bit better. Typical medications for this type of problem include the benzodiazepines such as alprazalam (Xanax), clonazepam (Klonopin), and lorazepam (Ativan). Other drugs approved for the treatment of anxiety include buspirone (Buspar), and several antidepressants such as venlafaxine (Effexor), paroxetine (Paxil) and escitalopram (Lexapro).

Medications are not always the answers for all. Some people like to take the drug free route and still work through their problems. This is fine if you only want to receive the therapy part and you can look for a holistic approach for the rest. One of the best and most recommended forms of healing for any health problems is exercise. If you add some walking to your daily activities you will begin to notice a change in your mental stability. You will be more clear minded, able to face your everyday woes and able to think and rationalize more clearly. Relaxation techniques have been another great form of therapy to relax and unwind from your day: muscle relaxation, controlled breathing and mindfulness meditation have proven to be helpful. When you add positive behavioral adjustments along with some aggressive therapy you have a recipe for a happy healthy lifestyle.

Panic Attacks Prevention Tips

August 15th, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

There are various techniques to prevent panic attacks; it is important to develop your own techniques so that an impending attack is prevented before it occurs. Panic attack is serious mental health problem which affects millions of people worldwide. If left untreated, it may develop into panic disorder which is a more serious case.

Hence, in order to avoid panic anxiety disorder to occur, prevention measures must be carefully planned and initiated to keep panic episodes at bay. However, in order to effectively manage the case, it is best to uncover the root causes on why panic problems occur on the first place.

In some instances, extreme pressures at work can cause panic attack. In this case, one of the best ways to prevent panic attacks is to learn how to manage work pressures; or you can avoid it by changing your career and live stress-free lifestyle. In fact, some individuals were able to achieve complete panic attack freedom by simply changing their career; the absence of stress effectively eliminated panic anxiety and disorder.

In other cases, unhealthy diet can also cause several anxiety attacks and panic episodes among other individuals; hence, change to healthy diet, such as avoiding excessive caffeine intake, is one of the very effective methods to prevent panic attacks.

For more severe cases, use of prescribed medicines may be necessary for immediate relief of one of its annoying symptoms. Most anti-depressant drugs are very effective in preventing an attack to strike. However, use of medications may also cause some side effects among several users; that is why its intake are generally highly regulated with strict observance on its proper use and prescribed dosage.

Moreover, other preventive measures to stop impending attacks may include several highly effective relaxation techniques and breathing exercises. There are various programs that teach sufferers how to perform breathing techniques and relaxation exercises when in attack is imminent; thereby preventing its occurrence.

Just bear in mind that each person has its own triggers of panic attack; hence you need to find out your own triggers so that you can effectively find better solution on how to prevent its occurrence the moment that you feel an attack is about to strike.

Once you have identified your own triggers, as in the case of work stress, then you can effective draw out your own techniques on how to prevent panic attacks; and eventually achieve complete freedom from this mental health issue.

Stress and Vitamin B Relationship

August 9th, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

Nutrition plays a great role in our health. With that in mind, it is no surprise that the foods we eat can have an effect on our levels of anxiety.

One of the interesting discoveries made over the years is the effect of vitamin B on our anxiety levels. In repeated studies, it is shown that an increase in the amount of vitamin B in the diet does help to lessen anxiety. Whether the vitamin B is in the form of a supplement or food doesn’t seem to matter.

The fact that foods that we eat have an effect on our emotional states shouldn’t be a surprise. For example, a person who is sensitive to caffeine may see his anxiety levels increase if he drinks a lot of coffee. Conversely, many people who drink hot cocoa says that it has a calming effect on them.

One of the theories as to why vitamin B has an effect on anxiety is that vitamin B has been proven to stabilize the lactate level in the body. This is important because many foods, such as coffee, have a direct effect on the amount of lactate that is in your system. Nutritionists also know that an increase in lactate levels in the blood stream have been shown to increase feelings of anxiety and stress. Therefore, it makes perfect senses that if the vitamin B is able to somehow stabilize the amount of lactate that is in the blood, a person with enough vitamin B in the blood stream should be shielded from the anxiety producing effects of the lactase. In other words, vitamin B has an indirect effect on his anxiety.

There are various kinds of B vitamins. There is vitamin pyridoxine, thiamine, niacinamide, and others. All of these seem to, in one way or another, have an indirect or direct effect on reducing anxiety and helping to calm the mind and body. For this reason, if you are taking supplements, it makes sense to take a quality vitamin B complex supplement rather than buying each vitamin B supplement individually. It also helps if you take your supplements with food as opposed to taking them alone. Taking them with food helps in the digestive process and ensures that the vitamins are more easily absorbed into the body.

If you are going through a stressful situation and, as a result, are not eating well, you may inadvertently be increasing your levels of stress. In order for your body to function correctly, our bodies need nutrients. If we are not eating properly, our nutritional stores are gradually depleted possibly leading to a vitamin B deficiency. And that deficiency may lead to your feeling even more anxious, restless, and irritable.

The Best Treatment For Panic Attacks

August 9th, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

There are several unhappy and unwanted moments happen in our life and they get overwhelmed by stress and depression too much that even a little irritating event severely urges the anxiety and stress and they search for the best treatment for panic attacks. They start thinking negatively with negative emotions. If they try to change their perception then it would be easy for them to defend themselves from such kind of attacks. A therapy known as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is considered to be very useful to cope with panic attacks in recent days.

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is about the alteration of your thinking. It affects your perception and your behavior. It is normally recognized when some one is behaving and acting under emotional stress and then it sees and thinks about the whole picture after having a clear and positive mind. This method of thinking is an easy solution to resolve and judge your problems leaving positive effects afterwards. So it clearly states that it represents the connection between your negative thinking and your mood and this perception significantly helps you to control such kind of thoughts that urge panic attacks.

At the very first stage of this therapy, you are taught to identify the negative emotions and thought that you observer in your daily life. A simple and normal moment can trigger life threatening situations. So this will make easy for yourself to under the intensity of your thought in good and bad moods. So you have to talk about the feelings about events that triggered your anxiety.

The second stage urges to assess the intensity and impacts of your thought on emotions. This time will let you know the negativity and positive aspects of your thought. You can easily analyze and differ between the exaggeration and truth. As you begin to understand those feelings you can easily cope with them when you observe the same feelings.

This is the final step for learning that teaches you about how to get rid of negative thoughts. The identification of bad and negative thoughts enables you to change them with positive feelings and thoughts. Try to think more positive this will enhance good feelings in you. You can easily control your bad moods and situations at this stage. This significantly reduces the anxiety and panic attack on your mind.

If you are searching for the best treatment for panic attacks then your should go for CBT as it is the best recommended and most accepted therapy to cope with stress, depression and panic attacks. Don’t forget to think positive as it powers your to fight back with such kind of attacks.

Binaural Beats to Stop Panic Attacks

August 8th, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

If you suffer from panic attacks you know very well how the extreme fear and anxiety that takes over your whole body can literally suck the energy right out of you. Severe stress can leave you feeling so depleted physically, emotionally and mentally that it can be very difficult to regain the strength needed in order to feel balanced and calm again.

Research has shown that binaural beats are able to work directly with the brainwave frequencies in order to create a calm and relaxed state of mind. By lowering the brain frequencies it is possible to create a peaceful and positive mind state without using any medical treatments.

What can too much Stress Cause?

Surviving with daily stress can obviously have many negative effects. Of course we all have to deal with a certain amount of stress and anxiety in life but some people do tend to suffer more than others.

A full blown panic attack can be very scary as often it leaves us with a feeling of being totally out of control. This sense of hopelessness can cause sickness, lack of energy, depression, and a general sense of feeling very unbalanced and possibly alone.

How can Binaural Beats Help?

Although there are many different methods to cope with stress, anxiety and even panic attacks I have not found any others that work as well as listening to a binaural audio.

During a full fledged panic attack I can sit myself in a quiet room, close my eyes and tune into a binaural beat recording. After about twenty minutes I am completely calm. The odd time I may need to listen to the recording twice but it always works for me.

In fact it always amazes me how the binaural beats can completely change how I am feeling. At the end of the recording I feel calm, relaxed and almost like I am floating. Often I will fall asleep and other times I simply continue on with my day in a far better state of mind.

I believe the binaural beats take you from the “fight or flight” state of mind to a more grounded and balanced reality. If you have tried other methods such as deep breathing, meditation, affirmations, exercise, journaling, etc. and not had a lot of luck I would highly recommend trying a simple binaural brainwave recording.

I think it is always best to combine several different methods of dealing with stress and panic attacks but I can say with absolute certainty that binaural beats have worked best for me. I can count on them to work every single time without fail.

Bottom line is stress is a part of life. Some people suffer from panic attacks on a regular basis and unless you can discover a reliable coping method you will likely begin to feel very withdrawn and unbalanced.

If you think you would like to try using binaural beats as well I would recommend doing a little bit of research as to which binaural beats are best to use. They are not all created equal of course and it is wise to use only original raw audios from a reputable brainwave entrainment company.

No matter what your stress level it is very possible to find affordable, good quality binaural beats that will work for you.