Panic and anxiety tends to immobilize people, so much so, that some people have a fear of even leaving their home. Agoraphobia is the technical term used to describe people who are afraid of open spaces or being in crowded places like malls, outdoor markets and theme parks. If you’ve ever felt anxious about leaving home, or your “safe zone”, you’re experiencing some of the effects of agoraphobia. The truth is, those feelings are really just feelings of vulnerability. People who suffer from panic attacks feel like they are more vulnerable in certain situations, and so they have difficulty feeling
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I think everyone that has experienced regular panic attacks has had this thought at one stage or another. It is directly connected to fear of losing control and freaking out. People’s imaginations run riot with ideas of losing mental control and doing something totally out of character and then as a result get locked up in a padded cell because of their strange behavior. When you experience high anxiety and panic your mind is not able to think rationally. The idea of being committed seems ridiculous to the non anxious mind but when your mind is operating from a high
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Just a quick note to wish you a very Happy New Year. As we think back on the last year we can often tend to focus on what went wrong rather than what went right. There are some of you who might feel it was not as anxiety free as you wished it could have been. If that is the case with you I want you to take solace in the fact that the road to recovery almost always has setbacks along the way. Recovering from panic attacks or GAD is never linear like getting over a cold. You take
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Most people who experience panic and anxiety attacks regularly have forgotten how to breathe correctly. If you think about it, consider how you breathe when you’re tense or anxious about something. If you’re like most people, your breathing becomes really shallow and you may even “sink” into your body, rounding your shoulders and slouching slightly. This often sets you up for feelings of fatigue as you breathing is too shallow. Making sure fresh oxygen is circulating throughout your body helps to keep you alert and clear headed. When you are feeling anxious, you might slow down your breathing and thereby
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The sensations of a panic attack can appear at random times throughout the day, but in some people, the effects are more persistent over an entire day. It’s important to remember that the physical manifestations of a panic attack are linked to automatic nervous system functions. When either of these systems is activated, you will feel a number of different sensations throughout the body. Adrenaline is released and the body goes into the famous state of ‘flight or flight’ a term which coined by Dr. Walter Canon with his original formulation of human threat response. This cycle of sensations and
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The holiday season can be one of the most stressful times of the year. Last minute shopping, in-laws, and everyone on their best behavior…or not. People with anxiety often count down the days to the merry season with mixed feelings. If you suffer from panic attacks regularly, you are probably well aware of the physical manifestations that you will probably experience as the holidays draw near. The body’s goal of the fight or flight response is to make you aware of danger, but if you’re having a panic attack, this response can be triggered by a variety of stimuli. Holiday
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People who experience panic attacks will often say that they feel out of control as soon as the panic is in full swing. Christian Nevell Bovee once wrote: “Panic is a sudden desertion of us, and a going over to the enemy of our imagination.” Doesn’t that sum it up well? A confident self assured person can suddenly feel powerless and vulnerable as soon as the panic manifests. As the bodily sensations race, the mind jumps from logic and reason to wild fears fueled by the imagination. The hardest part for most people to get their heads around is why
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Why do some people have a problem with anxiety and others do not? This is a question almost everyone who experiences anxiety asks themselves at some point or another. Why me? My understanding of anxiety is that yes, some people seem more susceptible than others but that the key trigger tends to be exhaustion. By exhaustion I mean mental, physical, or emotional exhaustion. (Under physical exhaustion I also include things like diet or substance abuse) For some it may be exhaustion caused by a hectic life and never taking time to release the stress. People like that often do not
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I’ve often observed that many people’s top-ranking fear is not death but having to speak in public. The joke is that these people would rather lie in a casket at their own funeral than give the eulogy. Public speaking for people who suffer from panic attacks or general anxiety often becomes a major source of worry, possibly weeks or even months before the speaking event is to occur. These speaking engagements don’t necessarily have to be the traditional “on a podium” events; they can be as simple as an office meeting where the individual is expected to express an opinion
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As most doctors will tell you, there are two things that disturb sleep: physical pain and worry. It’s therefore understandable that many people with anxiety report frequent sleep disturbance as a major problem. Not being able to sleep can actually be quite traumatic for many people. The first thing you need to understand about sleep is this: it’s not the amount of sleep you get that’s important, but rather the quality of the sleep. Quality over quantity. I am going to give you some quick tips to help tackle any problems you are having with sleep. Firstly, to break the
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People who have never experienced a panic attack often judge the anxious person harshly. The outsider has no real comprehension of what is happening to the person experiencing a panic attack and wonders why they fear to do the simplest things. I know myself that I could not understand how overnight I went from being a confident young man to someone who became anxious of common everyday situations. Going places took on a whole new dimension as I constantly evaluated if being there might trigger a panic attack. I had to force myself to do very simple things like go
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