Anxiety 2 Calm

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Stop your children inheriting anxiety
2007-05-27 02:49:00
It is often asked: What can I do to stop my children inheriting my anxiety, my fear if flying, my agoraphobia. People often ask this question when they have been struggling with their own symptoms for sometime and are ready to start a family bit have a nagging fear in the back of their mind. Genetic Link Due the publication of various pieces of research and somewhat reckless journalism, many people who have minor mental health problems like anxiety believe their problems to be genetic. This is not entirely the case and sufferers should make sure they fully understand the research before they jump to conclusions. False Conclusion Anxiety is genetic. I have anxiety. I will always have anxiety as it is programmed into every cell in my body. This is the thought process of an anxiety sufferer who believes their "condition" to be genetic. It gives them nothing but hopelessness. And it is false. Genetics may play a minor role. Genetics may play a minor role but there is no gene that says "...
More About: Children , Stop

Anti-depressant usage too high
2007-05-22 21:01:00
It recently caught my eye that in the UK anti-depressant prescription has soared over the last few years. In 2006 prescriptions were up 6% despite the fact that most independent experts and mental health advocacy groups believe that alternatives to medication provide better long term hope for those with depression. Just to recap, anti-depressants like Prozac and Celexa do not actually cure depression, they treat the symptoms for as long as you take them (if you are one of the roughly two thirds of people that find them helpful). They are best used as an aid to therapy or other lifestyle changes which promote a healthy mind. Nice, the body which regulates drugs licensing and prescribing in the UK, recommended in 2004 that anti-depressants should not be the first option explored by doctors when patients present depression. Many studies have shown that other activities, often involving exercise like walking in the country or swimming have been very beneficial in fighting moderate depr...
More About: High , Usage , Sage , Anti , Sant

Overcoming Anxiety - working in a microcosm
2007-05-20 11:40:00
Just a quick thought for people who are trying to overcome anxiety disorders, panic disorder and agoraphobia. When tackling situations which have been known to lead to panic attacks and anxiety attacks it may be best to work in a microcosm.  For some people the situations that can lead to anxiety and panic will be physical (a shopping centre or subway underground train) or emotional (having to confront someone, make a complaint, end a relationship). One core trait of CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) is creating a hierarchy with the most difficult at the top and starting with the easiest at the bottom. This is all well and good for some sufferers but, depending on exactly what kind of anxiety or panic you are experiencing, and what is triggering it, it may well be that the CBT approach is much too simplistic. What might be more appropriate is to find a weak example of the situation that causes fear, and treat it like an inoculation. Your body learns to fight viruses ...
More About: Anxiety , Micro , Working , Ming , Croc

Depression - Friends and Family - What to do
2007-05-13 16:02:00
Being close to someone who suffers from depression can be a lonely and frightening experience. Being in a relationship with a depressed person can deeply frustrating and agonizing. Typical attitudes of a depressive person might include: Nobody loves me I am not worth anything I don't deserve you I deserve a loser like myself I have nothing to offer you I can never be happy So what can you do? 1-Firstly you must encourage your loved one to seek help. Depression is a solvable problem. No one has to suffer from it and the solution is out there. Often the people who struggle with depression for a long time are those who resist help, or unconsciously sabotage efforts to help them. That may sound harsh, but making a depressed person believe they are worth treating, and that they can recover, is hard task for anyone. And in today's over-stretched healthcare systems we sadly can not rely on doctors and health workers to have sufficient time or resources to look after...
More About: Family , Friends , Sion , Ends

Learning to say "NO".
2007-05-10 20:46:00
For most people that suffer from anxiety and depression self-esteem is a problem. We might often be inclined to put other people's thoughts and feelings before our own. Deep down, this can  be very damaging. While we might seem to be happier once we have satisfied and gained the acceptance of those around us, in fact we tend to mourn our lost desires and crave control of our lives. In some cases this emotion may manifest as episodes of anxiety, panic or depression. Like most things in life there is a balance involved. Life does involve some compromises and as mature adults we must remember that we can't have it all our own way. But while some things in life might be out of our control (tax, the weather, work managers, public transport) many things are within our control. We don't have to control everything in life that we can. This is called control freakery and is a very unpleasant character trait. We do need, however, to control some aspects of our day to day lives, and ...
More About: Learning , Learn , Earning

Why some people become hoarders - OCD
2007-04-25 20:46:00
This article from the BBC is worth reading. For more info on OCD click here.   People who hoard apparently useless items may be able to blame an area of their brain, say US researchers. The University of Iowa team pinpointed a region in the frontal lobe that appeared to control this behaviour. Researchers have linked hoarding to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), but it is not known what causes it and whether it is a unique condition. The study in the journal Brain adds to growing evidence that hoarding has its own specific underlying mechanism. Useless junk OCD is an anxiety disorder in which the person is compelled by irrational fears and thoughts to repeat seemingly needless actions over and over again. It can manifest itself in repetitive behaviours, such as excessive hand washing, cleaning or repeated checking. But some people with OCD have a compulsion to hoard things, which is well above and beyond the avid interest of an average stamp collector. Researchers fr...
More About: Some

Online Therapy
2007-04-15 17:12:00
Recently there has been an upsurge in support for using the Internet as a medium for providing care. The image of a counselor or a therapist as a person who sits in a darkened room while you lie on a couch is an out-dated one. Now things are going hi-tech. The UK government recently announced a scheme whereby the National Health Service will supply care to those with anxiety and depression via computer programmes. Kasamba provides online counseling Fear Fighter will be used for people who suffer from phobias or panic attacks, and Beating the Blues will be aimed at those who have mild to moderate depression. UK mental health charity SANE has welcomed this move as a positive first step. Obviously there are various advantages to online therapy. It can be cheaper (even if the only saving to the patient is not having to buy petrol and pay for parking at the therapists office). It can also be more convenient, being enough time for a session in an average lunch break. Early f...
More About: Online , Therapy , Line , Erap , Thera

Links for 2007-04-06 [del.icio.us]
2007-04-07 07:00:00
BBC NEWS | Health | Can online therapy ease depression?
More About: Links

Links for 2007-03-27 [del.icio.us]
2007-03-28 07:00:00
BBC NEWS | Health | Computer therapy access 'for all'
More About: Links

Using the Work of Byron Katie for Anxious and Depressing thoughts
2007-03-28 01:36:00
Here is a personal experience sent to me by a reader regarding the work of Byron Katie . For more details on Byron Katie please click the link. In this example we see how someone with anxiety can deal with matters concerning guilt and shame, as well as unecessary worry. "I had had a bad day at work. Someone I work with had made a complaint about me and it lead to a host of confusing and contradicting emotions which were causing me low level anxiety and interrupting my sleep and the enjoyment of my weekend. Basically, I felt cheated, out-raged, ashamed, guilty, and worried. In the past I have had CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy). This therapy claims to help you deal with negative thoughts through a process of rationalisation. It can be useful but personally I don't find it very powerful. That is to say that when a thought is really biting, really invading every moment, I can't seem to shift it using CBT. Byron Katie's method is actually not that different from some aspects of...
More About: Work , Thoughts , Depressing

Inositol for Anxiety
2007-03-25 00:48:00
Every once in a while a natural product or food supplement comes into the public domain which promises a lot: Anxiety Relief Cheap Drug Free Side effect free Permanent Let's face it, 5-HTP, tryptophan, amino acid complex, kava kava etc didn't really do it for the most part. That isn't to say that they don't have their place and many people have got some kind of good results from them, and from a balanced diet that includes the main sources of them. But the holy grail of anxiety sufferers they ain't. Recently there has been a lot of interest in Inositol for the treatment of OCD, anxiety and depression. Sometimes, when substances like this are sold as a cure all, it is hard to believe that they are any other than just hype as a result of poor research. I say this as I have just read that Inositol is sold as a solution to baldness and hair loss. That said, there is some evidence to suggest that Inositol is as good as SSRI anti-depressants in the treatment of mood disorders. ...
More About: Sito

More Mindfulness Meditation
2007-03-24 02:39:00
This is just a little addition to my last post on Mindfulness Meditation which can be read by following this link. Watching the breath, without trying to change or control it, is the backbone of mindfulness meditation. And, as I previously talked about, when the conscious mind interrupts with either fantasy, worry or recollection I gently take my attention back to my breath, after acknowledging the thought. The key being to keep in the present time, where everything is absolutely as it is meant to be. The idea that everything is as it is meant to be is sometimes a hard one to grasp. In brief, we live in a world of cause and effect, where every action eventually has an outcome. Anxiety and depression for instance have causes (emotional, physical, genetic, spiritual), and because of those causes whatever is happening right now, is exactly as it should be. The laws of cause and effect do not make mistakes. Odd outcomes have odd causes preceding them. Therefore wherever we are, and how ...
More About: Ness

Mindful Meditation - how I do it and what it does for me.
2007-03-24 02:00:00
Meditation is a very personal thing. There is only one rule in meditation: there is no right way. Generally, when one starts to meditate a critical inner voice tells you that you are doing it wrong, that it's not "working" or that nothing is happening. This is quite common and that's why many people start meditating and then give up almost immediately. Everyone, not just those prone to anxiety and panic, can get something from meditation, or learn something about themselves. For that reason I have decided to post a short description of how I meditate. Before I do that I want to say that I have tried various forms of meditation normally with the goal of "curing" anxiety. Also, I learnt mainly from various books and CD's and not from great masters, although if you have one available this might better! I want to make this clear now because how I meditate may not be how they meditate, and no doubt you will develop your own practice. Firstly let me say something about posture. Most o...
More About: Meditation

Fear of Flying Courses - a personal experience part II
2007-03-15 21:32:00
Hi! This is the second part of Chris's experience of Virgin Atlantic's Flying Without Fear course, which he attended last year. The article follows on directly from part one, which was posted yesterday. Please follow this link to it and start reading from the beginning if you haven't done so already. *** Two Kinds of Fear There are, broadly speaking, two kinds of fearful fliers. Type 1: They are scared of the plane crashing, that don't feel that it is rational or reasonable for human kind to fly, and they worry that turbulence can break a plane apart and send it plummeting to the ground. These people are scared of terrorism, hijacking, structural failure and severe weather.  All of their fears are unfounded as long as they stick to commercial passenger jets which either start or terminate in Europe, North America, Japan or Australia. Because of safety standards the chances of anything terrible happening on these flights is too miniscule to worry about. Type 2: T...
More About: Personal , Personal experience , Experience

Fear of Flying courses - a Personal Experience
2007-03-15 21:30:00
Many of you will have seen various fear of flying courses advertised by airlines and on the Internet. In the UK the most popular ones are: Virgin Atlantic's "Flying Without Fear " British Airways linked "Aviatours" Flybe's "FlyingFear" According to their web site, all of these courses follow roughly the same format: An explanation of how flying works from a pilot An explanation of turbulence A discussion calming fears of safety and crashing A buffet lunch A relaxation seminar from an expert or a psychologist A question and answer session A flight Each of these courses cost between £180-250 approximately. I think most people with a severe fear of flying would agree that £250 is a small price to pay to overcome your fears. After all, most of these courses advertise 95% success rate, so it is a good investment. Chris from Somerset (in the southwestern UK for those of you who aren't from round here) has written to me with an appraisal of the Virgin Atlantic "Flying Without ...
More About: Personal , Personal experience , Experience

Fear of Flying Courses - a personal experience part III
2007-03-15 21:29:00
Hi This is the 3rd and final part of Chris's experience on Virgin Atlantic's Flying Without Fear course. If you have missed parts One and Two please follow these links to go back and read them now. --- After lunch we were introduced to the Psychotherapist David Landau. He is the regular psychotherapist for these courses and also runs a private practice in West London. He gave a talk about fear, negative thoughts, and the like. He also said that we weren't phobic, just scared. He said: "If you're willing to fly but simply scared then you do not have a phobia. You wouldn't be here if you did." I beg to differ, the course info on their web site says: "We have helped people with all levels of fears from mild anxiety to full-blown panic attacks and vomiting at the mere mention of aircraft." If that doesn't describe phobic people I'm a Dutchman. This left a slightly unpleasant taste in my mouth. I felt like the website blurb had somewhat misled me. He took us thro...
More About: Personal , Personal experience , Experience

Links for 2007-03-14 [del.icio.us]
2007-03-15 06:00:00
BBC NEWS | Health | Stressful event kills brain cells
More About: Links

Links for 2007-03-09 [del.icio.us]
2007-03-10 07:00:00
BBC NEWS | Health | Mental health reform 'unproven'
More About: Links

Depression linked to low birth weight
2007-03-07 22:50:00
In the ongoing search to understand the causes of depression a US study has reported some interesting findings. After studying data over a number of years from a 1400 children they found a significant link between birth weight and depression. Their findings showed that girls who were underweight at birth (in this case weighing less than 2.5kg) were at a much higher risk of developing depression in later life. The statistics were quite startling: Underweight baby girls were more than four times as likely to suffer from depression. It should be stressed that the study failed to find a link between the birth weight of boys and depression in later life. In previous studies it has been mooted that depression, or its causes, may lie dormant from birth and become awakened later in life under stressful or emotionally painful circumstances. For more on beating Depression Click Here. Interestingly, no evidence was found to suggest that low birth weight is linked to mental health i...
More About: Weight , Birth , Sion , Eight

Links for 2007-03-06 [del.icio.us]
2007-03-07 07:00:00
BBC NEWS | Health | 'Depression link' to small babies
More About: Links

Guided Imagery Meditation
2007-03-07 00:54:00
I have had a great deal of success using basic kinds of healing meditations. I have used them in both a mental and physical context. For physical relief it seems they can be useful in a whole range of areas from aching joints to a blocked-up nose. But, perhaps more usefully, they have helped me with anxiety, low self-esteem and depression. It seems that by focusing in on the actual part of the body (often head or stomach) where the emotion is actually being felt, you can actually relieve, move or deal with that emotion. Click her for the Panic Away Programme. I wouldn't say this is a miracle cure, but it is a great help! And it is very easy to learn and can easily be practised in a short space of time. I also think it is great to include these with for example the Sedona Method, which helps one to release negative emotions. del.icio.us tags: mediation, guided, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, sedona
More About: Meditation , Imagery , Guid , Ager

Childhood Stress may cause permanent physical damage to brain
2007-03-05 17:54:00
New research by Stanford University has found that the hippocampus seems smaller and "withered" in children who suffered severe physical or emotional stress in their youth. The suggestion is that this less active hippocampus leaves children less able to deal with stress and at a higher risk of suffering from anxiety. A physical cause of anxiety has far reaching consequences for the cure vs manage debate. Those who believe that anxiety disorders, panic attacks and phobias have largely emotional causes are able to hold out much more hope for a complete recovery than those that believe anxiety is a physical/chemical/genetic phenomena we have to live with just like hair colour. Assuming that the hippocampus can not be revitalized, this research suggests that people who suffer from disorders caused by childhood stress may only ever be able to manage their symptoms, as opposed to finding true release.  It should be stressed that the subjects in the Stanford research had acq...
More About: Childhood , Physical , Stress , Brain , Cause

Cognitive Therapy vs Psychoanalysis
2007-03-04 14:50:00
If you speak to a doctor about anxiety or panic attacks two things will come to that doctor's mind: drug therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy. These techniques work like magic - for some people. There has always been a significant group of people for whom these techniques were ineffective. Some could not tolerate the side effects of the drugs or the drugs didn't work. For some CBT let them take a step forward, but then they would immediately take two steps back. Perhaps CBT and Drug therapy, both symptomatic treatments, failed to touch any of their underlying causes. CBT - A Great Therapy CBT has become a fashionable therapy for anxiety, phobias and panic because it is relatively cheap, quick, and easy. It is a good therapy, it has helped many millions of people, and it has an important role to play in the fight against all manner of mental health issues. But remember, it is not a cure-all, and it is not the only weapon in the psychologist's armory. ...
More About: Psych , Erap , Psychoanalysis , Anal

Links for 2007-03-03 [del.icio.us]
2007-03-04 07:00:00
In Rigorous Test, Talk Therapy Works for Panic Disorder - New York Times
More About: Links

Sick - The UK mental health service needs help
2007-03-03 02:11:00
Yet more shortcomings of the way people with mental health are treated in the UK have come to light. This is a sick system which is failing. The whole attitude and ethos behind the treatment of anxiety, depression, self-harming, eating disorders and other non-physical based issues is damaging, out-dated, and sometimes cruel. At the moment the system only really works when people are assertive and proactive in seeking the correct treatment. The problem with this is that people who say self-harm necessarily have low self-esteem, and do not believe their case is worth fighting for. What is needed is the diametric opposite, for the system to help those people who are unable or unwilling to see that they are worth it. In a recent report by the BBC, a women told of her history of self-harm and low self-esteem which was ignored by teachers and medical professionals alike. What really came through in the report was a complete lack of understanding, recognition, and caring by thos...
More About: Health , Mental , Service , Mental Health , Menta

Pregnancy depression 'is missed'
2007-03-01 20:49:00
While post natal / post partum depression is widely recognized (if poorly dealt with) condition, depression during pregnancy is proving to be a much larger problem than society or healthcare professionals had previously thought. It does seem that like almost always minor mental health problems are being overlooked. Depression , anxiety, stress and eating disorders are obviously highly undesirable during pregnancy, and not without their dangers from both mother and child. So why has this problem been seemingly ignored for so long? Often, pregnant women don't want to take too much medicine, particularly some types of anti-depressants. At time of writing there seems to be a gray area over the use of some anti-depressants during pregnancy. If people are coming off depression medication, particularly if they are coming off quickly, they need to be under proper supervision from healthcare professionals, and receiving counseling if necessary. It might be that the patients themselves h...
More About: Pregnancy , Sion

Perfectionists IBS link
2007-02-28 22:15:00
Researchers from Southampton university have found a link between stress and IBS.For a long time many people who suffer from IBS (and many self-styled nutritionists) have suspected that the symptoms are caused, exacerbated, or lead to stress.The study found that those people who were anxious about their symptoms or who were generally stressed in terms of pushing themselves at work were more likely to suffer from IBS.There could well be 3 million people in the UK with IBS, many of whom contracted it after a gut infection.The type of person who does suffer from IBS is likely to be "driven", carrying on regardless until they were forced to rest.Dr Rona Moss-Morris commented that "These people were not hypochondriacs. But they did have a negative attitude towards their symptoms."She added: "These are people who have high expectations of always doing the right thing - and going off work goes against their beliefs."It is thought that CBT might help bring anxious and perfectionist thinking...
More About: Link , Perfect , Perfection

Links for 2007-02-27 [del.icio.us]
2007-02-28 07:00:00
BBC NEWS | Health | Early man 'couldn't stomach milk'
More About: Links

Depression and Suicide in Girls
2007-02-27 20:05:00
A recent report has highlighted the level of depression and suicide in girls. 6000 young people called Childline last year, some of them were as young as five. This shows that there is a real problem of childhood depression in the UK. Organizations like Childline can provide immediate support and help, especially in emergencies, but what children really need is access to proper mental health care, and of course community or familial support. In recent years the concept of "the family" has more or less fallen by the wayside. And I don't say that in the same way as the Christian right. I don't mean that children need married middle class parents for everything to be fine. I just mean children need parenting. And good parenting can come from a single parent, a divorced parent, a married couple, a co-habiting couple, a mixed race couple or a homosexual couple. There is no demographic that can be 100% ruled out of good parenting. Good parenting means caring, and at the moment too...
More About: Girls , Depression , Suicide , Sion , Cide

Simulator helps to conquers post traumatic-stress after quake
2007-02-25 12:07:00
Post traumatic stress affects millions each year after disasters such as the Asian Tsunami and the War on Iraq. In recent years there have been many treatments, including EMDR and Drug Therapy. Now, virtual reality technology is being used to allow people to relive traumas after the event in controlled circumstances. It is hypothesized that post traumatic stress arises when the brain is unable to process the horrors that it is seeing at the time, and that these traumatic images resurface as anxiety, depression, aggression or delusion at some point in the future when the trauma has passed. (Contrast this with the more immediate but temporary Acute Stress Reaction) As the sufferer relives the trauma they can have the time and support available to process the sounds and images correctly, so that although the memory is intact, it is no longer so intrusive into their lives. Overall, modern treatments are often successful and the prognosis for Post Traumatic stress disorder...
More About: Quake , Post , After , Raum