When anxiety disorder comes calling we wonder what's hit us. All we want is to return to the day before yesterday when life was comparatively serene. And we want it to happen fast - and with minimum effort on our part.
Hopefully there is some miracle pill that taken once will do the trick. Dream on. Anxiety disorder results in a fundamental change to our nervous system. But it can be corrected given understanding, practice and the passing of time.
Only you know what caused your nervous system to become over sensitised. Loss, disappointment, over-work, health worries, toxic relationships and concerns about money are among the usual suspects.
When our nervous system can take no more it becomes over-sensitised producing symptoms such as panic attacks, health anxiety, agoraphobia and derealisation to name but some. Every small concern real or imagined becomes magnified ten-fold: always the worst case scenario.
Gradually we enter a vicious circle whereby symptoms cause fear which causes anxiety hormones to further sensitise our nerves, causing more symptoms causing more fear and so forth.
The key to recovery is to break the vicious circle by not responding to the flash of first fear with second fear because we know that anxiety is a paper tiger whose power is limited.
The key to recovery is to stop fighting our anxiety because fighting causes more stress and strain and our nervous system needs less not more of that.
The key to recovery is to accept your bad feelings and troublesome thoughts for the time being and go about your daily tasks as normal: nobody recovers by staying between the four walls lying in bed or on the couch. Imagine yourself propelled through those tasks by an invisible force but above all truly accepting all the false symptoms that sensitised nerves send your way.
And with the inevitabilty of gradualness, given ample time, not today or next week, you stop stimulating your nerves with too much adrenaline and cortisol and those nerves return to normal sensitivity and stop sending you false fears and worries.
Once mastered, Acceptance (for the time being) will yield recovery - no matter how long or how deeply you have suffered.
*This post is based on the teachings of Doctor Claire Weekes, 'the woman who cracked the anxiety code'.
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