Safety behaviour

[Chris-saunders]

Just wondering if anyone else has a particular "safety behaviour " when healthy anxiety or anxiety in general? Mine is rubbing my left chest and pinching the skin around the nipple. I'd hate to see what the inside looks like after doing this for over a year. I also believe that doing this is what brings on the pain in my chest every now and again.

Hope everyone is okay 😊

[Beevee]

Hi Chris

My advice would be to give up the safety behaviour and let the anxiety symptoms come. They may make you feel uncomfortable but completely harmless. The reason it hangs around is because you are trying to control it. Effectively, you are sending a message to your brain saying there is a problem which triggers your fear/flight responses. Trying to keep control just keeps reinforcing the message and keeping your senses on high alert. Relinquish that control and it will fade away.

[Chris-saunders in reply to Beevee]

Thank you for the advise beevee, it's just a very nasty cycle of events, it's so hard not to do it as it's something I have become use to over the passed year or so now.

[Roz31 in reply to Beevee]

hi Beevee is it ok to do deep breathing when you feel the anxiety or is that also stopping or trying to control it happening x

[Beevee in reply to Roz31]

Hi

If you are using it to try and rid yourself of the feelings or trying to stop it coming, it implies that you still fear the symptom and trying to control it. As I be always said, it is the trying that keeps sufferers in the cycle because you are telling your lambic system that there is a threat so it fires up your fight/flight response to protect you from the threat which means more anxiety. The less you resist, the better you will begin to feel.

[SashaFox]

I have a bad safety habit. When i get anxious and start an attack I just scratch and scratch until my skin is raw. I have been trying a method where I count in odd numbers like 1 3 5 7 9 11 13... and so on.

When I do breathing excersizes i just end up vomiting.

Sorry if this reply is not as positive..

[Dc2513]

When I'm anxious I clutch my left on my chest as well I dunno why I do it I think it's because my anxiety makes me feel I'm having a heart attack scares the shit out of me