Stop fearing the fear

[Hopefortoday]

The panic trick. I have been doing a lot of reading about the anticipation of a panic attacks and know that when I think about or fear the fear so to speak I bring this on myself. The symptoms are that I will faint but I don't and I am thinking of the best way to handles ones in the future is to ride it out and in the meantime stop obsessing over when the next one will hit. I have had this issue when under stress so I am confident I can manage my stress and stop fearing the attacks and remind myself I am in control

[blackcat64013]

Hi Hopefortoday,

I just came back from a session with my psychologist. We talked about URGE SURFING. Apparently it's a technique invented by a psychologist and mainly used by people with addictions but now promoted in mental illness circles. In my case we are talking about it's application in comfort eating when anxious or depressed.

When we feel the urge/feeling to do something, we feel we cannot resist and we react. As this pattern repeats, we come to believe that we must act in order for the urge to go away, that we don't have any other choice.

There is a choice, we are just not used to making it. Urges/feeling are intense but short-lived. They may feel they will go on forever but in fact they will reach a certain point and start to weaken by themselves, just like a wave in the ocean.

Urge surfing involves letting the urge/feeling build, peak and dissipate on it own, without trying to stop or change it - just like riding a wave.

You don't have to fight or suppress your feeling, all you have to do is surf over them and they'll disappear!

An interesting idea. If it works I will lose some of the weight I have put on

[Cat33 in reply to blackcat64013]

Thank you for this post lovely and positive and very true x

[Cat33]

Thanks for your post I'm feeling like you I posted yesterday about having an attack and seeing it through Whilst I was going through it I texted a friend who understands and she said look for five different colours five different smells and five different textures Once I started to distract myself the panic started to die down I agree with everything you say and it's so true and basically we do bring them on ourselves by that fear of the fear

I had one in the hairdressers the other week too but it went through the same old pattern built up and up I wanted to cry run away etc etc but then it got to its peak and I felt really calm for the rest of the appointment

Wishing you all the best and we can just say "we aren't scared of you anxiety anymore " 😍

[Meeasy]

The post and responses in this post are similar to what is known as the concept of ACT- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Here are some videos (short) that shed light on these ideas. Best of all they are free, do it yourself.

Feel free to share and explore. There are several other videos, books and websites. Google it. I hope it helps you ✌️

The struggle switch

youtu.be/_1YEtxs6TdI(Not working as expected?)

Example of taking ACTion

youtu.be/GBzG7lMo2kI(Not working as expected?)

The 6 key tennants of ACT

youtu.be/RMWgrGUSlUQ(Not working as expected?)

A visual excercise

youtu.be/jrmKtaMqOh4(Not working as expected?)

MBCT Explained. TED talk

youtu.be/1A4w3W94ygA(Not working as expected?)

MBCT Free guided meditation excercise

(Start with the short ones)

m.youtube.com/channel/UCaxx...

[Hopefortoday]

Thank you