One must remember

[MrMannering]

There is no "cure" in the conventional sense of course. You must therefore stop looking for one. Anxiety is there now and always has been and always will be. We are human. What's interesting is how much we buy into anxiety while at the same time completely disbelieving it. Acceptance is key, as it was when for example you took a driving test and the anxiety was there but you knew why and your thoughts were rational. However how can anyone accept it's anxiety when they're so dizzy they cannot stand up, "I wasn't like this before", "this cannot be just anxiety". How can anyone accept that, really. As a society we don't all have the luxury to sit in a temple disconnected from the world listening to the birds and the calming wind like a Buddha. No wonder he can come up with great philosophical phrases. Do you think he felt his throat closing over and just led on the ground and said "whatever will be, will be". May be he did, but do you think he would do this while in a business meeting on the 4th floor of a London office tower? mmm I think not. Regardless of your religious beliefs or not self preservation is as much of natural human attribute as anxiety.

There are many therapies all of which have there uses. But have you noticed they are all there to help you live with it rather than without it. I akin it to a hammer hitting your finger all day every day. Rather than removing the hammer you start on a journey to live with the fact the hammer is hitting you. I am sure this comes from the lack of real understanding of anxiety or someone is cashing in on it.

Think about yourself, we are all born into this world with no handbook and the vast majority of us expected to fit a certain mould. Maybe you don't actually fit that mould and why would you, that mould has been created by other people, do well, get a good job, pay your bills, etc etc. One of the biggest crimes with anxiety stems from other peoples expectation of what makes you happy. Look at what triggers these awful feelings or for some certain death. You don't want to go to the cinema because you feel scared and uncomfortable in those environments, you might have a heart attack in front of all those people and cause a commotion. You will always get someone trying to fix you and say "come on you need to get through this, the cinema is great fun". Well for them maybe but for you it isn't so technically, don't ever go again, do what makes you happy and comfortable. Your friend possibly doesn't like skydiving through fear of death but we don't see you trying to force them to jump out of a plane. This comes from the 'mould' of life. We are all individual and we have our own moulds and who has the authority on what is rational and what isn't.

As I said acceptance is key not just from the suffer but non sufferers. We all have to do things we don't want to at some point in life but why not make it 80/20 split. Do what makes you feel better don't do what makes you feel bad or anxious. Of course it's not easy, we wouldn't be on this forum otherwise but Identify those areas and there is no harm in eradicating them if you can.

Remember ... you don't have to fix something that makes you anxious just because it's more beneficial to someone else. "I accept you like the cinema, why don't you accept that I don't".

Anyway, Be safe people.

[Jeff1943]

MrMannering, you don't distinguish between anxiety, which is normal, and anxiety disorder which is not. Big difference.

When you refer to acceptance you are not refering to the acceptance method that has allowed tens of thousands to recover from anxiety disorder since it was first introduced in the early 1960s.

Your kind of acceptance is "putting up with" anxiety permanently but avoiding situations that cause anxiety. So if your anxiety disorder is agoraphobia you just stay indoors for ever.

The acceptance method first advocated by Claire Weekes means accepting anxiety symptoms for the time being as a temporary phase leading to recovery. Big difference.

Even those whose anxiety disorder is inherited can reduce the intensity and frequency of episodes by adopting the latter type of acceptance.

Of course, the acceptance method is not the only method that brings cure and recovery, it is the only one I'm familiar with.