We have all experienced the fight or flight or panic response throughout our lives. It’s a perfectly normal and healthy response designed to kick us into gear when we are faced with and have to deal with real threats or danger. For the most part this emergency response is triggered only when there is a real threat or danger. Sometimes, this normal and healthy response can be triggered at times when there is in fact no danger or threat at all. In these circumstances, this completely inappropriate response is known as a panic attack. Now most, if not all of us will experience a panic attack during our lifetime. No biggie. An inappropriate emergency response to a situation here and there won’t really rock the boat too much. We have all ‘freaked out’ for no particular reason. Most of us just don’t make a big deal over it. But for some of us (including me back in the day), these panic attacks can become a regular thing, and can develop into an habitual pattern of behaviour, in this case an anxiety condition, through a learning process known as operant or fear conditioning (more on this in upcoming insight/post). If you suffer from panic attacks you will know firsthand how nasty and crippling this behaviour is. However, overcoming panic attacks isn’t as hard as you might think. The first step is to understand what’s actually going on; because one thing’s for sure, as a sufferer of panic attacks, you don’t understand what's going on.... if you did, you wouldn’t suffer from them in the first place. So the purpose of the next few insights is to break down and explain exactly what panic attacks are. If you suffer from panic attacks, do yourself a solid and watch the next few insights.
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Yesterday's insight discussed panic attacks. This wee lesson takes you through the panic cycle. The more you understand the truth about what's really going on, the faster you will be able to finally dump all the bullshit beliefs that you currently hold about panic attacks and yourself, empowering you to move towards your fears... (watch the video for more)
Hi everyone. Insight #15 is a discussion on anxiety related phobias. If you have a phobia of driving, flying, social gatherings, leaving the house.......... even sleeping bags (it's a thing!), then this lesson will be a good one for you to watch. I also go further into my own experiences with social phobia back in the day. My story might also help you to understand your own situation. Todays insight is all about PTSD. There will a a few people out there that will poo poo this lesson, claiming that PTSD is an actually disorder, and that I do not understand PTSD because I haven’t experienced severe trauma. To those people all I can say is watch this lesson in it’s entity before you judge. Here’s a wee excerpt from this lesson: … ‘ I do have some understanding of what you are going through. I’ve seen my fair share of shit too. *I can still hear the blood curdling screams of pain from victims crushed and trapped in motor vehicles. Or hear the last gasp of breath from a victim dying of stab wounds. *I can still smell the stench of burnt bodies or decomposing bodies… of death *I can still see death, physical violence and sexual abuse. *I can still remember and feel the helplessness and fear from threats and violent attacks. *I can still see and hear my dad taking his last breath. *Certain situations, whether it’s something I see, hear, or smell remind me of past experience all too often. If I go into a hospital for example, if I smell things like rubber gloves of all things... (watch the video for more)
Hi everyone. The last series of insights explained what anxiety conditions actually were. While this may have been very informative for my friends who either suffer themselves or have an interest in this area, it probably didn't really tell you anything you didn't already know. These insight probably only confirmed what you intuitively already knew. At the very least I hope there were some 'aha' moments. What you really want to know however is not 'what', but 'how'. You want to know 'how' to change, to heal. That's what the next series of insights is going to do. The 'how to change' part starts with understanding what you actually fear... The next few short lessons explains this.
In this lesson I explain that the sensations that you experience when in a highly anxious state, or even when experiencing panic attacks are the exact same response when in an excited state... the difference is in the interpretation. This is only a very short lesson, but very important all the same as it builds on the previous short lessons. If you are a sufferer of anxiety conditions, these next series of short lessons will be very useful to you as you build your knowledge and understanding of what's really going on, and what you really fear. The more you understand the truth about what's going on, the more likely it is that you will be willing to throw away all the bullshit beliefs that you are holding onto that's keeping you stuck and preventing you from doing what you have to do to be well again.
Hi everyone. In insight #19 I talked about how the sensations that you experienced during high anxiety and panic attacks are exactly the same sensations or response that you experience when you are in an excited state. This can be a fine line, and the difference comes down to nothing more than an interpretation in the moment. Insight #20 builds on this concept further by illustrating this fine line with an analogy involving two colleagues participating in a team building exercise - in this case, abseiling!! One colleague is nervous but up for the challenge, the other suffers from a phobia of heights. The same conditions, two different interpretation..... two very different experiences!
This short insight discusses Anticipatory Anxiety. In my own personal experience of suffering for 15 years back in the day, and also dealing with anxiety sufferers from all walks of life, suffering from all the various conditions (GAD, OCD, PTSD, panic attacks & phobias) over the last 10 years, it is safe to say that anticipatory anxiety is worse than facing the actual situation that you think you fear. Yesterday I discussed Anticipatory Anxiety, and how worrying about being worried or worrying about and upcoming event can be worse than the thing you are worried about in the first place! This habitual pattern of thought can be a real party pooper!! The other destructive thought pattern is the art of overthinking, in which anxiety sufferers are really good at! We pay a heavy price for overthinking, it robs us of moving forward and doing things that we ought to be able to do, things that we used to be able to do, but now find too difficult to face. Check out this very short lesson where this little Otter illustrates overthinking perfectly :).
Todays insight discusses the current attitude of an anxiety sufferer, and how this attitude, along with all the associated bullshit beliefs that we hold onto keep you stuck in the perpetual cycle of doom and gloom.
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March 2023
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