Anxiety or Depression Help?
Question by Allison Miller: Anxiety or depression help?
I started missing school at the end of the year because my anxiety made me physically ill. I struggled to even get through finals and graduation. I’ve been trying to get my anxiety under control but it’s not. I never feel like doing anything and I constantly fear of getting sick again (nausea). I used to go to baseball/basketball/football games all the time and have a blast or go to nice steak houses for dinner and now I so don’t want any part of it because I fear ill get car sick or sick from food or overheat and feel sick.
I got away to college in a little over a month and I don’t want this to ruin my future. I got into a good honors college and an important program and I’m afraid ill lose it all from anxiety.
What can I do?
Best answer:
Answer by Ins
The best solution is to see a specialist. Both therapy/counseling and medication can have a great impact of anxiety. Therapy is likely to be a longer term solution to managing anxiety, and it does not have any side effects (unlike medication).
It sounds like you have been successful so far – despite the anxiety – so try not to worry as much about the future, since worry about anxiety will actually escalate it. Breathing techniques and medication can help a lot, and a good therapist would be able to teach you these, as well as addressing the causes of the anxiety.
Answer by RWPossum
I assume that you know what the experts generally recommend. You can go to “NICE anxiety” and read the recommendations of this health agency (basically, cognitive-behavioral therapy and/or SSRIs). What I’m telling you about is a bit less conventional, although I would not use that stupid expression “alternative medicine,” which suggests turning your back on medical science. I’m talking about things that can compliment whatever treatment you receive.
In Mindfulness- and Acceptance-Based Therapies in Practice, Roemer and Orsillo of the Univ. of Massachusetts review research on an approach to mood and behavior problems that’s widely regarded as revolutionary. Begining in the 1980s, psychologists have seen parallels between traditional meditation and cognitive psychology. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction was the first therapy based on meditation. The chief reseacher, Jon Kabat-Zinn, drew on his personal experience with Buddhist meditation.
The Buddhist monk and author Thich Nhat Hanh, who wrote the Preface to Kabat-Zinn’s book Full Catastrophe Living, is known for simple, practical advice. Here are two quotes from him.
“Observe your anger while meditatating on your breath.”
That is, instead of trying to push an unpleasant feeling out of your mind, let it be there so that you can study it. Awareness of the breath is important for two reasons. It reminds you of the present moment, where unhappy memories and worries about the future won’t bother you, and it helps in your emotional self-regulation, as your breathing is a barometer of your state of mind. You can de-stress by taking a couple of slow-deep breaths.
“I wash my teapot as carefully as I would bathe the baby Buddha.”
Being in a hurry and doing things carelessly makes us nervous. It also results in mistakes and accidents.
This is from the CalmClinic.com article on derealization, a symptom of anxiety:
“Doctors and psychologists generally agree that the best way to stop derealization is with mindfulness. Mindfulness is the act of becoming more aware of your own present. Mindfulness can be completed in a variety of ways, but the easiest way is to simply get yourself to perform an action and focus as much as possible on that action in order to get yourself back into the world.”
Suppose I want to make myself a sandwich. I get up and go to the kitchen, getting out of my chair without hurrying and walking softly because whenever I hurry, that tenses my muscles. Before I open the fridge, I think about what I want. I notice that I forgot to take out the garbage, which bothers me, but I take a few slow, deep breaths and remind myself that it’s a minor problem. While I’m making the sandwich, I do everything carefully. If I feel any tension in my muscles, I relax. I get a radio station with music that will please me while I eat, just the right kind. I sit down and eat the sandwich slowly, enjoying every bite. You can find many uses for this method in daily life.
The Kabat-Zinn program was adapted for use in a cognitive therapy program. You can find out about it and a popular book by the researchers, The Mindful Way Through Depression, at MBCT.com
Find time to relax. Really relax. Lie on your back in a quiet room and close your eyes, then breathe slowly and deeply. Starting with the soles of your feet, be aware of the sensations of your body, going gradually from your feet to head, all the time being conscious of your breath. Spend maybe half an hour doing this. You may want to listen to some quiet music or imagine a peaceful place like a warm sandy beach in early June.
The most versatile treatment of all is healthy lifestyle. Even with severe depression, healthy lifestyle therapy can at least contribute to recovery. If you to go the University of Kansas TLC website, you can read about the lifestyle program developed there. It’s things we all need anyway. It’s low cost and low risk. Book – The Depression Cure by therapist/researcher Dr Steve Ilardi.
Some of the six recommended lifestyle changes are easy, if not fun. Taking fish oil capsules can help. This is an article about an amazing depession study with use of the full-spectrum “SAD” lamp.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/light-therapy-for-depression/
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
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Tags: cognitive therapy, fish oil, lifestyle changes, jon kabat-zinn, severe depression, alternative medicine, public library