Hey Sup Forums

Hey Sup Forums,

What can I do to help anxiety?

>inb4 "snap out of it", "man up", "grow up", "get over it", etc.

Rational thinking doesn't help and the physical symptoms are getting to me. It's not bad enough to require emergency measures, but here's what I have:

- uneasy breathing, shortness of breath, feeling I'm subtly suffocating
- feelings of imminent death, but not as bad as during a panick attack, for instance, I feel like I still get to live another week
- intense doom and gloom mental landscape (no joy in anything, no hope for the future, despite rational reasons against it)

I'm fully aware that it's "mind tricks" but even so, it's still getting to me. I know I was OK a week ago and will probably be OK again soon, but right now, it's hard to believe, the usual.

Thanks for any help.

Share your anxiety too, it helps to hear about others' experiences.

ITT: anxiety.

Other urls found in this thread:

mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anxiety/symptoms-causes/dxc-20168124
medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Psychological anxiety
overcomingyouranxiety.net/naturalanxietyremedies/gaba-for-anxiety/
gethelpfordepression.info/GABADeficiency.aspx
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_fag_syndrome
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

pay attention to your breathing, you may notice when you feel the tension coming, that your breathing has been short and shallow.

xanax

In other words, I'm unconsciously drawing shorter breaths?

Does that induce more anxiety?

I don't have any.

also, I've had the same thing 35 years, I stay at home and go nowhere, so there's no fix, but for a while I was given tamazapam for sleep, let me tell you, it's the only thing I've ever come across that kills anxiety completely for hours

just kill yourself cunt and stop fucking up our gene pool

anxiety is such a fucking joke
pooftah cunt

>feelings of imminent death

please, tell me what death feels like, or stop talking out of your ass

well for me I notice that's what's happening when I feel that tension, so I try to breath properly..the very act gets your mind off the panic sometimes even, so what the hell

CBT + buspirone

Technicly yeah
Anxiety has a lot in common with panic
By taking in less oxygen your brain gets more and more transed in whatever it is doing, being anxiety or panic you have to breathe user, you have conciously breathe deep breaths

Maybe user had medical death
You can't ever know, after all

stop using anxiety as an excuse to not do anything with your life while you're here, everything can be overcome, you just gotta be willing to take the first step and put yourself out there. I recently got out of that hole, my hole was too deep that I thought nothing would change but it did. If you're like 18-25 you still have time to turn things around, if you let time pass by it will be much harder

>talks about fucking up gene pool on Sup Forums
Unless you're a normalfag you have no base to stand on with that argument

>I'm fully aware that it's "mind tricks"

Mind tricks? There are many different types of anxiety, but some are purely physiological in nature, with your body producing normal to higher amounts of adrenaline, but not enough GABA to put a buffer on it. This causes anxiety attacks which can evolve into panic attacks if not treated.

>Imminent death =/= death

He feels like he's going to die at any moment.

OP, I recommend medication, but I also suggest taking some time out. Finish whatever current tasks you are doing, then don't take on any more. Don't even intend to. If something comes up after your break, maybe you'll feel like getting around to it, but for now, fuck everything.

Also, mild exercise and fresh air, such as that acquired during a hike, might be soothing, so long as you put other shit down.

Live in the moment for a while. Take medication to help you center yourself, and after you've gotten a good look at things, you can decide what to do.

I don't know, but there are some zenbuddhist moves to try.

It doesn't help much with social anxiety however.

Tell someone who realy cares about you that you have anxiety problems. If anything, they will try to help by reminding you that they are there for you and there is no unsolvable problems. Helped me.

Is there anything that helps social anxiety?
Or is there only the forced normie method that feels like shit along the whole process

but he would have to know what its like to die if he thinks he is going to die. otherwise you wouldnt know you are going to die

I'm too baked to go into it (a good indica helps anxiety by the way) but what you call mind tricks is actually reconditioning the brain.

At your current state you react to anxiety in a way which will increase the response. By having cognitive behavioural therapy you can re-rationalise these thoughts and realise that they are not harmful, and anxiety while scary cannot hurt you either. That way when you have the anxiety responses (which you still will. theres no switch to turn anxiety off once you suffer from it) you won't react to them as you will instinctively slow your breathing, tell you self that it's ok etc etc. After a while you won't need to do that either as your response will dimish each time you successfully overcome an episode. This is all reconditioning.

For perspective, I was housebound with extreme anxiety and agoraphobia leaving me unable to walk to the end of the driveway without a panic attack. In the last 3 years I've finished a 2 year college course, gained an £18k a year IT apprenticeship abd started riding a motorbike to open up how far I can go even more.

Don't become a trap to your mind user. The mind is everything, what you think you become.

Love might force you to become more social. So get a crush and don't hold back too much. You can see it as free practice.

However it did take 2 years of fucking hard work to get over it. I remember crying in the doorway multiple times before I went out.

But it's no way to live. I was 100% sick of living like that and you have to want to change. If you're still ok with not going out because of anxiety etc it's easy to give up on it

This, meditation helps a lot, working out too

Don't worry about it.

think about the reason why you are panicking and think about of the solution how to stop it. There have been thousand of these threads so you know how to deal with it so just do it, so JUST DO IT!

I have severe anxiety man. I'm pretty good omit hiding. The problem is it comes out at me seeming irritated with people. When really I just don't want to talk. I'm 22 have a great job, go to school, have a motorcycle car ect. My girlfriend broke up with me over it. It's gotten worse since then. Even with her I was happy but I still would have attacks and be unsocialable for some time. It's gotten to the point where I have thoughts of just taking my motorcycle out for one last ride and just ending it near a beach I use to go to alot. It's just everyday is a constant fucking struggle about worrying and now I can't even sleep because of it.

>tamazapam

I tried... The one that made me forget entire days of my life. It was terrifying. I'd go to uni and have no memories of going the next day. I spoke to people online and had zero memories of having done so. Very weird.

It was benzodiazepine but I forget which one specifically. Temesta! I remember now. These things often have various names in various places. Lorazepam.

It made me slowed down but not sure the anxiety was gone at all.

>anxiety is such a fucking joke

Trust me, it's not a joke and it's not funny. I'd sooner take a bullet than have accute anxiety, and I've taken bullets before.

That said, I'm happy you've never experienced it, and I hope you never will.

Take this three times a day

This also works

>please, tell me what death feels like, or stop talking out of your ass

It's not uncommon to feel this with anxiety.

Not sure why you guys don't "believe" in psychological phenomenon; I know you haven't experienced it but neither have you been on the moon. Why is it so difficult to accept?

Fear of dying soon isn't death per se, so I can only tell you what that feeling is like.

Mostly, pure fear, way worse than the usual "fear of death" we have, and the impression that your entire life was for nothing, because it ends soon. You suddenly think about deleting your Sup Forums folder and things like that. It's weird, because, rationally, you know you're not dying any time soon, but your brain sends you signals that you are, or something. Literally living on the edge.

Do you get panics based on a specific thing?

>you have to breathe user, you have conciously breathe deep breaths

Doing this.

>stop using anxiety as an excuse to not do anything with your life while you're here,

Stop assuming you know shit about me. I hate when you fuckers do this. But I see your heart is in the right place with the rest of your post.

I'll make it sweet for you: a full time job was the best cure to my problems. It kept me busy, it made a clear separation between work and free time, it made money, it made me feel and be useful, it made me have daily human contact with others.

No therapy or medication worked better for me than a full time job. I'm not using it as an excuse, I have other problems that I can't objectively do much about.

Shit nigger can't you be less sadistic, I've gonne through many of crushes and now I feel dead inside
You know how broken I am when I'm fine with th fact that in 12 years I'll become a fuckless wizard

I'm interested in the physical aspect of it. What could be a cause of this?

A decade ago, I kept trying to tell my doctors that I thought something was off physically with me, and that I didn't need to see a shrink, but they literally didn't believe me.

I know I was right, though there was something to be found psychologically, but still. It doesn't solve everything.

What do you mean you were ok last week and will be okay again? What are the feelings when you are "okay"? How elevated is ur mood.

I have health anxiety pretty bad. Way over estimate any symtoms/changes in body and perceive them as a life threatening disease. Can be very scary. My advice: seek professional help from a psychologist. Additionally, look for a well regarded book on anxiety. The Overcoming (insert anxiety syndrome) series is excellent and they're available on google books. Once you manage to successfully get through a few episodes it seems to get easier and easier. I'm not there yet but I'm massively improved. Good luck with it.

What will help a lot is figuring out if you have a different neurology, like Asperger's or Giftedness (misnomer, for those not in the know). Either of these will radically alter everything for you.

Google both profile and see if one fits.

>but he would have to know what its like to die if he thinks he is going to die. otherwise you wouldnt know you are going to die

Fear of death comes precisely because you don't know what it is to die. Only a mental concept, scary enough as it is.

I've come near death when I was a kid, but since I didn't know, I felt nothing at all.

All I know is that I feel that the end is near, most likely explanation is that whatever bits of your brain that are connected to danger, death, etc, are tingling and giving me that feel.

Thank you.

I'm sad because I had done a great run without anxiety, 6 years.

Love is the origin of my anxiety. As long as I'm not in love, I'm fine.

>think about the reason why you are panicking and think about of the solution how to stop it.

I'd rather not, because my problem has no solution. I won't go into details, but this one is a toughie.

>unsocialable

Can you go into details? I suspect my woman of suffering from that.

I really don't see the connection between that and anxiety. Mildly funny.

Funnier. Seen them all before though.

Can't say for sure but one time I was sick my respiratory system was sorta clogged and I couldn't breathe properly
All the time I was sick I felt light headed, ominecent about a possibility of death, fear from darkness even at the broad daylight
I have never experienced more panic atacks in such a short time than when I was sick back then

Maybe you have a respiratory problem that makes you breathe shallow, short and fast

Otherwise I have no idea maybe your adrenaline glands are fucked up

>What do you mean you were ok last week and will be okay again? What are the feelings when you are "okay"? How elevated is ur mood.

OK means I'm not terrified at the idea of never being OK again, that I'm not seeing all the paths of my future life leading to something nasty. OK is when I can enjoy something, anything. OK is when I can watch a movie, read a book, play a game. I can't do any of this when having anxiety, because there's no fun in anything anymore, and that's a shitty way to live. I know it's abstract as fuck if you've never had it, but it's hell on earth to me.

I don't have any anxiety when I'm OK.

I have anixety as well. I take pills for it but stopped them. I now just smoke good lebanese hash. Weed makes it worse for me

I looked a bit on Aspergers and although I made quite few jokes that I have it I highly doubt that I have it, anyway I don't want to he quick to self diagnose since I am a hardcore hipochondric (I think I am what I am not and have a placebo effect) although social anxiety is quite real, so I think I'll try to make an appointment with a shrink (as soon as I gather the money for it) to find if I truly do have a problem or it's something less obvious is and easier to fix
Tl;dr I don't trust my judgement when it comes to self diagnosis, I'll rather ask the shrink

Read about medical and physical causes here:

mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anxiety/symptoms-causes/dxc-20168124

medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Psychological anxiety

>I have health anxiety pretty bad.

Hypochondria.

I'll check that series.

Given some time I could help with diagnosing the other one, giftedness, because my job is related to it and I know the condition very well.

Chances are you just need other gifted people to talk with. If that's what it is, most people just won't do, but it's not your fault, not theirs. Just a big mismatch. But rejoice, plenty of you guys out there.

I think this is what he was referring to, regarding GABA and adrenalin

overcomingyouranxiety.net/naturalanxietyremedies/gaba-for-anxiety/

Here is link which explains it better, user.

"GABA is a natural tranquilizer that turns off our stress response, calms us down and enhances mood. When we are under stress, our adrenal glands produce adrenaline and noradrenaline, chemicals that increase the heart rate, divert blood from the digestive system and other areas to the muscles, speed up the reflexes and generally prepare the body for "fight or flight". GABA helps to calm down this stress response and switch it off when it's no longer needed. Low levels of GABA can lead to an inability to "switch off".

gethelpfordepression.info/GABADeficiency.aspx

It all makes very good sense.

Thnx

pooftah cunt, ive gone through worse than being a little bitch like you, ive been in icu after i had a hammer to jaw and my ribs kicked in AFTER they bashed the missus. Anxiety aint shit when you have actual things to worry about. you fucking softcock faggot

Well now that I have checked a bit about both I honestly can't see difference between myself and both gifted people and aspies
Maybe after all I do have autism
Well until I get qualified research result I cannot claim that I fall in any of this two groups, although I must admit it seems quite obvious that I definitively fall into one of the two

LOL...you are complaining because you don't know how to fight, and someone kicked your faggoty little ass, and so you try to lash out at others online?...YOU are the pooftah cunt....hahahahahahahaha.

You learn to live around it.

I've had agoraphobia and body a image/superiority complex for the last 7 years. I feel the same way you do when I go on a date, get my hair cut, and when looking for a job.

The thing is, I'm not a fedora wearing neckbeard. I absolutely detest those people and have been working out for the better part of 5 years now. I feel that a way to compensate for my anxiety and such is to be better looking than other people. I spend more time doing my hair than I should, cannot stand even one pimple around my face and make sure I am wearing fashionable clothes every single day so that I can be seen as somebody that has it all. I don't like it when I see ugly people having what I can't. At least these people should try to look good, it's not that hard. I thought I was turning into Elliot Rodger, but no. I don't hate anyone or anything. I just don't understand it.

Don't be like me Sup Forumsrother. Don't live a beautiful lonely materialistic life. Don't fill the voids with items and superficiality. It has gotten me no where.

Have you had accute or cronic anxiety faggot, if not you cannot just say it's pussy illness

what a pussy. you didn't even try to defend your woman. you should be ashamed for not being a real man

>im a little bitch whos brain tells me im a faggot and i actually believe it and let it ruin my day

I have that EXACT same problem but i don't really have any stories or experiences

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_fag_syndrome

LOL...why did you let someone beat up your woman? Only a frail little helpless weak coward would do that.

>pooftah cunt, ive gone through worse than being a little bitch like you, ive been in icu after i had a hammer to jaw and my ribs kicked in AFTER they bashed the missus.

Physical wounds have nothing on mental ones. Give me broken ribs over anxiety any time.

Seriously. I've had way worse: I've been thrown through a wooden door, broke ribs, had my lung pierced by one, and my knee bent backwards.

Physical pain ain't shit because adrenaline kicks in, and it's just pain. Pain is nothing. Stay mad.

Now it shall be easy. If you feel unable to relate to characters in movies, you have the Asp. Otherwise you're most likely gifted.

Asps and gifts tend to get along in some weird way, but without becoming true friends.

>i actually believe it

You didn't read carefully. I clearly said I knew rationally that I wasn't going to die. I don't believe my brain, but I still feel it.

When you're drunk, you know you can still walk straight normally, but knowing that doesn't give you better balance when you're drunk.

It's the same thing: your brain is affected, whether it's alcohol or anxiety, it has psychological effects on you and mere will can't help much.

Could you guys state what causes your anxiety?

I knew a guy who could not wait on people. If anyone was late by 5 minutes, he'd start freaking the fuck out.

He explained that when he was a kid, his mother left him to go kill herself, and the wait in that traumatised him. Now, whenever he must wait on someone, it's an ordeal. He knows it's irrational, but you can't rewire your brain just like that.

Well I can't say that I relate to any character in books nor movies
I feel empathy that are treated like shit just because they are missunderstood
I can connect some characteristics of characters to my own but as far as it goes I don't think I can actually relate to them

It's a feeling where you think everything is going wrong. It's in correlation with over thinking. You have constant thoughts running through your head so you don't want to be bothered by anyone. Also sometimes you feel hopeless which triggers me to think social contact is pointless for a bit

Do you easily know what people feel and think based on how they move and look and speak?

It sounds like your friend might be suffering from PTSD, which in turn brings on the anxiety. As for me, my anxiety is not linked to social settings, or stress, depression or any traumatic experiences, it is just a slight chemical imbalance. The only medication that works for me is xanax, been taking it for almost 10 years now and life is normal.

Mine is very clearly attached to loving someone and fearing not being loved in return, ending up needing something you can't have. This makes me freak the fuck out.

Nope
I can guess something in the lines that something is not normal
But tbh I can't tell between tired and sad, angy and exhausted
For the most of my life I was oblivious to sarcasm until I learned what it is and then whever something didn't feel like normal talk I automaticly concluded it was fucking sarcasm

Sounds like the Asp.

You may have a light form of it, which it makes it hard to spot.

My grandmother has a big case of it, her son a half case of it, and none of my brothers seems to have any. But yeah, the Asp.

Basically, automatisms that should have formed when your brain grew didn't, and what is automatic to most isn't to you. This doesn't make you dumb, in fact, it forces you to operate things manually, making it more difficult but also training you to certain skills.

Plenty of books on Asperger. You probably don't make many facial expressions either. You're probably neutral most of the time.

also makes you unfit to have offsprings,
you're lucky your grandmother wasnt born a few hundred years ago

Surprisingly I myself do a load of facial expressions, but most of the time I have a resting face expression that makes me look like a retard, but I beleive that is more due to lack of emotions rather than Asp

Why does it make you unfit to have offsprings?

I was adopted. Lucky me.

this, people with anxiety are just weak willed.
While that might sound like an insult just realize that people are different. Im the type of person who doesnt call people with mental illness a disorder or w/e, just a different person. If you get what im saying. Its not that they have a mental illness, its just that they arent the same as what "people" call normal. So they had to give it a name. which i think is just stupid. If someone is too dumb to do something, dont call it a disease or disorder, just accept the person is dumb

>due to lack of emotions rather than Asp

If you make facial expressions in an exaggerated way, consciously, that's different.

Lack of emotion, sorta, would fit the Asp.

Either that or you have psychopathy, but I doubt it.

Do you understand emotions? Fear, joy, etc? Psychopaths suffer from a lack of emotions, they only have protoemotions, or nothing at all, and that makes them unable to empathise much, just as if you had no nerve endings, and felt no pain, you couldn't understand how not to hurt others physically.

>this, people with anxiety are just weak willed.

>people who are drunk and can't walk straight are just weak willed

because your offspring have a chance to get it also. Much like blind people (people who wear glasses) and aids. In a time not too long ago, before there were pussy sjws. People would have died because of these conditions, thus not having kids. (un)fortunately we live in a time where we think every life is important, even if that means sacrificing our future. You think aids would still be around if we had let everyone with aids just die off?

Things that happen in the brain are real, faggot. Just because you're obviously too uneducated to know a damn thing about it doesn't change the facts.

It has a name because it has a reality. Just accept that you're not an authority on neurology.

bro you need to learn how to logic m8
when you drink its the alcohol affecting you.
Whats affecting you when you ahve anxiety? nothing.. apart from you being a bitch lel

Well, it looks like we finally found the autist on this thread.

they are real, but its a spectrum, not a cut off point. So why should people be classified into the mental illness category? when its just people who are different

>People would have died because of these conditions, thus not having kids.

Asperger's doesn't prevent you from anything in that department. Some very successful people are Aspies.

there we go, why am i an autist? (not me specifically) because i think differently? Why am i not just a person who thinks differently? why does it have to be autism? Just call it what it is.
>my kid is bad in social situations (most likely because im a shit parent)
>nah its not because hes like that. its autism.

>Whats affecting you when you ahve anxiety? nothing.. apart from you being a bitch lel

Are you trolling?

Anxiety is caused by stuff happening in your brain, just like alcohol affects your brain, and this has direct mental results.

Anxiety, as shown in the link above, can come from neurons firing too much, too often, because of a lack of GABA. Alcohol has neurological effects, different ones, but they're just as real.

What drugs do is no different from what can happen naturally in your brain.

Severe depression has effects similar to being drunk or experiencing a bad trip, for instance.

This should be obvious to you: you can hallucinate because you have schizophrenia, or because you took drugs, right? Same thing with other mental conditions. The brain can dysfunction in many other ways than just schizophrenia.

Let me guess....the next idiotic thing you post will claim that heart attacks are all in someone's mind?

>they are real, but its a spectrum, not a cut off point. So why should people be classified into the mental illness category? when its just people who are different

It's not the people who are different, it's the processes in the brain that are the same.

I am pretty sure I don't have psychopathy, I understand basic happyness, fear, sadness, jealousy, envy, heck even "love" if you can call it that way
Although many people have noticed that I act like a sociopath, although I highly doubt it since they are less intelligent whilst in all highschool I was practicly the smartest shit in class

When I was young I always had bunch of emotions but now that I'm older it's like there's little to nothing, sometimes I laugh my ass off when there is some high quality gag but the rest of the time it's either sadness or nothing, just emptiness of emotion

Hi OP. I had the exact same thing last year for like 3 months. I understand what you feel. The hardest part of my phase was I couldn't sleep at night. My mind would just not stfu and I would keep imagining random stuff, somewhat negative things mostly. Ambient music helped me a lot to calm down. I know this might sound stupid as fuck but I will only tell you what I think helped me. It may not work for you but it should be worth a shot. Listen to this track - weightless by Marconi Union. It is suppose to be the world's most relaxing track, scientifically. I would put my phone on very less volume next to one of my ear at night and play the 10 hour loop of this track on YouTube. Rhubarb by Aphex Twin, Parallel Stripes by Aphex Twin, Blue Calx by Aphex Twin, Stone in Focus by Aphex Twin as some of the tracks that helped me calm down and sleep. Close your eyes and do normal meditation exercise while listening to this. Id never actually sit down and everything, but do it while I am trying to sleep. Completely concentrate on the drone synths on these tracks and start taking normal breaths. Don't force your breath. It should be natural. Try to NOTICE the moment the air touches your Nostrils when you inhale, the moment they reach the end of your Nostrils, and the moment it goes out. Just feel the sensation. Don't take deep breaths of anything. Let your breaths breath themselves. When you are doing it right, your breaths will get shorter and shorter and you will feel more relaxed. Other than that try to find a hobby. I already was producing electronic music since a year when this was happening to me but during this time I start making more ambient songs and getting nice reviews on my music helped me feel better. Start doing something, put it out for people to criticise, you will feel better watching yourself get better. You will be fine OP. It feels like a miracle now that it's over as I reached a point where I thought I would have to live like that for ever. Goodbye buddy.

Same user. One more important thing. Stop reading, looking, searching for sad things on Internet. Intentionally watch happy movies, comedies, cute things. It might be out if your taste, but give it a try. Only stay in contact with 'feel' good' things on Internet and real life if possible in real life.

yea just kill yourself then.
Why are you still here?
What are you trying to achieve?
You have anxiety so what do you want us to about it? you're just having a sook for attention and validation for you being fucked in the head. you and all the other weak cunts in this thread
You have all the information you need on the internet.
Anxiety? more like pooftaxiety

look at these two pooftah posts above me. Hurr durr im sad but i watch asd shit and listen to sad music all day.
>B-B-But my brain chemistry

>Although many people have noticed that I act like a sociopath, although I highly doubt it since they are less intelligent whilst in all highschool I was practicly the smartest shit in class

Psychopathy has nothing to do with intelligence. You can be a dumb psycho or a smart one. That's not what makes you a psychopath. The fact that other people noticed this and remarked upon it is a strong hint though.

>When I was young I always had bunch of emotions but now that I'm older it's like there's little to nothing, sometimes I laugh my ass off when there is some high quality gag but the rest of the time it's either sadness or nothing, just emptiness of emotion

Sounds like it, mate. It really does. It's hard to figure out for yourself because you have to compare with what you don't have, so you can't do it.

Imagine this: most people feel way more than you do. You'll stand out because of that, you may try to imitate them to expression emotions you don't have, but it'll be weird.

Read pic-related to understand.