Coping with Anxiety: A Basic Checklist

The material is aimed at the state of a person who experiences anxiety. In fact, this is an instruction on methods that help in getting rid of anxiety, which is written in the headings. You can read only them and immediately begin to implement them in practice. Or you can delve into the text, delving into the details.

This material will not relieve your anxiety just by reading it, but it will direct your attention to where the resource you need may be.

First encounter with anxiety disorder

You don't know this until you encounter it in everyday life. The most accurate description of anxiety is being in the same room with a tiger. Whatever you do, wherever you go, there will always be a tiger nearby. There will always be a threat of attack, and the body will react with increased tension, drawing out all its strength and resources.

Three tools to help you overcome anxiety

In all my writing about stress, anxiety and depression, I advocate for Basics of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Judith Beck explains its principles in more detail, and the scientometric base was developed by her father Aaron Beck. I recommend studying it, since even the recommendations from these works will help you cope with the solution of the situation.

The three sections below describe important components in the fight against anxiety that are often overlooked. The process of getting rid of anxiety itself is a daily work on yourself, comparable to training, learning new skills or building a personal exocortex. There is no magic pill, as well as magic advice. There is only work and focus on the goal. And on this path, it is important to provide support for yourself and your body.

The fight is pointless

Dealing with anxiety is like dealing with procrastination. You will always lose, and the attacks will come back again and again. The thing about anxiety is that it is, in itself, neutral. It is like a light on your dashboard that comes on when there is a problem with the engine. Dealing with it is like trying to turn off the light instead of digging deeper.

Coping with anxiety tends to involve subtle behavioral adjustments that develop into rituals and cognitive errors:

• Obsessions and Compulsions. I can't control my destiny directly. So when I say something good about my health, I'll have to spit over my left shoulder three times and knock on wood. The pavement tiles look nice. But I won't step on the seams. Simply because I can't step on them.

• Neurotic disorders. They are also called by the fashionable word “self-harm”. Scratching the scalp with nails until small ulcers appear. Rubbing the face until it turns red. Scratching the hand. Sometimes this can result in wearing a rubber band, with which a person “whips” himself in order to develop some kind of habit… But he cannot explain why he needs the path of pain.

• Withdrawn and cautious about everything. I won't go to point “A” because it takes a long time for an ambulance to get there. I carry a huge backpack with me, filled with everything from a 2-liter bottle to a first aid kit. At the same time, the integrity of the backpack may be more important than the integrity of my life.

• Avoiding solving the problem. As a practicing psychologist, I will share one interesting observation. Therapists rarely talk about it, because it is an inconvenient truth. About 50-70 percent of clients stop therapy at the moment when the root of the problem is already clearly palpable. All because people are afraid of the unknown. And anxiety itself is necessary for them.

Actively fighting anxiety is like doing a triathlon with a broken arm. After all, first you need to provide it with the conditions for recovery. Or that wound in your mouth. It flares up with pain at the slightest contact. But you keep touching it anyway, creating a cycle of stress, anxiety, and depression.

Look for support in people

Man is a social creature. The strength of homo sapiens is that we learned to live in tribes. And thanks to this, we displaced the same Neanderthals. Therefore, when experiencing anxiety, seek support from loved ones. In friends, acquaintances, communicate on the Internet with those who can understand you.

Here I will make a small curtsey towards Western countries, where the creation of clubs for people who are experiencing a common problem is encouraged. The idea of ​​the clubs is that you are really listened to, and not wait for your turn to talk. But when you try to raise the issue that white men from 30 to 60 need psychological help, you will be looked at askance in the same way in any country in the world.

Therefore, the salvation of the drowning is in the hands of the drowning themselves. Your social circle is your lifeline from anxiety and fears. The exception is when there is a person in the environment – the root cause of your problems. And, most often, saying goodbye to him finally will be the most difficult event in life.

Focus on how you feel and be prepared for failures

There are no unique recommendations and advice. Therefore, psychologists recommend to lead CBT diarywhich tracks your personal changes in perspective. In an attempt to implement a new habit, recommendation or method of combating anxiety, note the daily changes. How your habits change, how your daily schedule changes, how often anxiety rolls in. In fact, any therapy, any top drugs for concentration are just ways to achieve a goal. The result you strive for is determined by your inner feeling.

Important: there will be no quick results in any case. In my practice, the record holders were 2 people who got rid of anxiety in 3 weeks, and once every 6 months they had sessions three times to consolidate the result.

The essence of any therapy, any method of getting rid of anxiety, is that you change your lifestyle. You introduce new habits, new patterns of behavior. It's like learning to write with an unfamiliar hand or riding a bike for the first time. There will be falls, breakdowns, the desire to throw it all to hell – there will be too. And these are normal components of therapy.

The best analogy is renovating a house. You are covered in everything from head to toe, exhausted and in a deep hole. But every step, every action brings you closer to a new and better way of life. Seeing the final and intermediate results helps you maintain your productivity under stress.

There is no universal solution. But what to do?

Give up illusions, don't be shy about asking loved ones to listen to you and support you, track personal changes. There are a lot of tips and recommendations on how to overcome anxiety. But they can be compared to printed instructions: how to assemble an airplane in the garage, or how to write your own OS. From the outside, everything is clear, but in the process you will still face new challenges.

Friends, if you found the material interesting and the topic of anxiety relevant, please support the material with a plus and a comment.

The article was written by Philip, a member of the telegram channel RISE: Nootropics and Biohacking. You will find more materials about the brain, psyche and tools to support their effective work there.