By meditating every dayand by developing our mindfulness cognitive skills we reduce our anxiety levels and build back our tolerance to stress.
Psychotherapy / Counselling
This therapy can be very effective in the long term. Many people do have unresolved childhood and/or other personal issues and these do need to be worked through. But this therapy used in isolation, without the development of cognitive skills, can mean that people are not able to manage or control their panic anxiety thought patterns.
Many people have found relief from their disorder using this particular therapy. But, again, because hypnotherapy does not teach people how to manage their panic and anxiety themselves, their disorder can return. Like medication, hypnotherapy can be a passive response, as people do not develop the the confidence in their own ability to mange their panic and anxiety themselves.
These are very important and they do form part of an overall long term cognitive behavioural strategy. Becoming disciplined in a relaxation program is a proactive response to anxiety disorders. Even without a cognitive strategy, relaxation techniques can help ease anxiety levels, although by itself it is not an all encompassing long term solution. The one problem we see with relaxation techniques, is that people do not become disciplined in using them. They may use them when their anxiety levels are high, but many people do not commit to taking time out at least once a day to practice. People often say to us that they don't have the time to relax despite the fact their anxiety disorder can be taking their time 24 x 7 x 365
Breathing techniques can be a short term active response when we are experiencing a panic attack or when our anxiety levels are high. In the long term they do not assist us in losing our many and varied fears of our disorder. In fact some cognitive behavioural programs have discontinued the use of breathing techniques as they shift the focus away from the various thought patterns that create so much of our distress. And until we can learn to work with these thought patterns long term recovery will remain elusive.
This can be effective during the recovery process so long as we believe what we are saying to ourselves. Many a time we can repeat positive phrases over and over to ourselves, but our anxiety level can still remain high. As I say in my book 'Working Through Panic' :
Positive thought " I feel fantastic today, Anxiety thought "No, you feel terrible', Positive thought "I feel great", Anxiety thought " Are you kidding? You feel horrible", Positive thought " I know today is going to be a wonderful day", Anxiety thought " For you or for your anxiety?" Positive thought " I am never going to panic again", Anxiety thought "Want to bet ?"
These can be similar to positive thinking. If we don't believe what we are saying to ourselves then affirmations are not very effective in the long term. Quoting from "Working Through Panic" again :
'Everyday in every way I am getting better and better.' What's my pulse rate ? Has it gone down? My heart is still racing. I hate feeling like this. Why doesn't it just go away ? 'Every day in every way I am feeling better and better.' What if I have a panic attack. What if I never recover. 'Every day in every......' (1)
When we are having a panic attack or feeling anxious we may try and distract ourselves by turning on the television, reading a magazine, going out into the garden, counting to 100, counting the number of red cars on the road etc, but for many people these are not effective in the long term. All they do, is distract us and our thoughts, they do not assist us in learning to manage and control them.
(1) 'Working Through Panic' by Bronwyn Fox. Copyright Pearson Education Australia October 2001.
Please note - 'Working Through Panic' has been incorporated into the Third Edition of 'Power over Panic', Penguin Books, 2010.
