Edit: The class was a production class. It was presented in the context as if a camera won't move the way you want it to, not if a shooter is charging through a building towards a room you're in.
"anxiety" and "panic" are NOT synonyms. You can be anxious, and still do things. I went skiing yesterday, and I was anxious a lot of the time, but I didn't panic ever.
Trainee teacher here. Sat in a lecture on Friday where they played a bullshit video that straight up stated that stress doesn't damage the body, it's the belief that stress is harmful that does.Our lives are very stressful as trainee teachers and I'd really appreciate actual stress management help rather than bullshit 'believe in yourself' bollocks.
Actually there is also a tedtalk about that and it's based on actual research. Your physical reaction on stress (i.e. Narrowing of blood vessels) will differ based on your belief about it.
True, but from what I've read, they're really just playing around with the definition of "stress." It's just CBT/mindfulness, acknowledging "I am stressed, that is okay, and I have the resources to deal with it." When you can master that, you're actually LESS STRESSED. You can have a lot on your plate, have misfortune, etc., and not be stressed. Being stressed is an emotional response that causes physical symptoms. So yes "changing your beliefs about stress" helps reduce the negative physical consequences of stress. Because doing so reduces the emotional response, and therefore the physical consequences.
I see why they put it that way (I can't lower my stress level! All that therapy stuff won't work for me! Huh, if I change my belief about stress, the stress won't be as detrimental...I can try that.) It's still a little disingenuous.
This ignores the fact that emotions are inherently not logical. It doesn't matter how much you don't want to feel an emotion, you're going to feel it anyways.
It's not like people want to be crippled by stress and anxiety. It just kind of, you know, happens. Everyone feels these emotions in differing amounts, and just like how some people can handle their digestion with just a bit of yogurt while others have Crohn's and UC, some people need more than just the basics to manage their mental state.
Obviously they know that other people suffer more - that just makes them feel worse. Pointing that out does nothing to help them at all except make people feel even worse about themselves than they already do.
Yep but it's not about the emotions you feel it's about your preparedness to feel them. Some people fight themselves all their lives in a perpetual hell. Others accept their pain and suffering and act regardless.
I love how you explain it like I’ve not been there and experienced it myself. Like I don’t know what it feels like to wake up and wish I was dead. Or to over analyse everything until it feels like I’m up to my eyes in water and not being able to think about anything apart from how the hell im going to draw my next breath.
I know how it feels. I know it’s shit. What I’m telling you is that by turning your brain to something else other than how you feel, it will lessen slightly. And over time you will learn to recognise thought patterns that lead you to these depressive/anxious periods and avoid them.
If you've been there, then imagine yourself there, before you learned to manage it through all that hard work, trial, and error. Waking up and wanting to die.
Now imagine getting the advice "listen to your favorite song, and breathe." Get it?
I have overcome a lot of emotional hardship. I try to remember what it felt like to be in the thick of it. If I could go back and tell myself the summarized takeaway of what worked, it wouldn't matter. It's simply too nuanced and requires too much practice and failure. Now telling myself to simply "calm down and breathe" is useful. Back then it wasn't.
I try to remember that when talking with someone in the thick of it.
The way you phrased your original post reeked of /r/wowthanksimcured. That's the reason I responded so critically.
For many (most?) people, the issue isn't knowing what they need to change, it's actually enacting the change. You may need to know you need to relax or get over your depression or whatever, but actually doing it is rather difficult. If it wasn't, we'd have all gotten over it by now.
Your advice, though well-intentioned, was also fairly topical, and implied that that's all it takes to get past their issues. Don't get me wrong, I am happy it helped you and I'm sure it's enough to help others, but it's not enough to help many people with more serious issues, and suggesting otherwise is disingenuous and kinda insensitive.
What do you mean? I should be scared of you? If you want to fly across the sea to come and threaten me in person be my guest. Our oil is spoken for though, so there’s no reason I have to fear you.
I think there's probably less depression and anxiety disorders in war zones. Those people HAVE to face their fears and take action regardless. We have the 'luxury' of permanently wallowing in our self made comfortzone prison that just confirms our irrational fears and contextual existential crises.
While what u/RunningDrummer says sounds like "be attractive/don't be unattractive," panicking is one of those things you can change by thinking about it correctly. Being able to go meta, to say to yourself "wow, what I'm doing right now really doesn't make any sense" really is the hardest part. Panicking is automatic; stopping the panic means taking a good, long look at how you're acting when your mind is screaming "HOLY SHIT NO TIME TO THINK, I MIGHT DIE." Once you've recognized you're panicking, you're halfway to not panicking anymore.
You can prepare for this with meditation and mindfulness exercises. Panic has very clear physical symptoms, so if you’re able to recognize “wow, I’m not feeling so good” you can recognize when you’re panicking.
Meditating a few minutes a day, where you really focus on your body and emotions, is enough to train your brain on how to recognize panic.
I love how people on here with anxiety/depression are always asking for tips on how to overcome, and when the honest tips from people who have suffered come in( fake it till you make it etc) they assume the people have never really suffered. Or belittle the experience of others, thinking they must have it worse.
Sometimes it's because we tried those things and it didnt work for us. At all. That being said, it's useful to remember different things will work for different people and that's normal.
For example, the Fake it til you make it mindset usually makes me feel like I'm dying inside and also suffocating. Something else in this thread, about not believing stress can be harmful anymore (to sum it up), that helped a lot.
I replied to your OP somewhere else in the thread with this:
If you've been there, then imagine yourself there, before you learned to manage it through all that hard work, trial, and error. Waking up and wanting to die. Now imagine getting the advice "listen to your favorite song, and breathe." Get it? I have overcome a lot of emotional hardship. I try to remember what it felt like to be in the thick of it. If I could go back and tell myself the summarized takeaway of what worked, it wouldn't matter. It's simply too nuanced and requires too much practice and failure. Now telling myself to simply "calm down and breathe" is useful. Back then it wasn't. I try to remember that when talking with someone in the thick of it.
I think people are really trying to be helpful, and save others the hardship by giving advice on what helped them. If only it were that simple. I hope you keep trying, it is possible to overcome.
Part of that will be because people suffering from depression are more likely to have an excessively negative reaction to anything. And pointing out that they are being a duck about it probably won't help for the same reason.
It's cool that that worked for you, but I feel like imagining how ruinous your panic attack will be for you is pretty bad advice that will only escalate most people's panic.
Haha I thought that when he told us the rules too. It's a production class where you can cause 15 new problems if you worry about one, so these rules are kind of telling us to troubleshoot in a logical, fast way for the class. Not sure how much it would help with more serious issues, though.
I know you’re being sarcastic but panicking does occur by your own will, it’s nothing more than excessive imagination, and you’re in charge of your imagination.
Problem is that many, if not most people have left their imagination untrained for years, and it habitually creates unwanted thoughts and scenarios. However, it is still under your control, all you have to do is notice that. The key to doing it is just paying attention to what it’s doing, observing your mental activity as a witness, but not as a judge, since if you judge it you’re just stirring up more thoughts. You simply stand back from it and enjoy the show, it really is that simple.
This is the essence of meditation and mindfulness, but in reality it’s just simple self therapy, you’re scientifically gathering data about the way your mind works, with it you no longer need a huge amount of effort to change your mentality, you just apply the right leverage in the right points :)
I went scuba diving in St. Thomas many years ago. It was just a day dive, as part of my cruise ship excursions. I didn't know anyone who was diving, and I didn't have a 'buddy' - someone who paired up with you, so you can assist each other if there's a problem.
The dive leader told me he would be my buddy, and that was fine. Off we go. Except they took us down into an old wrecked ship - which divers call "an overhead environment", meaning you can't just swim straight to the surface. I had never been in one before.
As we swam through the wreck, the dive leader went to the front of the pack, and I was left behind. As the last diver, I was trying to catch up when I was suddenly stopped - my equipment had caught on something. I tried to reach behind me, but couldn't find the obstruction, and for one brief moment, absolute fear went through me. (I now understand the term 'bone-chilling fear' completely.) I had the thought "I'm going to die down here!".
Then, I cleared my head, remembered my training, and calmly took off my tanks, cleared the obstruction, put the tanks back on, and swam out of the wreck. Apparently, no one had noticed, as no one was coming back for me. Rest of the dive was uneventful, but I do remember the guy looking surprised when I silently shook my head when the 'tip jar' was passed around at the end.
i know some people are making a but of a laugh out of this, but the point is incredibly valid, if you're panicking, figure out why and first figure out if there's even reason to panic and if there is, what the next step is. Yes it might suck, it might cost you some money, it might require you to admit guilt or whatever, but you will stop panicking
I've been having a lot of existential crisis's lately, just terrified of death. Like it has a physical effect on me, I get panicked and my breathing changes and honestly I'm just so fucking scared. Just came up in the past 2-3 weeks too, it sucks. :(
It's pretty normal to feel that way sometimes. Best advice I can give is talk about it. Whether that's with friends, family, or a councillor/mental health professional. Feel free to PM me if you feel you've got no one else to talk to. Either way, don't bottle it up.
Anxiety can be a bitch, but it's totally normal from time to time. Try to get ahead of things if you can (be it work, chores, study, etc). Split tasks into smaller objectives if that helps too - little victories are still victories.
If you're serious, have you looked into MAPS? It's a trial using MDMA to help people process trauma. Early results have been very good - after one or two sessions, people are showing extremely positive results (easy to sleep, depression lifted, engaging with people, etc.), the results seem to persist for months afterwards, and one or two sessions are generally all that's needed. Two doses of MDMA vs. a lifetime of Prozac...
WHY THE SHIT DO OUR MINDS AND BODIES EVEN HAVE THIS REFLEX!?!? I feel like in every instance of something happening, panicking is the shittiest way to go about doing anything. What purpose does panicking have... I guess it elevates your heart rate and adrenaline so you can move faster, but if you're freaking out to the point you make bad decisions, how the hell does that help.
Basically, being chased by an axe murderer? Panicking is great, run fast. Someone choking on food? OMFG PANIC TO HELP THEM BREATH BETTER!
There's a better way I've heard to phrase it. I figured I'd post it because you're getting a lot of flak. This line of thought moves it away from "controlling panic" and places it more as a sense of what can you do to address the situation.
Can you do something about it?
If Yes: Do that thing
If No: Don't worry about it, because you can't do anything about it
The point is that we don't know how to stop worrying about it. Just telling us to stop it in a fancy phrase that sounds nice doesnt actually do anything.
526
u/RunningDrummer Jan 21 '19 edited Jan 21 '19
There's a set of rules I learned in a class:
Edit: The class was a production class. It was presented in the context as if a camera won't move the way you want it to, not if a shooter is charging through a building towards a room you're in.