I developed most of the symptoms of GAD last summer after having a panic attack where I ended up in the hospital. It was weird because I'm in my early 30s and have never had any anxiety symptoms before. I guess I was probably mildly depressed, but no prior history of panic attacks or other GAD symptoms. I believe the panic attack was brought on because I got food poisoning during a time period with a lot of uncertain work-related stress.
I find the hyper vigilance the most obnoxious thing about this. The other things I can't stand are various weird chest tensions and growling stomach issues, which are related to the hyper-vigilance thing. I'd probably not even notice them usually, but now they freak me out.
I've not tried any drugs but have used the "Linden Method" which was suggested by a friend. It was relatively useful but there's not much too it. Mostly: get an engrossing hobby like photography and learn some deep breathing exercises.
Other things that have helped:
- exercise, specifically outdoor exercise like running or surfing
- more social time with friends
- avoiding caffeine... this is a bummer since I really like coffee.
- one glass of wine seems to help, but drinking to excess makes it worse the next day
- regular sleep schedule seems to help
- spending less time using computer-mediated communication helps
- avoiding certain foods seems to help. I think indigestion triggers the hyper-vigilance response.
Out of all of these things, exercise seems to be helping the most. Thanks YC for the previous suggestions. I kind of knew that exercise would be the most beneficial, but it took some external prompting to actually get started running again.
I am interested in CBT. How do you go about getting into it? Just ask my primary care physician?
Your primary care physician can probably refer you to someone. It would be a good place to start. "Feeling Good" (Burns) is a good source of CBT information and exercises. I would also recommend "Managing Your Mind" (Butler and Hope). Another approach called "Acceptance and Commitment Therapy" has showed some promise in research. The book "Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life" (Hayes) was written by the person who developed ACT. Another good workbook on the subject is "The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety" (Forsyth and Eifert).
It sounds like you have already read some of these books and find them useful to find possible "bugs" in your mind making you anxious. If so, maybe you'll find my comment a bit naive.
What I've decided is that the only way to find out all the "bugs" to annihilate is by ignoring all the easy to get suggestions made by other peoples (who are smart enough to do that without any assistance). It's important that you should find out where the roots of your problems actually are and how to get rid of them by yourself. I beleive that no one knows about you more than you do.
Why don't I consider such books as a good point to start from? In fact, I'm a bit afraid of such books... They look like ones about patterns: they don't always turn you into a good programmer, but there is a chance that after reading you won't be able to think in terms other than you have already read about (that is actually what I'm afraid of).
Anyways, I'm going to take a look at books you've mentioned (with care :). Thanks!
"I am interested in CBT. How do you go about getting into it? Just ask my primary care physician?"
I wouldn't recommend it. Doctors have a wide range of attitudes towards therapists. A friend of mine who is a GP is scared to enter therapy because he's scared that other doctors in his area might find out and lose respect for him. So, evidently, your doctor might help you locate a therapist or might just decide you're a loser, or both. Or he might try to steer you toward a particular form of therapy that you don't want.
There are online services that list therapists in your area. I think (don't recall exactly) this is the one I used:
The profiles include therapists' training, preferred approaches, and pictures. Highly analytical people should really make sure they get a therapist with a PhD. Therapists without PhDs tend to be more empathy-based, less analytical, and more likely to ignore the content of what you're saying. A PhD will at least listen to your complicated ramblings, try to understand them, and glean information about you and your problems from them. She will be able to understand your questions and complaints. That doesn't mean she'll buy into your own framing of your problems and engage with you using your own terminology, but she will recognize that what she's hearing is important to understanding your inner world. A PhD is also more likely to be smart enough to provide a critical perspective on your beliefs and to explain and defend her own ideas.
I find the hyper vigilance the most obnoxious thing about this. The other things I can't stand are various weird chest tensions and growling stomach issues, which are related to the hyper-vigilance thing. I'd probably not even notice them usually, but now they freak me out.
I've not tried any drugs but have used the "Linden Method" which was suggested by a friend. It was relatively useful but there's not much too it. Mostly: get an engrossing hobby like photography and learn some deep breathing exercises.
Other things that have helped:
- exercise, specifically outdoor exercise like running or surfing
- more social time with friends
- avoiding caffeine... this is a bummer since I really like coffee.
- one glass of wine seems to help, but drinking to excess makes it worse the next day
- regular sleep schedule seems to help
- spending less time using computer-mediated communication helps
- avoiding certain foods seems to help. I think indigestion triggers the hyper-vigilance response.
Out of all of these things, exercise seems to be helping the most. Thanks YC for the previous suggestions. I kind of knew that exercise would be the most beneficial, but it took some external prompting to actually get started running again.
I am interested in CBT. How do you go about getting into it? Just ask my primary care physician?