If you suffer from anxiety, self help may seem like an impossible challenge. By its very nature, anxiety feathers overwhelming. It's as if you've lost control of your own mind, body and emotions. This becomes a vicious circle, as the more overwhelmed and out of control you feel, the more anxious you become. The good news, however, is that you can break this cycle, and by doing so, overcome your anxiety. In this article, we'll look at three anxiety self help tips that you can start using today.
1. Normalize
One of the main things that drives anxiety is the belief that you're going crazy, or that you're going to completely lose control, or even that you're going to die. Anxiety symptoms, such as hyperventilation or a rapid pounding heart, can come on very suddenly and seemingly out of the blue. As such, it's no wonder they feel so frightening. Of course, the fear which the symptoms inspire only adds to the anxiety.
So the first anxiety self help strategy is to recognize that although the symptoms are dramatic, they're especially harmless. Indeed, nothing happens inside the body during an anxiety attack that is not expected to happen at one time or another. Anxiety is a perfectly normal human response, and it can even be a helpful one in times of genuine crisis. It's just that in your case, it's happening when it does not need to. Once you understand that, anxiety itself begins to seem less frightening, which in turn begins to rob it of its power.
2. Breathe
Perhaps the quickest and easiest form of anxiety self help is to focus on your breathing. Anxiety produces a rapid, shallow breathing pattern, also known as hyperventilation. But you can consciously take control of this, by slowing your breathing down. The best way is to breathe out for longer than you breathe in. Some people like to count, breathing in for a count of five and out for a count of nine, but you can use whatever pattern is most comfortable for you. When you breathe out for longer than you breathe in, you automatically activate the body's natural relaxation mechanism, and the anxiety will begin to subside.
3. Watch What's Happening
Another effective form of anxiety self help is simply to detach yourself from the experience and to watch what's going on. This sounds tricky, but is actually quite simple, once you become used to it. A good tip is to scale the experience in your own mind. If one is feeling totally relaxed, and ten is total panic, where would you put yourself right now? Does that number go up or down at all? By doing this, you engage the more rational part of your brain, which in itself will work to bring your anxiety back under control.
The secret of anxiety self help is to recognize it for what it is – a primitive survival response that's occurring at the wrong time. The more you can do to reassure yourself that there is no genuine threat or emergency, the quicker your anxiety will be gone.
If your anxiety is brought on, among other things, through worrying about what others think of you, then just click here now to find out how to control that fear.
Source by Dian Winter