Activities That Can Give You a Sense of Accomplishment

jhori82,   Please let us know what happens when you try any of these activities out!   Members, have any of you had a chance to experiment with this list? Have you felt a sense of accomplishment after completing these things? Please share!     Sarah, Health Educator

do i have depression

Karla,   Have you had a chance to challenge your negative thoughts? These can be use as a great tool when feeling down and are also a handy list to keep on you when you are not at your computer.   The members have also offered you some great advice on the boards. Are you able to identify with it?   Continue to work through the program and let us know how you are doing. As jhori82 has mentioned, we are here for you whenever you need us!         Sarah, Health Educator

Flooding

cm,   Here is some information to consider for desensitization. Please let us know if you find this helpful! The program advises to keep the following points in mind when it comes to planning your exposure work:

1. Learning occurs at moderate levels of anxiety and arousal. In planning your exposure work don’t make it too easy or too hard. If you pick something that doesn’t cause you any anxiety (a fear rating of 1 or 2) you won’t experience a drop in your fear rating because there's really nowhere to go. As a result, you won't unlearn anything. On the other hand, if you pick something that causes a fear rating of a 9 or 10, it may be too difficult. Try to stay in the 3-8 range.

2. Exposure should be predictable. Plan your exposure work in advance and stick to the plan. Unplanned exposure doesn’t work well. Planning your exposure makes it a bit more controllable and a little less frightening.

3. Set a goal for the exposure that you can reach. Set a goal for the exposure session. You may want to stay in the situation for at least a certain amount of time (say 30 minutes) or experience a certain decrease in you fear rating (say go from a 7 to a 5). Setting a reachable goal will give you something to aim for. Achieving your goals step-by-step will allow you to feel good about what you're accomplishing.

4. Stay in the situation until your fear goes down. This can happen in two ways. First, if you pick a situation for an exposure that causes you a fear rating of a 4 to 8, then after an hour you should be experiencing a drop in your fear rating. If not, maybe it was harder than you thought. However, there’s another way to experience a decrease in fear, which is to repeat the exposure again and again. So for example, if your anxiety doesn't come down from an 8 in the first hour, try it again the next day. Eventually, if you repeat the experiment every day, it will start to drop.

5. If something is too hard, pick something just a little bit easier. If you end up having a fear rating of 9 or 10 try to figure out what you could do that would be almost the same but would result in a fear rating of 7 or 8.

For tomorrow, keep in mind that you have already succeeded.  Let the previous successes give you the strength to take on these future challenges.

Many here share your same driving concerns. You may want to use the site's search feature to view previous members’ experiences and discussions on this topic.     Sarah, Health Educator

Losing control

  SSegat, Thank you for sharing your story and support with us. There are many people within this support group that share the same questions and concerns as you.  We are all a group of individuals who support each other.  

If you look to the left of the screen under "TOOLS" you will find many supportive tests.  These tests are not diagnostic tools and are not a replacement or substitute for a physician's advice. The purpose of these tests is to prepare you with information that you can present to your physician. When you're finished the test, you can either print your Final Report or email it directly to your doctor.

We also have developed a Panic Program.  This program is 12-weeks and involves the tools mentioned above.  Each session is based on the previous session, so we strongly advise that you work slowly through the program and not jump ahead.  

These tests may or may not be for you but they are "free".  If you have any question or concerns with our “TOOLS”, you can contact us at support@paniccenter.net.  We are the Support Specialist for The Panic Center and are open to any questions or concerns you may have.

Have you research community clinics in your area? Often these centres have therapists available for you to talk to.   Please continue to post and let us know how you are doing.     Sarah, Health Educator

Not sure where to post this but...

Diva,   Again, this is such good news! Please keep us posted on how the appointment goes!     Sarah, Health Educator

Diva news...

Diva,   Wow, what a great update!   How does it feel to be accomplishing all those tasks?   And with your meds, have you spoken to your doctor about dosage?   Have a great weekend and let us know how it goes!     Sarah, Health Educator

going to work

  karla, Below are ten questions you may find helpful in challenging your anxious thoughts:

The following ten questions will help you to challenge any anxious thoughts. When you have an anxious thought, answer some of these 10 questions:

1. Is it "true"?
2. How do I know it’s true?
3. Is it 100% true? (remember something that is 75% or 99% true is  
    not 100% true)
4. What's the evidence for it being true?
5. What’s the evidence against it being true?
6. Has it ever happened before?
7. What's different now?
8. If it were true, how bad would it really be?
9. What's the worst thing that could happen?
10. If the worst thing happened, how bad would it really be?

Please feel free to add any tips or strategies you find helpful when trying to challenge your anxious thoughts.    

 

Sarah, Health Educator

No posts here?

Genejockey,   Have a great time on your trip! And it sounds like you are well on your way with your dissertation.   Let us know how the flight goes!     Sarah, Health Educator

Motivation

 Members,
Sometimes it takes the opinion or view of another to clarify your reasons and make sense of it all.  The important concept is that you are working towards a healthier and happier lifestyle.

 

Take the time to refocus on your motivation.  Why did you choose this path? What keeps you pushing forward?  How are you able to keep this momentum? What helped you make this choice?

 

By sharing, you may have just helped another find the motivation they were looking for and this makes it all worthwhile.    

fear of flying and dying

karla,   It is important that you make these wishes clear to your doctor during your appointment. It could also be helpful that prior to your appointment, you make a list of all the questions and concerns you would like to talk about with him/her.  By becoming prepared for your appointment, you will be more likely to address everything you wanted to cover and leave feeling more accomplished and in control.
  Please keep us posted and let us know how it goes with your doctor!  

Sarah, Health Educator