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Archive for August, 2008

Anxiety Attack Coping Strategies

Friday, August 8th, 2008

You cannot choose the appropriate anxiety attack coping strategies for dealing with your difficulties until you have reviewed your own personal experience of worry, fear and anxiety.

You also need to put this in the context of what is feasible for you; you can’t plan to overcome your fear of flying by taking flying lessons unless you have the finances and freedom to do so; you can’t anticipate relaxing at an expensive gym if you have three small children at home and no money; but you can make plans which involve the support of others if you have helpful family and friends, and you can make plans that impinge on your daily work if you have sympathetic employers.

As a general guide, look for anxiety attack coping strategies which match the problems that you have. For example, if you suffer from the physical discomfort of stress, make sure that controlled breathing and relaxation are on your skills list.

If on the other hand, you are more bothered by the constant worries and nagging fears, invest extra time in learning distraction techniques and how to challenge worrying thoughts.

Coping With Anxiety Attacks Alone or with the Help of Others?

Although this is a self-help guide to managing your worries, fears and anxieties, you can enlist the support of others if doing so will improve your stress management.

Partners, family and friends can be very helpful as allies in coping, as can professionals such as counselors and medical practitioners. It is worth spending some time reflecting on what would be most helpful to you: perhaps it would be a partner’s company when you are learning to relax, or a friend’s support as you try the exercise effacing your fears, or your doctor’s help in reducing your anxiety medication.

If you plan ahead with your needs in mind, you will have a greater chance of being successful in your battle against worries, fears and anxieties.

What to Expect from a Self-Help Program

Many sufferers from worry, fear and anxiety have already benefited from many self-help programs, and from the tips and strategies covered on this site.. It is important, however, to recognize that some individuals will gain relief from using the self-help program but might not feel that they have taken control of the problem.

For example, a person with OCD might well learn to relax, and will gain physical relief from this, but might not be able to resist the impulses to check without the help of another person; someone with GAD might learn to sleep better and derive benefit from this, but she might not be able to dismiss her daytime worries without the guidance of a therapist.

Although these individuals would need some extra support from a friend, a general counselor or a specialist therapist, they could still gain much benefit from following the program – as long as they recognized the need to seek additional help.

Nonetheless, the self-help approach is an excellent first step. Many do benefit from these programs and familiarity with the techniques described here will be fundamental to further therapy

If you find that you are one of those persons who does require more support, don’t be dismayed; simply contact a professional who can advise you where to go for help.

You can gain relief from problem worry, fear and anxiety attacks by developing techniques which will enable you to become aware of stress and then to deal with the bodily sensations, the psychological symptoms and the problem behavior. You will also need to learn strategies for coping in the long term.

By doing this you can learn to break the cycles that maintain your problems and you might well find that you can control your anxieties completely.

However, you do not have to do this alone. You can use friends and professionals for extra support. Sometimes this might even be necessary If you are to learn to lake full control of your problem.