Stop Anxiety and Panic Attacks

i’ve had a mild case of social anxiety for years now and feel like its time to get treated for it. I don’t fear going out into public but when i do i get shaky, cant sit still, sometimes i lose coordination. I want to get treatment but would like it to be descreet. how can i go about in doing this? where do i go? i am under my parent’s medical coverage with Kaiser and i don’t want them to find out that im going to get treatment for this. will they find out? will this be on my medical record?

This is not uncommon and it doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with you. You shouldn’t be ashamed of it or embarassed about it. You need to go ahead and talk to your parents about seeing a counselor. Usually, the Company doesn’t handle its own insurance clams. They hire a company to do that. It will be on your medical records, but it isn’t mental illness and the company they work for probably won’t see it anyway. This is just anxiety and a counselor can help you get over it. Good luck!

. . . (serotonin in-between the cell receptors), and many depression treatments (Zoloft, for example) treat both depression and anxiety, just at different dose levels (2X – 3X higher for treating anxieties)?

In other words, why doesn’t this seemingly simple analogy hold?

A different type of receptors for anxiety vs. those for depression?

Saying a particular receptor causes depression or anxiety is quite a crude generalisation.

They only help in one way. Like if you are cold and you put on a hat, the hat HELPS, but it isn’t going to take the place of the coat, gloves a scarf now is it? Also, just because affecting certain receptors helps doesn’t mean that those receptors are even the cause of the disease itself.

In my opinion, ECT is a very crude and barbaric treatment that is only allowed because as a society we think less of mental patients.

I have severe anxiety and panic attacks and the doctor is thing of taking me off my meds and trying to teach me to self talk to myself. Tell myself that I’m really ok. I’m not having any luck seems so it make them worse!

I had overwhelming anxiety. It turned out to be my use of Splenda. Yup Splenda.

I like to say sucralose, not Splenda, because that is what Splenda is. And it is in a lot of stuff. The package doesn’t have to say Splenda to have sucralose in it. You have to read labels. So, you might still be using it and don’t even know it!

Sucralose is poison. It ruined five years of my life. I had a laundry list of medical problems while taking it, including overwhelming anxiety, depression, mood swings, insomnia and more.

The slogan, "Made from sugar…" is very misleading. Splenda might be made from sugar, but it is far from sugar. The resulting chemical is an organochloride (chlorocarbon). Organochlorides are typically poisons.

carbon monoxide – made from oxygen so its like a breath of fresh air

Has anyone here had cognitive behavioural therapy for social anxiety disorder and blushing? What were the techniques and how much did they help you?

Hello

CBT is effective for social anxiety also a similar therapy called Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT). The “shame attacking exercises” (calling out bus stops) mentioned by Shaneris are from REBT.

An essential principle of these cognitive therapies is to get you to focus on who you are with, where you are and what you are doing rather than focus on yourself. To focus outwards rather than inwards and to focus on what you are doing rather than how well you’re doing.

You will also learn to dispute your unhelpful thoughts and beliefs and replace them with realistic and helpful beliefs. For example “I must not look stupid” would become “I would prefer not to look stupid, but there is no reason why I must not” “If I do look stupid it’s not terrible or horrible and I can stand it – it’s not the end of the world”. “I would prefer it if everyone liked me but it’s not necessary for my survival to be liked and approved of by everyone for everything I do”

Hypnotherapy can be useful for blushing and building confidence.

There is some useful stuff at

http://www.mental-toughness.co.uk/

I am a senior in high school and I have pretty bad social phobia. I still don’t really have a clue what kind of job I would like.. I would like one that pays good money and where i’m not really in the spot light. I like animals but I don’t want to be a vet cause I think that would probably be to hard for me. If you have any ideas I would really appreciate it! Thanks!

Get over it. Try running outside saying "I GOT THE POWER!". You will get over it.

how does it work and what does it do?

Thanks for your answers!
when and by who did this idea emerge?
to the first answerer.. how do mean "retrain" their brain?

how is it done?

It’s a relatively new idea in counselling. The idea being that you will retrain your brain to look at things from a different perspective. It teaches you to let go of all your old ideas and habits and approach them from a different angle. Apparently it’s a quite successful method.

By retraining the brain I mean: cease the way you approach obstacles now and approach them from a different direction

My nurse practitioner put my on Abilify. I have generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and moderate obsessive compulsive disorder.

It wouldn’t be my first choice. Most psychiatrists that I consult with (I’m a therapist) tend to use celexa as a first-line treatment for anxiety related disorders. Usually, they will prescribe this in conjunction with an anti-anxiety for panic/situationally bound anxiety as a PRN (or taken as needed). Hope this helps.

I asked another question here on yahoo about how to calm down from anxiety attacks and they told me to first of all make sure that they are actually anxiety attacks. Like they said my body could be trying to survive from low blood sugar levels or something..

You are having an anxiety attack when you heart starts beating really fast and you get sweaty, have a hard time getting your breath, feel nauseous, and have chest pains.

I don’t have a lot of money but I am trying to find any free/affordable social anxiety support groups to goto in NYC? How do I go about it?

Contact your local human services department.

Free support groups exist in almost all large metropolitan cities.

I desperately need to get a job but the problem is that I’m terrified of holding a job. I have officially been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and even my therapist said it would be better to get medication and treatment before attempting something that to me is very scary, which would be getting a job. But I can’t pay for therapy or medicine or any of my bills and there is no one to borrow from. Does anyone have any ideas as to what I can do? I’m also very nervous around people so babysitting is out of the question. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

I’m so sorry for you – that would be a terrible way to live a life. Even with everyday complaints about the work environment, there is so much you’re missing by not being able to work (friendships, knowledge, purpose, income…). I don’t think you can afford NOT to pay for therapy and take medication. It might be worth running up a credit card so you can get out there and get a job – and with a job health benefits. You can also spend time educating yourself about anxiety disorders – and learn about cognitive therapy (it’s very helpful). I’d also recommend two books "I’m Ok, You’re Ok" and "Don’t Panic" (search amazon.com). Good luck!