Anxiety

[bruces]

Just been doing a little research tonight and there seems to be a split opinion on whether anxiety is something that can be cured or not.

my own thoughts are that if anxiety is a natural emotion then it's never going to go completely as it's. It meant to? 

Whats other people's opinions? 

[malina]

Well there is a difference between having anxiety and an anxiety disorder. Fear is a natural and useful emotion when it's based on something realistic. In the case of a disorder, the fear is present when there is no threat. I'm not sure I believe that you can "cure" anxiety, but you can learn to manage it and live with it in a way that doesn't impact on your life and wellbeing. 

[dksea]

Agreed with Malina.  
Anxiety is a normal, useful in some cases, emotion.  There is no reason to "cure" it.
Anxiety disorders are abnormal and not at all useful and should absolutely be treated.

[Andrea]

1 hour ago, malina said:

Well there is a difference between having anxiety and an anxiety disorder. Fear is a natural and useful emotion when it's based on something realistic. In the case of a disorder, the fear is present when there is no threat. I'm not sure I believe that you can "cure" anxiety, but you can learn to manage it and live with it in a way that doesn't impact on your life and wellbeing. 

[taurean]

Because I have worked through resolving my abnormal worries, and therapy for OCD, I only now tend to experience anxiety when there is a real threat situation about which I need to do something. 

So I reckon there is your answer. 

I believe someone like me, with an anxiety disorder, can overcome it if they learn how to do so, and put that knowledge into practice. 

[bruces]

Glad you've got a grip on it taurean,seem to be experiencing it 24/7 I oddly even wake up with it. 

[Angst]

Malina equates fear with anxiety. I do not not. 

Anxiety in the psychiatric sense and I think in the folk semantic sense refers to a future event. For example,  I was anxious about my house and other people’s houses. I believed that these properties would  burn down or be flooded if I did not check the switches, gas taps and water taps before leaving my or other person’s property.

These future envisioned disasters might well result in serious injury or death to others. With subsequent dire consequences for me. Including profound guilt.

I was anxious about a future event that might be caused by my failure to perform basic precautions. 

Students are anxious about an examination and the questions the exam might contain and the adequacy of their preparation. They anxiously await their results.

Fear to me is the immediate apprehension of danger. The classical example in psychology is the apprehension of a bear in a wood. There is a debate about this which is considered in introductory psychology courses. 

Anxiety - fear or concern or realistic anxiety about the consequence  of future events in my lexicon - can be functional. For example talking reasonable precautions if the weather forecasts vast amounts of snow and disruption to power and food supplies - then you plan for such contingencies.

Anxiety disorders such as OCD greatly increase the negative consequences of something going wrong. It is called catastrophic thinking. You overthink a problem. You exaggerate the consequences of an emergency. You underestimate your capacity to cope.

[bruces]

On 13/03/2019 at 07:27, bruces said:

Glad you've got a grip on it taurean,seem to be experiencing it 24/7 I oddly even wake up with it. 

 

On 13/03/2019 at 04:46, taurean said:

Because I have worked through resolving my abnormal worries, and therapy for OCD, I only now tend to experience anxiety when there is a real threat situation about which I need to do something. 

So I reckon there is your answer. 

I believe someone like me, with an anxiety disorder, can overcome it if they learn how to do so, and put that knowledge into practice. 

Inn not even really faced with any problems it's just continuous anxiety it's a nightmare 

[taurean]

Anxiety is the brain's response to what it sees as a threat. 

In anxiety disorders, we are responding to intrusive thoughts we give meaning to whereas non-sufferers - who also experience intrusive thoughts - don't see them as worthy of pressing the alarm button, and gently ease them away. 

[taurean]

A few weeks back I experienced an OCD intrusive thought, and my mind triggered an automatic anxiety response, as it thought I would give belief to the intrusion. 

I realised it was a - worthless - OCD intrusive thought and applied what I had learned in CBT. 

The intrusive thought melted away and out of focus, and the anxiety evaporated. 

If we would only all learn, through CBT - one to one, group, self-help, online or through guidance here - what to do, many more of us will be able to deal with our OCD and other intrusive thoughts, and lay the resultant anxiety to rest. 

The cure lies with us. Learn, and apply what we learn, and we can leave anxiety behind. 

There is no luck about this. Anyone can find out what to do from the sources mentioned above, and apply it. 

[St Mike]

Good old fashion deep breathing exercises, going for a run or a hike, getting enough sleep, eating healthy and not drinking can go a long way to help deal with excessive anxiety as well.