Like a coin, everything has two sides. What ifs have another side. The good side. What if I don't panic. What if it all goes right. What if I'm happy. What if you think on these instead.
Hi, whenever I have to drive my car home or to my friend's home I "stink think" of all the what if's. I have not left the house yet,but I am exhausted already from panic attacks,worry,pee often. Whew! Like I did today,but I am home again safe and sound.
Just a little info that I wanted to share today on changing thought patterns.
There is a more in depth program on cbt that is offered by the creators of this site here. It is one of the sister sites to this one. It is called the DepressionCenter.net and it can be found by clicking on More Help at the top of any page in the forum. I use it and have found it to be a excellent program. It has worked well for me when I needed more answers about doing CBT..
You do not have to be suffering with depression to use their sister site and the information presented there on CBT is excellent and free for anyone to use who is interested in learning more about CBT.
Its good to see some positive responses regarding change of thought patterns.But in reality it takes a lot of time & energies to become positive.But in no time they are overcome by negative thoughts.Again I have to spend maximum of my energy to generate a positive in my mind.Now a 100 of negatives gets ready to overcome my positive.
I feel tough to be positive;yet it is my only hope that one day my positive will win & I will be a positive person naturally by a series of practices.
Ps. Yoga used to annoy me because I couldn't concentrate either. A lot of my bad thoughts would esp pop up during that time so I thought I wasn't doing it right. But I was later told that you're supposed to watch those thoughts and be aware. And don't give it any judgement. Still hard sometimes but it makes more sense to me.
My thought patterns have changed but like everyone else said it took a lot of time! And it depended on the situation for me. The longest time I would get anxiety during dinner time eating with my family, esp when my dad was there. I never felt he understood my anxiety or anything really about me and I didn't want him to worry about me or disrupt "simple" task as eating dinner. I'd eventually have to leave the room and finish dinner alone which made me so embarrassed. I never knew it was all because of this back then . It just made me upset that it'd happen. But now I've even almost forgot about those days and I don't have to leave the room during dinner. I did do yoga everyday and write down my thoughts and feelings and with time things just changed.
Am I seeing a pattern here, EG your free from anxiety period is non work hours even though you are not working.
You did mention pressure to go back to work.
People have a hard time accepting that something subconscious that they have been blocking can finally cause panic without becoming obvious.
Is there some routine in the panic period that you dislike but tolerate because you have to? This can trigger other subconscious thoughts or blocked thoughts and make it worse. This can also cause access to associated thoughts. Bad experiences only remotely related to the trigger. Worst case scenario even your favourite movie or food can trigger panic because there is an associated bad experience at some time with it.
An example: I drove heavy equipment and had a stupid bad experience once (actually twice) that was not my fault. I love driving heavy equipment but would panic every morning till I was actually operating it. At the end of the shift I could not get home fast enough. It took years to convince myself that it was not my fault and I had done no wrong. And even more years to get rid of the associated memories it had triggered. It took visualization to change the negative thoughts to positive. But I did. I also let myself become angry in my thoughts to the persons who had caused the original thought that was now a trigger.
Interesting subject... I too notice that my thought patterns improve as the day progresses.Yesterday morning I went for a walk at a lake which is something I have neglected to do for a long while. It is so peaceful there and I felt better while there. I wonder if walking at the lake is a form of meditation. It does seem to clear my head and calms my nerves. I stopped at a local library on my way home and saw that they have a class in meditation. I am considering taking it.
I'm having a similar problem. My pattern seems to be that afternoons/evenings are not too bad with my anxiety...and I start thinking things are getting better. When I wake up the next morning...I'm in full panic mode again and feel like I'm right back where I started a few weeks ago when I first went back on medication.
I need to change my thought patters that things will get better....but its hard. I'm getting pressure from my work to "progress" in my back to work rehabilitation....but I'm simply not ready.
I hope you get the answers you are looking for...and I hope things get better for you....and me.
Rohit, yes! My thought patterns have changed in a very positive way. It just takes lots of practice and it may take help from a doctor or a therapist but I am certain that you can do it! I started meditating after going through this program. Meditation is a gift - but it also takes lots of practice - I'm not good at it yet - but I know I'm getting better. Even "bad" meditations are good for me.
