After years of research on panic disorders and years of picking my therapists brain it boils down to this. No matter what the cause of your anxiety and panic the reason for it to reoccur is all dependent on what you have stored in your memory. It doesn't even have to be related, all it has to be is negative. Negative memory causes negative thought patterns that program you to put a negative spin on every thought setting you up for panic. This is the worst kind because there often seems to be no apparent reason for the panic. Negative breeds negative and if that is what you are storing in your memory you can expect to have so called panic attacks that come out of the blue. They are actually set off by a negative memory you may not even be aware you have.
Stop storing negative memories. Sorry that is impossible. But you can bury them with positive ones so they are less accessible. This is a big part of the CBT process but seems so difficult for so many people. Again this is due to memory causing you to do the same thing over and over even though it isn't working. Time to store something useful in your memory to draw on.
Every bit of literature says CBT is the process of changing negative to positive. True, but it is of no use if you do not store it for future use. Every thing you do or will do hinges on past experience so if you have negative past experiences you have not buried they will dictate your reaction and unfortunately they will be stored in your memory ready to sabotage you.
Hypochondriacs, this is the basis behind your phobia. Instead of storing that you were wrong you store that you were never proved wrong. This just sets you up for future fear.
CBT does work and it is a simple process, making it last depends on how much of it you manage to store in memory. Changing negative to positive is only temporary if you do not store that positive for future reference. Survival skills are all negative thoughts (memory of a bad experience), you can't remove them and shouldn't but you can store a positive reaction to them so they don't dictate your life for you. (more CBT)
I thought this too, way back when I first got the disorder. But what I didn't realize was that it wasn't for no reason. Not at all. It was in my thoughts. They would happen so fast I almost missed them. "I can't do this", "I'm going to panic and then I will be panicking forever"... or more recently, and relevant to you, "what if there is something really wrong with me" or "what if I have to be hospitalized for some reason"... If it starts with What If, it's probably a trigger thought. I would like to do exposure work now but I'm struggling because like you, there aren't specific situations that trigger me. It's almost all in my head. I suppose eating too much, or being sick and having nausea, or being too hot, maybe... but those aren't situations, really, like flying or being afraid of dogs.
Next time you have this anxiety, try to pay attention to your racing thoughts. What are they? Do they start with What If? If they do, you're in luck - you can reprogram your brain by changing the thoughts. I do processing after panic attacks - I write down all the thoughts I can remember from the attack, and change them into positive thoughts or rational thoughts. Like "what if something is really wrong with me? well, how likely is that? and if it happened and I did need hospitaliztion, wouldn't I deal with that like I do everything else? What if something's NOT wrong with me?"
This is a tough one. There are likely thoughts or situations that it is causing the anxiety they just might be trickier to find as they could be very engrained.
Continue to work on the program and you should start to see results. If you are unable to pin point a thought at the moment try to focus on the relaxation techniques session. This will help your body feel more at ease and this in turn will ease your mind.
Have you seen a Health Care professional about your concerns? They will be able to properly diagnose you and then properly decide on treatment from there.
You can spend a lifetime in expensive traditional therapy where someone makes elegant explanations to dazzle you about "why" you're unwell. The only sobering thoughts have come to me when I discover family members have been unwell, so there's a genetic relationship.
Otherwise, I've come to slowly accept this just like arthritus, or other physical ails, and make the best of it.
The short of it is there is no reason. My "patient style" is to seek information, and it's been frustrating to have to deal with the mind's shortcomings, but the field is fairly new....
im wondering why im having panic and anxiety, when there is no thought or situation that i can think of thats causing me to feel this way? it just like, constant anxiety that doesn't stop and i cant figure out why. is that just the way anxiety works? kepp in mind that i do have hypochondria. anyone?
