Sources and types of anxiety
Everyone knows what it feels like to be anxious, nervous, afraid, fidgety or afraid. Under normal circumstances, anxiety is just an annoying emotion, but sometimes it will make people stagnate and become an obstacle to our normal life. But you don't have to worry, because we can completely overcome anxiety. We found a brand-new therapy, which is very effective and can treat depression and other possible anxieties without medication, such as chronic anxiety, shyness, public speaking anxiety, exam anxiety, various phobias and panic attacks. The therapeutic goal of this therapy is not only local improvement, but also complete recovery. We hope that when everyone wakes up in the morning, there is no fear in their hearts, full of longing for a new life, and then tell themselves: it's good to be alive.
Anxiety takes many different forms. Please be seated accordingly:
Chronic anxiety. Always worry about your family, health, career or financial situation. Always on tenterhooks, I feel that something bad will happen, but I can't say what it is.
All kinds of phobias. It may be manifested as dizziness, blood disease, fear of heights, fear of taking elevators, driving or flying, fear of getting into the water, fear of spiders, snakes, dogs, storms, bridges or various forms of claustrophobia.
Show anxiety. As long as you take exams, sports competitions, or need to show yourself in front of others, you will be at a loss.
Public speaking anxiety. I feel nervous when I speak in front of people. I will keep telling myself, "I will definitely tremble, and everyone will see that I am nervous." My brain is blank, like a complete fool. Everyone will look down on me and think I'm crazy. "
Shy. I feel nervous and shy at social gatherings, and my mind will be full of such thoughts: "Everyone looks so charming and relaxed, but I am so boring. My face may be full of shame and embarrassment. People will definitely think I'm a freak or a failure. Only I feel this way. What happened to me? "
Panic attack. You will feel a sudden panic, which is like lightning without warning, making people dizzy, tachycardia and numb. You might think, "I must have had a heart attack. Will I be in a coma? Will I die? I can't breathe! What if you suffocate? " You're struggling to survive. But after a while, this panic will suddenly and magically disappear. At this time, you may feel confused, afraid and humiliated. You don't know what just happened or when it will happen next time.
Agoraphobia A person will feel scared when he leaves home, and always feel that something terrible will happen (such as panic attack) and he will be isolated. Afraid of open spaces, bridges and crowds. Waiting in line at the grocery store or taking public transportation can also be scary.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder Troubled by compulsive thoughts, they can't get rid of their own thoughts, and they will perform superstitious rituals driven by compulsive impulses to control their fears. For example, I was forced to wash my hands all day because I was afraid of bacteria, or repeatedly confirmed whether the gas was turned off after going to bed.
Posttraumatic stress disorder. Be troubled by terrible memories that happened months or even years ago, such as rape, abuse, torture or murder.
Worry too much about your appearance (body deformation). No matter how assured friends and family members are, they will always feel that their appearance is abnormal, and they may feel that their nose is deformed, their hair has fallen out, or their bodies are deformed. I firmly believe that everyone thinks that they are deformed, so I may spend a lot of time consulting plastic surgeons or staring at the mirror to try to improve the defects.
Worry too much about health (hypochondria). Because of pain, fatigue, dizziness or other symptoms, I always feel that I am seriously ill, but I am in good health. After getting the doctor's guarantee, you may relax for a few days, but you will soon fall into the cycle again and start to worry too much about your health.
If you can often feel these fears and feel uncomfortable, then please think about it: if I can teach you to overcome these fears, what changes will it bring you?
If you are a nervous person, you can have a confident sleep on the eve of a speech or exam after overcoming your nervousness. If you are a shy person, after overcoming shyness, you can talk freely with people around you anywhere; If you often feel fear, or have any form of obsessive-compulsive disorder, imagine how you will change after overcoming them.
If you struggle with anxiety or depression all the year round, it is impossible to overcome fear and anxiety. But I believe that we can overcome fear or anxiety, and the whole process does not need medication or long-term treatment. This may sound unorthodox. Doctors may tell us that we feel anxious because the chemicals in our brain are out of balance, so we need drugs to correct this imbalance. However, the latest research confirms my clinical experience for many years: we can completely overcome our fears without medication. All we need is a little courage, common sense of life, and the skills taught in this book.
Psychologists have put forward many theoretical models about the causes of anxiety. This book focuses on the following four models:
Cognitive model holds that anxiety is caused by negative thoughts. The word "cognition" is "idea" in plain English. Whenever we feel anxious or afraid, it is actually our own worry. For example, if you are afraid of flying, you may feel extremely scared when the plane bumps in the airflow, because your subconscious mind will think that the plane will crash soon. Then you will see the picture of the plane exploding and the passengers screaming. Your fear comes not from objective "airflow", but from subjective imagination. When you change your way of thinking, your feelings will also change.
The exposure model holds that avoidance is the main cause of anxiety. Simply put, we feel anxious because we are deliberately avoiding those things we are afraid of. For example, if you are afraid of heights, you may deliberately avoid climbing ladders, mountains and sightseeing elevators. For another example, if you are shy, you may deliberately avoid others. This model holds that as long as you face your fears bravely, you can overcome them. It's as if we raised our heads and bravely said to those who have been bullying us, "You can hit me! I am not afraid of you! I won't escape again! "
Implicit emotional model holds that beauty is the main cause of anxiety. People who feel anxious are usually flatterers because they are afraid of conflict and negative emotions including anger. When such people feel depressed, they often hide their feelings because they don't want their emotions to be implicated in others. And this reaction may be very quick and natural, and they may not realize that they have made such a reaction at all. And the hidden negative emotions will naturally become anxiety, worry or fear. Therefore, as long as you can show your emotions and take the initiative to solve the problem, your anxiety will naturally be swept away.
According to the biological model, anxiety and depression are caused by the imbalance of chemical components in the brain, so we need to take medicine to relieve anxiety or depression. Usually, doctors recommend the use of two kinds of drugs: one is diazepam sedatives, such as Xanax, Ativan and Diazepam; The other is antidepressants, such as fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Paroxetine) and sertraline (Zoloft). Doctors may tell you that these drugs are the only truly effective drugs to treat depression and anxiety, and patients need to take them for life, just as diabetics have to inject insulin for life to regulate blood sugar.
You see, we now have four completely different theories to explain the causes of anxiety and four treatments based on different theories. So which theory is correct? According to the cognitive model, in order to overcome anxiety, we must change our way of thinking; According to the exposure model, in order to overcome anxiety, we need to face up to our fears and stop running away; According to the emotional hiding model, in order to overcome anxiety, we should express our feelings directly and stop hiding; According to the biological model, if you want to overcome anxiety, you must go to the hospital to see a doctor and take medicine.
Every theory has a group of loyal supporters. I personally agree with the first three theories. Therefore, when I treat patients with anxiety, I mainly use the treatment techniques under the guidance of cognitive mode, exposure mode and emotional hiding mode. In contrast, biological models will be more controversial. Although I have been a full-time psychopharmacologist in my early years, and I basically take medication, now I firmly support this new treatment. I firmly believe that anxiety and depression can be treated without drugs, which is what my years of medical experience told me. Compared with drugs, this new method is more effective and takes effect faster. In addition, in the long run, this new method has more advantages, because in the future course of disease, patients can always use this method to overcome the counterattack of bad emotions.
Of course, I'm not saying that we have to make a decision and choose among these methods. If you and your doctor agree that medication is necessary, or you firmly believe that you must always take antidepressants, you can also choose to continue taking medication or use a combination of medication and psychotherapy. However, millions of patients are still in a state of anxiety and depression after taking the medicine, and some patients strongly oppose taking the medicine. For them, this brand-new drug-free treatment is undoubtedly a blessing.
Let's see how this new method works.
Cognitive model
The cognitive model is based on three simple ideas:
1. Your way of thinking will affect your feelings.
When you feel anxious, you are actually scaring yourself. Anxiety is caused by some twisted and illogical ideas, and it is a kind of spiritual "deception".
When you change your way of thinking, your feelings will also change.
The French philosopher Descartes once said, "I think, therefore I am." In this book, we slightly changed this famous saying: "I want to, so I am afraid." Simply put, anxiety is caused by our thoughts, or cognition.
For example, when you read this paragraph, your mind must be full of ideas. You may think, "This is just another self-deceiving reference book. Too fake! " If you think so, you may feel disappointed, depressed and even a little angry now. You may also think, "This book is definitely useless to me. My problems are much more serious than what is written in this book." If you think so, you may feel very discouraged and see no hope now. Of course, you may also think, "Hey, this book is quite interesting, and the contents in it are quite reasonable. Maybe it can really help me! " If you think so, you may feel refreshed and curious now and want to continue reading.
You see, every idea actually comes from the same content. What you are reading now is exactly the same, but our feelings are different. Our feelings are not determined by what is written in the book, but are completely influenced by our own thoughts.
Our brains will explain everything that happens around us. But this process is so natural that we don't even realize it. These thoughts will flash in our minds, even for a moment, and they all have powerful magic power, which can create positive or negative emotions.