About fear

This is a brilliant little documentary explaining fear. Why we have it, how easy we learn it, and how easy it can be abused. You see classical psychological experiment being performed, and explained in an easy way. The best is how they focus at a solution in the end: Even if media often scare us and strengthen our fear of others, thereby planting seeds for hate and aggression towards others, it won`t work if we are aware about it. When we see that many fears are unfounded, we choose something else instead; Love and compassion. That is the antidote this world needs. Like Gandhi himself said: There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.

Anxiety

In my work as a clinical psychologist, meeting a lot of lovely people in different age-groups, what I like the most, is their own description of their problems. They are invaluable, and how one person feels can never be just compared with somebody else. There will still be some things in common, and I found that this blogger had a pretty good sense of it, and therefore present her knowledge about anxiety:

• WHAT SHOULD EVERYONE KNOW ABOUT ANXIETY?

  By Chelsea Henry, I’m anxious

  http://maniacfire.wordpress.com/

  • It can affect anyone at any time. It doesn’t discriminate.
  • It’s a mental illness. Just because it’s not like more main-stream illnesses doesn’t mean it should be treated differently.
  • Just like other mental illnesses, it is highly stigmatized. I wish this wasn’t the case because so many people deal with some form of anxiety on a daily basis. Being able to talk about it without being looked down upon would be a beautiful thing and I think more people would be inclined to seek help, talk to others, and share their stories.
  • It’s not a cop-out or an excuse; anxiety is a very real thing. Some seem to think it’s something you can just get over and that you can just relax. It’s not like that at all.
  • Some people who have anxiety can barely leave their houses, others are totally fine with things like that. Not all anxiety is the same, and it shouldn’t be treated that way.
  • That said, sometimes the thought of leaving the house is absolutely terrifying.
  • There are different kinds of anxiety disorders: Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, etc.
  • Anxiety attacks and panic attacks are two different things. Anxiety attacks are usually caused by a specific stressor (like fear) and aren’t as intense as panic attacks. Panic attacks can happen for no reason whatsoever and are totally unpredictable. The symptoms of panic attacks are a little more intense — think heart palpitations, lots of trembling and shaking, feeling like you can’t get enough air, etc. Panic attacks are also scary as hell
  • If you’re someone who is around a person who suffers from any type of anxiety, telling them to “relax” or “calm down” does not help, it mostly just makes us feel really stupid. I promise if we could relax, we so would.
  • Anxiety can make you really really sleepy. After the adrenaline dies down, sometimes all you want to do is sleep.
  • While anxiety can be treated with medication, it doesn’t always have to be. Breathing techniques and guided imagery are invaluable; you can bring yourself down from a 9 to a 5-6 if you do them correctly!
  • Learning to look at anxiety as a part of you rather than something that is wrong with you will help you deal with it so much better. It’s just like having asthma or a food allergy. It’s just a part of who you are.