Do Miracle cures for Anxiety, Panic Attacks, and Phobias really
exist?
Everyone who has anxiety just wants to get
rid of it. Many therapists, some of them unscrupulous, lure
desperate sufferers by promising that anxiety can "evaporate",
"float away" or "disappear". It seldom does, especially using
their flawed and expensive gimmicks. The chances are you already
know this. Most of the therapists that use such language are
either charging a high hourly rate for weekly sessions which in
the long term achieve little, or are selling an equally
expensive "programme" or "system". They are not all con-artists,
some of them believe in their techniques for good reason: they
have helped stressed-out professionals to relax a little or a
down-in-the-dumps widow's mood to lift. They, by and large, have
not cured anxiety and,
although they may well be full of anecdotes, they can not
produce living examples or peer reviewed statistical evidence
that supports them. Often they tell you how frustrated they are
that the medical profession will not accept them. The medical
profession, arrogant and backward as it can be, has good reason
to be suspicious. So if miracle cures do not exist then what
help is there for you? Plenty! As while instantaneous miracles
do not occur you can make changes which will permanently free
you from your anxiety and panic. At www.anxiety2calm.com I
have listed some of the therapies I have used and comment on
their efficacy. Often it won't be quick, but Rome wasn't built
in a day. If I were you I'd, right now, give yourself permission
to take as long as you need to overcome your anxiety; better
that it takes a year and works than having it fail in two weeks.
At the same time, paradoxically, you should be open to the idea
of being free of it much sooner. I say 'be open to the idea'
don't grasp it and demand an instant cure.
Here's my advice, as an ex-sufferer:
1) Let go of wanting an instant cure. Be prepared to earn your
cure and become a stronger person. Remember that it doesn't have
to be awful.
How would you feel if your anxiety or panic evaporated or
somehow just disappeared? Most anxiety sufferers would say they
would feel amazing and over the moon! But would they? Actually
you don't feel anxiety most of the time anyway, so in a sense
your anxiety disappears all the time. You consider yourself to
have anxiety, though, as you know it will come back. So how
would you know if say your hypnotherapist made your anxiety
disappear? Some days without anxiety would pass and gradually it
would, one presumes, fade into your personal history. But you
would never be sure, and one day the natural emotion and
symptoms of anxiety or panic would rear their
ugly head and you would be back to square one. How can I be
sure? I've been there. Everyone feels the symptoms of anxiety at
sometime in their life although not everyone labels them as
such. I had had full blown panic attacks and lengthy periods of
anxiety so I was sensitized to recognise the very first signs,
the feeling in the pit of my stomach that "normal" people would
call nervousness. As soon as I felt those natural feelings again
I was right back where I had started. I tell you this to stress
my belief that you can't just take away the anxiety, you also
have to remove your fear of anxiety returning and your label of
yourself as an anxious person. For me, the path to no longer
having anxiety was a series of steps and small jumps. No one
made me believe I was over my anxiety, I proved it to myself as
I lived my life. Things that you learn yourself through
experience are far more embedded in you than things you are
told, ask any teacher! And you want to be permanently free of
anxiety, don't you? So despite the fact that doctors seem to
prefer to talk about controlling rather than curing anxiety I am
not afraid to describe myself as cured. I am cured because I no
longer have anxiety, am not scared of it returning, and consider
myself to be as normal and able as the next person.
There are three important things there. Firstly I had to learn
to not fear anxiety returning. That was most important. Secondly
I had to respect myself and understand that I was as capable and
good as the next person, and that the time I had "wasted" in
having anxiety, and the things I had missed were still
obtainable.
2) It is better to have exciting things in front of you rather
than behind you. Often the anxiety sufferer can feel amazingly
low self esteem as they see the world pass them by. Changing
self-image can be an important part of the recovery.
3) Be open to the idea that there may be a positive outcome.
Often sufferers are told to "think positive". Such a statement
is a waste of breath. On the other hand many people feel, after
trying out a few flawed therapies, that they are incurable, that
nothing can help them. I learnt early on to just be open to the
possibility that I might actually get over my anxiety. To
believe in the possibility of a positive outcome was possible.
So forget instant cures, prepare yourself for some work, and be
open to a positive outcome. Then start hunting out the therapies
that have been proven to work, and chose the one that's best for
you. It doesn't have to be expensive (I cured myself from
books), and it doesn't have to be horrid. You will succeed.
Look out for my follow up articles where I discuss other issues
to getting over anxiety, panic attacks and phobias. I will post
details on www.anxiety2calm.com,
where all information is given away for free.