[lost_in_the_horizon]

I have struggled with anxiety for as long as I can remember. I have attacks at the worst times. My social anxiety continues to get worse and it worries me. I hate going to school. I hate seeing people. I hate looking at someone and having them look at me. I get upset about the littlest things and often wake up in the morning and have an anxiety attack that makes me stay in my room for a few more hours after I wake up. I don't know how to deal with this or how to calm down when this happens.

[kaliope]

i have this thing called an anxiety meter that i visualize in my head. it goes from 0 to 10, 10 being the worst anxiety ever. so when i am anxious, i see where the needle registers on the meter. then i do breathing exercises until i get it down to a four. which is manageable for me. sometimes i see a knob on the meter and i will manually turn down the meter to four so i can calm down faster. practicing this enough, all i have to do now when i am anxious is say dial down, and i can calm myself.

[XSleepingSiren21X]

What helps me cope with my anxiety is listening to music, day dreaming, or trying to find things that will help distract me from my panicked situations.

[ManOfConstantSorrow]

I wonder if your concious mind takes over when your guard is down in the night or when you feel suddenly overwhelmed. At other times your concious mind can keep a sense of proportion.

Night thoughts are often bleak so it is best to put them aside and wait on the morning to see how you feel then. For the morning consider giving yourself treats as per XSS suggested above or whatever works for you. Once your thoughts are under control perhaps you will be able to face the day?

[vital]

Originally Posted by lost_in_the_horizon

I have struggled with anxiety for as long as I can remember. I have attacks at the worst times. My social anxiety continues to get worse and it worries me. I hate going to school. I hate seeing people. I hate looking at someone and having them look at me. I get upset about the littlest things and often wake up in the morning and have an anxiety attack that makes me stay in my room for a few more hours after I wake up. I don't know how to deal with this or how to calm down when this happens.

Hi lost_in_the_horizon,

I think that you might find "SNAP CLUB" helpful. It's described here

http://forums.psychcentral.com/depre...n-escaped.html

- vital

[CosmicRose]

Originally Posted by kaliope

i have this thing called an anxiety meter that i visualize in my head. it goes from 0 to 10, 10 being the worst anxiety ever. so when i am anxious, i see where the needle registers on the meter. then i do breathing exercises until i get it down to a four. which is manageable for me. sometimes i see a knob on the meter and i will manually turn down the meter to four so i can calm down faster. practicing this enough, all i have to do now when i am anxious is say dial down, and i can calm myself.

This reminds me of a mental trick my dad talks about doing, years ago (before I was born) my dad went to see a therapist. The therapist told him to close his eyes and imagine a control board in front of him with many different buttons and switches on it. The buttons glowed blue, red, green, yellow, orange, purple, etc...all the switches were turned "on" too. He said imagine yourself pushing each button off, flipping each switch down or "off". Turning off all the lights and switches on the board until everything was off. The theory was that you would feel calmer after doing this. My dad said it worked for him.