Category Archives: Healing Social Anxiety

Anxiety Wants You in a Box: Getting Out and Staying Well

August 7, 2011 / by / Treating Anxiety

Anxiety likes to keep us in boxes. Little boxes, with four walls and a steady stream of same, same, similar, same. Don’t stray too far now. Don’t, should, must,… and after a while your mind stops using the windows, let … Continue reading →

Anxiety: Why You Think You’re Crazy but Probably Aren’t

June 10, 2011 / by / Treating Anxiety

Feel free to question my emotional competence but I’m not insane. For that matter, most people with mental illness are not insane. This may be obvious but for many it’s not. Anyway, how many times have you thought, ‘oh goodness, … Continue reading →

The Real Health Cost of Anxiety Disorders

June 5, 2011 / by / Treating Anxiety

Happy is what brings healthy, and viceversa, so it can’t be that much of a surprise anxiety and depression have had some pretty rough consequences on my health; High blood pressure at 25, on-and-off flings with anemia, near-constant sleep deprivation. … Continue reading →

Mental Illness and Other People’s Standards

June 1, 2011 / by / Treating Anxiety

On acceptance, anxiety and guilt Life with mental illness isn’t always fun. Not just because I have a real illness, and that real illness really does affect my life but because some folks have trouble accepting this. I’m not entirely … Continue reading →

Anxiety: Have You Ever Felt Safe?

May 10, 2011 / by / Treating Anxiety

Have you ever felt safe? Maybe that seems like a stupid question, and if it does, consider yourself lucky is about all I can say. My therapist asked me something like it once, and I ended up triggered, taking a … Continue reading →

How to Cure Panic in 5 Incredibly Easy Ways that Totally Miss the Point

May 1, 2011 / by / Treating Anxiety

Long story short: there’s a profound difference between where OK is, and wherever I actually sit with my anxiety disorder; Safe is somewhere in between– A no-man’s land I’m searching for because my therapist handed me half a map and … Continue reading →

When Anxiety and I First Met

April 25, 2011 / by / Treating Anxiety

Anxiety: It wasn’t always like this. Was it? Imagine you’re dating your anxiety disorder. Scary, isn’t it?! Now here’s how one gets into this mess: When anxiety and I first got together, things seemed OK. The first date was a … Continue reading →

What Do You Do When the Help Doesn’t Help? Anxiety

April 19, 2011 / by / Treating Anxiety

What do you do if you feel stuck, helpless, hopeless, trapped, or in a crisis state? What happens when the help you get isn’t enough, isn’t good enough, or just isn’t available at that time? Why is  treating anxiety often … Continue reading →

Anxiety: The ‘Life is a Chessboard’ Trap

April 11, 2011 / by / Treating Anxiety

Anxiety fills a room, even if it’s empty. Uncanny but it manages, almost every time. The claws in my head grow wings, sprout tentacles, take over: my room, the house, the neighbourhood, and soon entire nations… What?! Oh, wait. Gradually, … Continue reading →

I Don’t Need False Hope, or Fantasy: Mental Health Recovery

March 29, 2011 / by / Treating Anxiety

Most days I feel like I’m breaking and entering -in search of a place I fit. A narcissistic fantasy? The inverse reflection of all the pain I’ve kept on ice… The parts of the story that are hoped for, soon … Continue reading →