I have anxiety issues and I need a better way of dealing with anxiety attacks than alcohol. Please provide alternative ways of dealing with this.

Whenever I have a bout of major anxiety relating to my general depression, social fear or other worries, I usually delve myself into something I can focus on to distract myself from it, like watching a movie, binge watching a tv show or writing; you could try something along those lines.

Meditation, breathing exercises, therapy, anti-anxiety meds, hobbies ( I do crochet, wood working, and gaming). I highly recommend therapy to learn coping mechanisms and getting on a mild anti-depressant at the least.

There is a bunch of stuff to go through.  Cbt, meditation, distraction, tackling your fears head on and habituation of them, changing life patterns to more effectively work around anxiety inducing things, camomile tea and relation, to medication.  Personally, I would never touch a med for it again. But the other stuff can be effective.

What is Cbt?

Distraction is by far the best thing for me so far.

I have an ally at work that I know can calm me down if I have an attack while at work, I just walk over to her and stare at her with this wide-eyed panicked look on my face and she jumps into action, lol.  Basically she just tells me a story to get my mind off whatever it is.

I have a small coloring book that I keep in my purse at all times.  I figure that I don't engage my artistic brain often enough so that's another great form of distraction that I can use on my own.

I also got some meds from my doctor too, Xanax, but I thankfully haven't had to take them yet.

One thing I've noticed about me is I used to launch myself into things in an attempt to master them. I was like a modern day Renaissance man and it was always curious to me the motivation to this. I'd sit around all day and come up with inventions or ideas for businesses, or take up chess, or gaming or archery. I'd lurch from one thing to another until I got bored and moved on. That all stopped about a month ago when I reached self-realization. I haven't gamed since then, just sat around soaking up my feelings. Everything makes sense now and in a way I don't see myself going back to all the hobbies, I know now they were a cheap plastic mask for my dysphoria.

I think there were a lot or really good distracting options listed earlier. I would like to add a few more. I don't think I saw them but could be mistaken.

-work out-physical exertion helps most with both depression and anxiety
-music either listening to or actually playing an instrument can be a great outlet(although my guitar playing is bad enough to create tension when I have not practiced enough

Joanna

Cognitive behavioural therapy.  It's probably the first thing a therapist would do with you, it's very effective and you can follow the process and do it independently.

It really depends on how long and how severe the anxiety is. If you can do these calming things, I say go for it. I like the coloring books and teas and breathing exercises. They're great tools.
I've had severe anxiety and panic attacks forever--totes unrelated to any trans issue...some people are just wired to be anxious especially if it runs in the family. There's no shame on taking meds if you need them in that case. I've been on meds for a long time and they've made a world of difference in me being able to function. No panic attacks at work now thankfully:)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Have you tried yoga?

I think it's a great antidote to stress...

Julie x

for my anxiety attacks the first thing I do is to isolate myself entirely from the trigger hopefully with out over reacting
if I am at work I will drive down to the beach and try to regroup my thoughts, in public places I must leave the environment and start to debrief and unwind, I always try to find what I could have differently and mull this around several times before accepting, I also find that if I can get some friends house that helps me unravel the mess without just over consuming booze and drugs. I am one whom finds one is too many and 100 is not enough so it very important to me to not get there. it is very hard I have spent so many years using drugs and booze as my crutch now I am very happy to not go back, I just have to make that my choice not booze, but I have no magic cure each event requires finding what works for me. breaking away from the source has to be first and biggest move to being able to recover within my control preference

I take my cj7 out and drive it, driving with absolutely no purpose, maybe hit a drive through for an unsweet tea from time to time.  My jeep is my escape.  I also skip rocks on a lake where its peaceful.  This is better than any medicine or alcohol.   

I am sort of over the worst anxiety right now but I am also dealing with dealing with depression from alcohol usage. Does anyone know if yoga actually helps?

its usually easier for me to with depression than anxiety.

Is there any hobby or activity that you've ever been curious about? Try reading about it and giving it a shot.

Things I've done or have been recommended to me:

Deep breathing
Take a walk
Exercise
Meditation
Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Watch a funny movie or TV show, nothing deep.
Xanax (I don't use it anymore bc it can become addictive, but it was my go to for years.)
Talking with a non-stressful person

Most importantly, no alcohol!

I like to call up my bestie and talk to him he knows how to really distract me and he's also a really great listener. or finding funny youtube video's to distract me. my mom keeps telling to ground myself and meditate cause she's really into that kind of thing but I have yet to try it out, also I find that playing some video games works too..it all depends how really bad my anxieties and depression are that day. 

I would like to something with an adrenaline rush. If its really dangerous and I get hurt, no biggie.

Quote from: rachel89 on August 25, 2015, 07:35:16 PM
I would like to something with an adrenaline rush. If its really dangerous and I get hurt, no biggie.

You could try something like go-kart racing or parasailing; not sure how practical that is for you through.