My biggest fears that I fight are a fear of failing and a fear for my girls especially the 2 that fight anxiety and depression.

I haven't had a full-blown panic attack for awhile but still fight having a day when I feel generally anxious for a few hours or all day. The breathing and relaxation CD really help but sometimes I get into the downward cycle before I realize it and then I really have trouble stopping it. Any suggestions? I have a hard time still with replacing my negative thoughts with positive thoughts.

tessie 1

Hi, tessie 1,
My advice to you is simple...just keep going. You are strong enough to realize what you need to work on. Just keep replacing those negative thoughts with positive ones and focus on the parts of the day that you don't have anxiety. Remember, it took you years to develop these habits toward negative thinking. Be patient with yourself and realize that it may take some time to develop a new habit of positive thinking.

My biggest fear is failure (we have many more things in common I bet)and I also worry about what other people think of me. Mostly I worry that people will think that I am unintelligent. I feel like I have to prove myself to people and that I will never be good enough.
Thank you for sharing your fears. How do you deal with your fear of failure?
Leah

my biggest fear is the fear of another panic attack. And that fear will throw me right into it.

my biggest fear is also having another panic attack, and that i will just fall over for no reason at all it sounds crazy i know, I am agoraphobic and i can only co as far as my moms house which is next door. Its really aggrivating cause theres so many things i want to do and so many places i want to go. ugh its awful

For me it's a toss between public speaking and the feeling of being trapped in a dental chair or other trapped (being in a room with a closed door and no windows, being seated in a middle of a row) situation where I can't use the restroom and my intestines are kicking into high gear.

Something that I was thinking about just today. I think a lot of times when we are in a bad spot or feeling that kind of downward spiral feeling like you described, certain things seem to bother us more than usual. And when you're in a state of depression, fear, irrationality, I think it can be easy to let your emotions get away from you. Uncertainty is a Horrible thing. to be torn in your thoughts, to feel like you're on an emotional rollercoaster in regards to this decision or that idea. It's horrible. What I've been thinking a little bit about is trying to prepare more for these feelings before I'm in a particularly bad spot. For example..Maybe I'm a little unhappy with my job, but it's a pretty good job, I don't hate it and I don't really know where I would go if I lost it. Now to take the time when things feel "ok", you feel more balanced, in a better mood. To take the time when things are ok to sit and rationally think about this subject I think can be very beneficial. So if you did this and you said. "Ok, I've been in this job for a while. I t's a pretty good place to work, but sometimes I just get tired of it, someties I get frustrated with this or that. I think it's a pretty good place to work for now, but I believe there are other more fullfilling jobs out there for me and I'm going to make a point to start actively looking for something new" To examine the situation like this in a healthy and rational way I think can save you a lot of trouble when you're having a hard time. Now if you felt the same way about your job, but never really took the time to examine it and think about it in a positrive rational way and then all of a sudden you found yourself heading into that dark place and getting lower and lower...Now negative thoughts are coming to you and you start getting depressed or anxious and you think about your job and you start getting more down and your inner dialog might be more like " Uhhh I hate thius job, why am I still here I can't stand this or that. Maybe this is all I'll ever be able to do. I'm not good at anything else.." and now all of a sudden you've talked yourself into an even lower mood. What I'm trying to say as far as self talk and REPLACING THOUGHTS goes.is that if you've already, while in a rational state of mind, examined this particular subject or any particular subject, you'll be less likely to get caught up in foolish negative thoughts associated with the subject. In other words, you take the possibility of negative thoughts and their corresponding negative feelings out of the equation. The anxiety can't use that idea against you because you've already addressed that subject in a healthy, rational way. So you know whatever silly negative thoughts your mind wants to suggest to you are just that....thoughts...garbage, mental junk. I would suggest in my humble opinion to try to be more prepared in this way before you start sliding down. Of course it's easier said than done. We all need to work on these things, I know I do, but we can do it. Take the complexity out of the feelings. Don't get tricked by a thought. Good Luck

My biggest fear right now is that this program wont help me. I have been through so many treatments that have only halfway worked. No matter what combination of drugs my doctor gives me, it still is only short lived. I feel like I am unhelpable.

It's a scary thought to think that the program won't work. We've probably all had these kind of negative thoughts. I've had a lot of treatments too, I think a lot of times I learned things, important things that made a lot of sense to me, but there is a difference between knowing somethings true and KNOWING something is true through practice, work, repetition, and a changing of your thoughts. That's why I think this program will work too, because it's not just information..It's an actual "structured" program. .Just learning something isn't good enough. Knowing that what you're experiencing is because of distorted, irrational thoughts is one thing..and actually having put into practice the techniques and tools to experience the change, the truth..is another thing. That's the difference between just knowing something and capital "K" knowing, where you've been made stronger through your expewriences with a proven, structured, program.
I believe that that's a big difference between this program and other treatments. The format, the direction and also the media. sometimes it would take me forever to read a single page and I felt like I could hardly retain any of it, but I think visually with the dvds and the audio with the cds along with the other tools and the structure really make a difference..at least for me. I hope this point of view is helpful to you "Motions" and everyone. It gives me hope. I hope that I'm successful and that everyone is. Good Luck