How do I get over my health anxiety/phobia?!
Question: I have had cognitive therapy, hypnotherapy and even Reiki but still manage to get really worked up over the slightest bodily sensation and think it's something awful like cancer, brain tumor, etc. I also get anxiety/panic attacks with the worry. I am somewhat fed up of being like this now and wondered if anyone out there could relate to this, and offer some advice.
Answers:
Have you tried doing some sort of strenuous exorcise like weight training, long distance running or cycling. Anything that makes you super fit, apparently it can be euphoric, you sleep soundly, feel much stronger and able to cope with anything, it worked for a friend of mine. Good luck.
Other Answers:
I have phobias, too, but not the same ones as you.
I recommend you keep up with the CBT and read "The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook" by Dr Edmund Bourne. It helped me a LOT. Also, there's a great online community called ENCourage (linked below.)
Keep on trying..some days you make baby steps forward and some days you feel like you've made two giant steps back. It takes time and persistence to get over a phobia, but YOU CAN DO IT! :)
Source(s):
http://www.encourageconnection.com/cgi-bin/mbmain.pl?pg=1&wm=1130862767
Have you tried Terrap?
Source(s):
www.terrap.com
Positive self talk is helpful. When I get a pain or think I've contracted a cold, or Whatever, I just tell myself that I am feeling better each second. My body is designed to heal itself. God made me perfect and my body is designed to repair itself and keep itself healthy. Think about how well you feel. DO NOT focus on pain, symptoms etc. Just visualize perfect harmony within your body. If you dwell too much on those negative thoughts you can actually make yourself sick.
I have obsessive compulsive behaviour and phobias. I found a very good psychologist and have overcome a lot of these. It has taken a long time. And I have had to sort out a lot of childhood issues, but it is worth it.
You do need to find a psychologist that you can work with. And you need to sort out WHY you got these phobias to get rid of it.
stop worrying about the little things. Learn how to let things go.
If you are stressed about work, try this. Work the required 8 hours a day and after that go home. Do not think about work until you sit at your desk the next morning. Work stays at work.
That is really tough. I'm a Reiki master, and I'm not sure that I would have worked on you simply because Reiki causes even more sensations in the body.
As someone who has some OCDs, all I can offer is that you try to focus on something else in your environment. Try playing a video games (there's lots of really cool free ones on MSN, AOL, Yahoo, PopCap games, links below)--they aren't just for kids. My thought on that is, if you're focusing your attention on something that's a heavy stimulus, you won't have room in your thoughts for worrying about any sensations. I personally use fast-paced games like Zuma, Jewel Quest, Luxor, and Bejewled (beat the clock version) that require almost total concentration at higher levels. I've been known to forget to blink and have my contacts dry up and fall out when playing these games!
I'm not trying to discount your feelings AT ALL or trivializing them by saying you should play games instead. I am just offering a way to get your mind off it and see that you CAN indeed focus on other things and exclude worrying about every little twinge.
I also think that you should see a therapist. I've been in therapy for a couple of years and it's been very helpful. I didn't even realize some of the odd beliefs I held were actually a type of OCD.
Source(s):
http://games.yahoo.com/games/front
http://zone.msn.com/en/root/default.htm
http://games.aol.com/
http://www.popcap.com
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