How To Overcome Anxiety and Panic By Yourself E-Book

Sonja Schoch

• Herausgeber: GES Verlag Ltd.
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Seitenzahl: 150

Beschreibung

Book Almost every person has either already experienced a panic attack in his life or has been frightened of something which could not be allocated to an immediate, rational danger or threat. Fears are – to a natural extent – part of our life as they ensure our physical sound condition and sometimes even protect the life of the concerned persons. If fears, however, influence life more intensely, impact the quality of life and lead to a withdrawal from social life, they can make people sick. . The Author The known non-medical practitioner Mrs Sonja Schoch and her husband Mr Rainer Schoch run a prosperous practice for naturopathy in Obersulm near Heilbronn. The couple Schoch has very thoroughly dealt with chronic diseases, autoimmune diseases, ADHD, borreliosis and neurological diseases as well as their healing. They aim at supporting concerned persons so that those will be able to help themselves. They have developed special therapies against borreliosis, ADHD, depressions, chronic and autoimmune diseases which they apply with outstanding success.

Leseprobe

Sonja Schoch

Non-Medical Practitioner and Lifecoach

How To Overcome Anxiety and Panic By Yourself

GES Verlag

Gesundheit Erfolg Schönheit

Book

Almost every person has either already experienced a panic attack in his life or has been frightened of something which could not be allocated to an immediate, rational danger or threat. Fears are – to a natural extent – part of our life as they ensure our physical sound condition and sometimes even protect the life of the concerned persons. If fears, however, influence life more intensely, impact the quality of life and lead to awithdrawal from social life, they can make people sick.

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The Author

The known non-medical practitioner Mrs Sonja Schoch and her husband Mr Rainer Schoch run a prosperous practice for naturopathy in Obersulm near Heilbronn. The couple Schoch has very thoroughly dealt with chronic diseases, autoimmune diseases, ADHD, borreliosis and neurological diseases as well as their healing. They aim at supporting concerned persons so that those will be able to help themselves. They have developed special therapies against borreliosis, ADHD, depressions, chronic and autoimmune diseases which they apply with outstanding success.

The author has published the following books:

How to overcome depressions by yourself

ADS, ADHS bei Kindern und Erwachsenen

Ein Praxishandbuch bei ADS und ADHS

KPU - die nicht beachtete Stoffwechselstörung Ursache für ADHS auch bei Erwachsenen?

(Gesundheitsratgeber und Tipps)

DMAE – die Wundersubstanz – Für Lernen, Konzentration, ADHS, ADS, Demenz, Schönheit

Mit Praxistipps für die Schönheit

Sonja Schoch

Non-Medical Practitioner and Lifecoach

How To Overcome Anxiety and Panic By Yourself

GES Verlag

Gesundheit Erfolg Schönheit

Note:

This guideline was issued most thoroughly upon comprehensive research work with the best of intentions. As it serves exclusively an informative purpose, it cannot substitute a medical diagnosis.

The author expressly refuses any liability or legal responsibility for any incorrect or erroneous indications as well as for any disorders which might arise from utilization of the guideline’s contents.

A further remark: There are certainly further products than those mentioned in this book. But the author and editor only indicate those products which have been tried in practice and can consequently be recommended.

1t Edition

ISBN 978-3-944009-03-2

Copyright - GES Verlag

Gesundheit Erfolg Schönheit

Contents

1. INTRODUCTION

2. What is Fear – Definition and Examples

3.The Various Types of Fear

4. Symptoms of Fear

5. Psychic Causes of Fear

6. Causes of Fear from a Holistic Point of View

7. Diagnosis

8.Self-Test

9. Psychotherapeutic Types of Therapy

10. Various Treatments of Conventional Medicine

11. Naturopathic and Holistic Therapies

12. Naturopathic Diagnosis and Treatment

13. How To Help Yourself!

14. Prevention

15. Recommendations for Concerned Persons

16. Recommendations for Family Members

17. Summary

1. Introduction

A lot of persons have already been afraid in their life or even panicked. The reasons for anxiety and the provoking situations are multifaceted and can hardly been listed in particular. As it will be revealed in the following chapters, fears are natural in principle, being a part of a human life. It, however, turns out to be critical for the concerned person, if his life is more and more influenced by panic and anxiety. Should the quality of life be impacted or the concerned person being afraid of leaving home, the fears are making sick. At this stage many affected persons need the assistance of outsiders. But it can also be difficult for family members of concerned persons to correctly handle the anxiety. Needless to say that not everybody will be able to understand that certain, objectively harmless situations may lead to panic reactions or anxiety states of a person.

If you – my dear readers – are concerned by anxiety or panic disorders, this book aims at offering you the possibility to deal with your anxiety. Admitting your fears to yourself – that’s often the first and most important step. But it is of importance to get to know the fears in detail. Where do they arise from, what are their reasons and impact? Having become familiar with this basis, you are well prepared to confront your anxiety. According to the saying “If you know your enemy, it is easier to beat him” you should become familiar with the topic “anxiety”.

If fear of fear has already become a great problem, objective and factual information are helpful to narrow down where anxiety refers to a particular circumstance or situation or where our life is restricted by fear of fear. Persons who are able to classify their anxiety can face them more specifically. Furthermore the descriptions of various fears clearly point out that we are not the only alones with such problems! Also other people experience the same or similar fears. Many others know the same problems and difficulties caused by our fears. As far as possible, you should read the following chapters one after the other. It is understandable that concerned persons are above all interested in therapies or even self-help possibilities as everybody suffering from panic attacks and fear responses is eager to get rid of them as soon as possible or to reduce them to an acceptable extent. According to our experience this will work best if you are firstly dealing in detail with the topic “fear”. Thus the reactions of the body can be better judged. It will moreover be easier to find the optimal kind of therapy to control the own fears. Unfortunately the symptoms of anxiety are not as clear as those of a bad cold. Almost each body shows a slightly different reaction on fear so that a variety of symptoms show up. While some can be allocated to anxiety without any doubt, others, however, do not evidently refer to our fears. Also such reactions of our body can, however, be allocated to the fears and responded accordingly, if we listen to ourselves very carefully. We hope that you will not only experience numerous light-bulb moments while you are reading this book, but also be able to deal with your fears intensely. You have already managed the first step to face up to your anxiety and to beat it in numerous small steps.

This book shall not only assist concerned persons, but also their family members. Fears cannot only impact the life quality of the affected persons, but also that of persons in their immediate vicinity. This book will also provide a good basis for them to deal with the topic “fear”. Living with concerned persons can turn to a real crucial test. Unless you are personally concerned, it will often be difficult to put yourself in a concerned person. It is a balancing act to take the affected person seriously and to help him on the one hand. On the other hand you must avoid that wrong behaviour or pressure put on the scared person will cause new fears or intensify existing anxiety. For this reason we have elaborated a separate chapter with recommendations for family members which might be helpful for them in handling fear.

2. What is Fear – Definition and Examples

In the first paragraph the term “fear” is factually defined. The following case examples will give you a more personal insight in the topic “fear” and give you examples of various types of anxiety. Maybe some readers can already identify with some passages in the text.

Definition of the Term “Fear”

Fear can be described as a state featuring aversion, discomfort and emotions. Emotionality is expressed by feelings. They as well as the entire situation in which fear is experienced are awkward for the concerned person. Instead of desire and well-being a rather contrary feeling will come up.

The Austrian doctor and depth psychologist Sigmund Freud (6th May 1856 – 23rd September 1939) established and distinguished the terms of anxiety and fear. He defined “anxiety” as a state which develops inside a human being. “Fear” on the contrary is a state provoked by the outside wold. Today the definition of both terms “anxiety” and “fear” is no longer distinguished, they are rather used in language in parallel to each other. Fear is the concrete feeling of being threatened, which usually is justified and appropriate. For this reason fear is often described as “objective fear”.

The following chapters of this book do not mainly concentrate on fear although this is as unpleasant as anxiety, but caused by concrete dangers or worrying circumstances. Experiencing fear can consequently be considered as protection of the physical sound condition and the entire life. Thus it represents a required and appropriate part of our life. Additionally – even if we do not intervene - fear is a “limited” state. It disappears quite quickly after the respective threat or danger has gone. As we will point out in the following chapters, anxiety can, however, dig its claws into a person and substantially impact his life or quality of life.

If Fear of Fear is Increasing

The sun was shining; it was one of the first hot days of this year. Some cooling refreshment would be great now! Sebastian had already been informed by an SMS of his friends that they would spend the evening at the lake. It sounded quite inviting, Sebastian thought, but at the lake?! Only thinking of this idea made him panic. A lot of dangers were lurking particularly in the water. As it was not as clear as the water in the swimming-pool, stones could easily be missed. And goodness knows which animals would swim around him while he was in the water. What about passing sailing boats which might cause sudden currents? Sebastian was on the alert. Even he had really liked to be in the lake for cooling, this was out of question! The open air pool was a more convenient alternative. As he could see to its bottom, he exactly knew where he was swimming. Being able to overlooking everything, he could exactly check what was going on, while watching all happenings around him. The media, however, frequently reported of bathing accidents in open air pools. For this reason he always stayed in shallow water. But who of his friends was willing to splash around with him in the non-swimmer zone?

Sina was feeling in a similar way this day. Being at the other end of the town, she experienced the first real heat wave of this year. But going to the open air pool? This was out of question – also for her, as the sun was directly shining on her being in the water. This might lead to painful burns, even to skin cancer. And it was known throughout the world that skin cancer could end fatally. She was happy of having arrived at home on her way back from work. A car driver changing to her lane had overlooked her. It had taken quite a while until her heart beat had returned to normal.

She had taken the decision: she would stay at home. The ice cubes in the freezer compartment had to be sufficient to refresh her. Moreover she could not risk coming home in the dark. The way from her car to entry door would panic her again so that she would start sweating. As usually, her breath would become shallow and her body would be shivering. It was always the same: as soon as she was sitting on her couch, she felt as if she had been working out for an hour.

She did not know when it would start next – as she had learnt from her experiences gathered during the last few weeks. And this was almost even worse than the panic attacks themselves: the fear of fear. She hated such moments in which she felt like a real coward. For this reason she had not yet told any of her friends about her increasing anxiety.

Sometimes the fear almost strangulated her. She would highly appreciate talking about it with somebody. But her concern to be disliked and laughed at was deeper than her longing for being helped. Thus she realized being increasingly occupied by fear so that her life was more and more restricted.

Fear as Protective Function

An incredible number of persons feel in the same way as described in the two case examples. But every human being is afraid. For millions of years fear has taken over and fulfilled an essential function by helping human beings to protect themselves from dangers. In previous times with human beings being hunters and gatherers fear was a synonym for a threatening danger. The fear attracted the people’s attention either to wild animals from which they had to flee or to any kind of threat requiring a battle. Experiencing fear, the human being was stirred into action. He was given the strength required for defending himself respectively for fighting or running away – in any case for escaping from the threat.

Today fear still indicates a lurking danger, which, however, usually won’t be any wild animals. In our society a lot of expressions for having fear or for describing the extent of fear are used. For example: “I was scared to death”, “I was scared stiff”, “He was shaking in his shoes”, “My heart was racing for fear.”

These expressions describe reactions appearing in connection with fear. Although we are nowadays in quite different situation of life than the hunter and gatherers, fear as basic instinct and reaction pattern has remained the same. It helps to realize and overcome dangers and threats.

The fear principally always proceeds according to the same pattern. Being aware of the threat, our instinct to escape from it – either by running way or by defending ourselves - is wakened. Numerous stories deal with extraordinary moments of people in which they were able to mobilize extremely strong forces which allowed them to manage impossible things. There are reports about mothers whose children were – for example – run over by a car. Worrying about their child, they were strong enough for a moment to pick up the car so that the child was saved from the danger. Such situations seem to be unrealistic in the first moment, as we are usually not strong enough to lift a car in a bare-handed way. But whoever has already experienced such an extraordinary situation of danger or fear, knows quite well that the logical forces are suspended in such moments. Consequently fear can be considered as a natural protective mechanism of our body to save us from dangers and other threats.It will, however, become difficult and above all abnormal, if fear as basic instinct and reaction pattern turns to be an uncontrollable factor restricting the everyday life in an incredible way. The protective mechanism itself suddenly appears as the worst threat.

Abnormal Fear

Abnormal fear arises if a person estimates and evaluates potential dangerous situations in an inappropriate manner. In this moment the concerned person believes being in a dangerous and threatening situation from which he wants to escape. As millions of years ago the basic instinct of running away or fighting is activated; the maximum amount of adrenaline is mobilised by the body to be well prepared for the flight or fight. But in the case of abnormal fear most situations turn out be harmless. Nevertheless body and also soul are both – from a subjective point of view - in danger so that adrenaline and stress hormones are released.

Particularly in moments with such situation occurring frequently, the fear and the resulting panic attack represent a stress factor which – impacting body and soul – is very exhausting for the concerned person.

A potential dangerous situation is usually incorrectly estimated not only once, but this will happen again and again. The concerned person will draw wrong conclusions from it and take unnecessary decisions, which are, however, considered being “justified” due to the experienced feelings.

After the hunter had escaped from an attacking animal in previous times, his body relaxed after some time. He returned to his resting heart rate, while all stress was leaving him. Today this has not substantially changed. Each human being features a normal and healthy basic stress. In the event of threatening dangers this stress level increases so that fear is experienced and the human being will be strong enough to escape or fight. Persons suffering from an anxiety disorder principally have a substantially higher basic stress level than persons without this illness. Therefore such overreactions will be shown more quickly. Due to the higher basic stress level these reactions are so exaggerated that not only the actual situation is estimated and experienced as danger. In addition many continuously existent factors result from the overreactions which negatively influence the concerned person. He above all suffers from continuous stress, feels restless and pushed, is permanently frightened with a lump in his throat as if being strangulated. Further symptoms of such anxiety disorder are trembling hands and tachycardia. Due to their permanently exceeded stress level persons with an anxiety disorder do not experience the relaxing phase which usually occurs after a stressful situation. Consequently their bodies remain in permanent stress, which leads to sleep disturbances, depressions, panic attacks and social withdrawal, tachycardia and further side-effects of fear.

The concerned person is often unable to understand why his stress level suddenly increases and why he experiences fear in many situations. Although these situations are rationally considered harmless, the fear will persist. In turn, the concerned person will be frightened even more and feel entirely uncertain.

At this stage it is, however, important for the concerned person to know the fear’s origin and to understand the mechanism in the body. Only with this knowledge he will be able to intervene and interrupt this cycle.

The symptoms of fear will be described in detail in one of the following chapters.

3. The Various Types of Fear

Overview