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ComfortablyNumb's Post

ComfortablyNumb

Updated 1y ago

Strategies for Managing Anxiety in the Moment

Hey y'all! I've had social anxiety my whole life and in the past couple months I've had severe general anxiety and panic attacks with seemingly no trigger. I find myself living in the future and jumping to worst case scenarios in my mind. Went to the ER at one point thinking it was a heart attack, but felt dumb for wasting the money for something as "harmless" as a panic attack. Recently got put on 10mg of Lexapro along with Xanax for when it gets really bad. I hate using the Xanax because I knew someone who overdosed and died from it. Anyone have strategies to combat anxiety in the moment? (i.e. breathing techniques, mantras, etc)

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Cam99

Hi! There are a few different techniques to try. One is called grounding, all you do is breathe deep in and out and while your doing that you look around you and just name the things you see. It helps bring you out of your head and back down to earth. I've also used the opposite technique and sterred my brain into a different direction by absorbing myself in a favorite movie, song or game. Just fully immersive yourself In something you love to let stress from reality stay away for a bit. I hope either of these can work for you. Fell free to dm if you ever want to talk about anything!

MackyCheeze

Count back from five 5- name 5 things to see 4- name 4 things you feel 3- name 3 things you can hear 2- name 2 things you can smell 1- name 1 thing you can taste it's another version of grounding

BigNutz

I've also had trouble dealing with anxiety in the moment once it comes on. I found the best strategy is figuring out what triggers it so you can address it before it happens. I found even those random instances where there was no trigger were not actually random and there indeed was something triggering it. I would start writing down all the details of the moment when these random attacks occur and see if you can find similarities. Also, with the Xanax, I found it do be extremely helpful when the anxiety is too severe. If you stick with the prescribed dosage I think it could be a great tool.

PoopityScoop

My strategy is knowing that 1. feeling anxious is safe 2. Having actual panic attacks and anxiety attacks is ultimately safe (and really knowing that) 3. Try not to change anything I’d recommend checking out “Therapy In a nutshell panic attacks” cuz they really help The general advice you’d get (which is most of the time unhelpful) is give you strategies to be calm, trying to force the anxiety to change, which reinforces this idea that feeling anxious is bad, which reinforces the panic attack If You’d like to chat more dm me! ❤️

PoopityScoop

And of course- my advice doesn’t work for everyone. And most of the time, anxiety issues get so severe that nothing else seems to help. Like if you’re anxious most of the time how is it possible to not try to change anything? To try to calm down, right? That’s super normal

The content in this post is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

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Strategies for Managing Anxiety in the Moment