Analyze This: Why am I scared . . .

. . . all the time? I don’t know what it is that i’m afraid of - but i’m generally pretty unhappy with my current life situation (job, etc). I have friends, a girlfriend, savings, and i’m reasonably healthy - but i am sad and scared almost all the time . . . I know depression and anxiety go hand in hand - but, while i can identify certain causes for the depression and unhappiness, i’m really having trouble figuring out why i spend so much time afraid of nothing in particular . . . just a cerebral malfunction? - or is there some evolutionary purpose? or even an existential cause?

if you’re interested in making a response, feel free to ask me questions, if that will help . . .

Being “afraid of nothing in particular” is a definition on anxiety. Which is more important to you, understanding why you are anxious or decreasing the anxiety?

I’ll take either one, at this point . . .

oftentimes, anxiety has identifiable causes, tho . . .

How long has this been a problem for you?

On and off throughout my adult life - but most recently, for about six months - precipitated by a painful breakup with a former girlfreind . . .

I’d suggest calmly feeling and locating the sensation (physical sensation) that goes with the fear/anxiety.

Do you feel it at belly? breast? throat? head? etc.
Do you feel it as a pressure? icky wacky feeling? heat/cold/chill? vibration? etc.

If you notice that you are tense, some part of your body, relax by exhaling slowly. Then, continue feeling.

You may feel emotion, you may remember something, while you do this.
But come back and continue feeling.

Sometime, it can become painful. If so, relaxing with exhaling would help.
Don’t tense up to block the unpleasant sensation or pain, it would become worse.
If it becomes too much, you can take body position that is least painful.
Adjust environment so that you can relax as much as possible.
Take water, salty thing, soda or something like lemon, etc, if you feel like.
Feeling your back bone may help a bit, in some cases.
If you know how, gathering your awareness to the center and/or higher up may help, although it may make the pain clearer or worse in some cases.
You’ve got to try and see what works for given situation.

Although it may sound strange, by sensing physical sensation, the fear or anxiety becomes simple and well identified sensation, and thus not very scary (although scary impression may stay with the sensation).
And this method allow you to bring your subconscious fear/emotions to surface.
But it takes patience and guts. Also, once you start doing this, you are likely to continue for long long time because we have lots of subconscious things.

Does your anxiety affect your ability to do ordinary daily activities in a typical day? If so, what activities? I want to get an idea of how severe your anxiety is.

I used to wake up terrified almost every morning. No rhyme or reason, just terror the moment I opened my eyes.

That hasn’t happened since I found a medication that worked for me.

Meditation has been shown to be extremely helpful for that sort of thing.

For one thing, it is a mental exercise that deals with calming the mind. And an anxious mind is one that is, pretty much by definition, not calm. So I’d recommend that training. The second, and probably more important one, is that it allows your subconscious both an area to play around in and an interface to your subconscious. That can be very helpful in identifying what is causing this anxiety. It treats the symptoms and identifies the cause. What isn’t to like?

Though, like anything else, it takes a while to get good at.

Not really - it’s mostly just unpleasant - constantly feeling nervous or wary or having feelings of impending doom - if anything, i would say it interferes by contributing to an overall feeling of hopelessness about the future - but it doesn’t directly impede my ability to function on ordinary levels . . .

it CAN get a little exhausting at times - it uses up energy, distracts concentration, etc . . .

What’s the best way to learn how?

There are a variety of different ways to meditate. So, you might want to do some googling to see what style suits you best.

Get an egg timer and set it for ~10 minutes, then I’d say the best way to start is to sit somewhere quiet in a comfortable position but with good posture, so your back is straight, shoulders down, hands somewhere (folded in your lap would probably work), head bent slightly forward, and your eyes should be nearly closed, but not quite entirely closed. You want to be comfortable but you don’t want to be doing anything that screams, “go to sleep” to your body.

Then pick a unit of time (pick something comfortable, somewhere between three and five seconds). Inhale through your nose for that unit of time, counting. Then exhale through your mouth for twice the unit of time. It should be easy and free. If you feel yourself quivering near the end of the exhale, shorten the period of time. Do that until the egg timer dings.

The once you’ve got the breathing down, which will take a while, stop thinking. It sounds easy, but it really isn’t. Just try to clear your mind. You’ll find that there is all sort of chatter going on in there, that you never really notice. In Buddhism, they stress impermanence, so if something happens to float into your mind that is OK, but you can’t fixate on it. You’ll find yourself getting caught in little loops, where your mind will try and latch onto things. Don’t let it. The counting is helpful to keep a clear mind.

Here is the wikihow, it does a pretty good job of explaining it.

It takes a while for it to work, so keep at it. At first, nothing will happen and it will be, frankly, boring. Keep in mind that there are plenty of peer-reviewed articles that have shown the benefits of meditation to be real. It isn’t some hokey thing with circumstantial evidence backing it up, though it is done by a lot of hokey people. Keep at it for maybe three weeks and then take inventory. If you like it, keep doing it and consider going at it for longer periods. If you don’t like it, well, then leave it be.

Thanks, Xun.

Hi ugly,

I bought this book regarding the subject:

amazon.com/Joy-Living-Unlock … 468&sr=8-2

I thought it was an excellent and easy read, and does go into several different types of meditation.

Xunzian, have you heard of that author? What do you think of his work?

I haven’t heard of the author, but the book looks pretty awesome. And it is well reviewed by both you and others. Sounds like a winner to me. Looks a little Buddhist-heavy, but that isn’t a bad thing. Though I usually try and suggest more non-denominational means of meditation. It is an exercise that stands apart from Buddhism. Easier to get people to sit down and shut up if they don’t think you are trying to convert them :wink:

Dorky: i’m gonna take a look at that book … thanks.

In addition to meditation and medication, Cognitive-Behavior Therapy is an effective method of treatment for generalized anxiety like you describe. Often no more than ten sessions with a therapist trained in CBT can make a big difference. Sometimes a combination of medication, meditation and CBT is needed to feel better. If formal therapy doesn’t suit you there are self-help books that teach CBT methods that can work. Anxiety such as you describe is very unpleasant. But it is usually treatable so I hope you get help.

Are you afraid of failing or losing what you have??

I don’t want you to take this too seriously, but this is one of the theories that some psychiatrists, historically, might have had regarding your condition:

What you describe sounds like panophobia. Historically, it has been linked to a neurasthenia disorder. The cause of it has been believed to be an individual’s lifestyle. It was believed that the stresses (especially of modern life) cause the mind to weaken (thus, manifestation of general fear). The weakened mind(nerves) starts to feel “oppressed” and “uneasy” by presence of surrounding external stimuli. Presumably because of its own weakness, the mind would be unable to pinpoint the exact source of the “fear”. There were several treatments for this disorder, the most common being rest. Hypnosis was also sometimes used.

I have anxiety disorder(among other things).
You seem to have similar symptoms.

You should ask a family doctor about it and talk to him about it.

It is not good to leave it untreated as it can lead to other mental illnesses, but that is only in the long term and if left untreated.
It will get much worse if you give into those fears, or rationalise those fears.

You really should talk to a doctor about it, if just to be confident, at least.
And read about a thing called CBT(cognitive behavioral therapy), it is a therapy that gives you the skills to derationalise your fears and recognise the symptoms in order to make yourself conscious of your irrational fears.