Let It Be: Using Mindfulness to Overcome Anxiety and Depression

When I was 12, I thought about how I would get out of this situation.

It was a rainy Saturday and I had to prepare for the choir - an eight-hour rehearsal before the big concert. Eight hours! I started to worry about how much time this was in my young life at the time.

As if on my will, heavy feelings of fear and nausea developed. I didn't know it at the time, but my mind was saying to my body, "Hey, if you feel sick, we can get out of this!"

Unfortunately for me, this will happen many times, in my adult life.

Commitment equivalent to nausea accompanied by a bad fear of vomiting. Concerts, sporting events, bedroom overs at friends' houses - any situation you may find difficult to get out of.

It wasn't until he was sixteen that the school began to affect him. I was so disabled that I could not reach the first day of the eleventh year, so I was taken to the doctor. He said I was worried. He wrote to Effexor, who opposes depression. I was not depressed. I would eventually take one tablet every day for the next eight years.

Twenty-four years ago, a friend commented: “I don't think those pills actually cure what you think they are carrying. Maybe you can live without them. ”

I realized then that I had swallowed them simply because of the habit. Maybe they were my stick - a morning ritual to stop wolves. At the time, I did not have much of an attack. I felt good. I began to slowly pull myself out of the trees while I was on an overseas trip.

The withdrawal symptoms were scary, but I saw them - confused and abandoned but still "clean" anyway.

I returned home. At first I was happy, comforted by the familiarity with my pet. But something went wrong. I started to have strange thoughts - negative and unfinished.

Usually one can back off such spirits, but they came with so much confidence that I began to worry. I Googled: "Why don't I want to do anything anymore?" and “Why do I feel neglected?”

A month later I discovered what one might call a mood disorder. As I lay in bed watching a movie, something in my mind clicked: “Life does not matter.”

This was followed by a spectacular explosion of thoughts and races. My mind was stuck in a cycle of disturbing gossip and would continue like this for months, with no rest without sleep.

Everything seemed strange and pointless and threatening. Worse still, despite their best efforts, no one was able to reach me.

Anxiety is not a feeling you experience before work. It’s not a quick heart when you realize you’ve left the stove at home. Anyone who says, "Just relax!" the person experiencing anxiety or depression should be aware of this; they just can't. Not yet.

Both are caused by anxiety. Not only with these new and disturbing feelings but also with the thought “Will I be like this forever?”

I tried CBT and it was a waste of time. Maybe I was looking for the wrong psychologist, but he seemed more concerned with the small clock on his desk than with my angry tears.

I was also prescribed anti-depressant medication - but even on the most difficult days, a small voice inside said, “There are no drugs. Linda. Please. "

I met another psychologist, a Romanian man who was kind and spoke my language. I bought useless extras worth $ 300. Temptation and error.

Anxiety plays tricks. It tells you that everything you hear is sensitive. Depression reveals it all in black and white. Together, they changed their minds.

One day I was truly convinced that I had schizophrenia. I caught "disturbing thoughts". This time I came across a website called Anxiety No More, created by a man named Paul David, who had previously suffered from depression himself.

It summarized all the symptoms I had - running with disturbing thoughts, dizziness, panic, depressed feelings, separated feelings, and a host of other things. Paul was worried and suffered a total injury. The answer? There are no drugs and no expensive purification rituals.

The answer was very positive and almost unbelievable in its simplicity: Stop fighting it. Come on.

This was my first development, and since then I have been determined to learn as much as I can about the human brain and why we experience anxiety and depression.

I learned that those born after 1940 were ten times more likely to experience depression. This has shown that in most cases, life events should be blamed; the pressure we endure, we think we can't break. You only need to look at someone trying to balance two iPhones, a laptop, and an iPad on one knee to see how we overload them.

I have learned that anxiety is a rapidly changing factor from our prehistoric ancestors (apparently our brains have not yet received the invitation that lions are no longer lurking behind forests).

And the stress? In many cases it is the brain that says, “I can handle so much! Goodbye! ”And feelings seem to be extinguished - self-defense.

That is not to degrade cases of severe depression caused by other factors where medication is needed, but knowing how easily and how often anti-depressants are prescribed, one should ask, how much does it really cost?

Are we perhaps disrupting the natural defenses that can be better left to continue, approaching patiently instead of 'fighting'?

I had read all the books. I meditated daily on cool music and practiced breathing exercises.

I let the nervousness come over and quite enough, over time it subsided until it stopped waiting for me. Emotions returned. I could laugh. I felt beaten and tired, but I was hopeful.