Posted by Jim2 on November 20, 2009 at 01:32:37:

In Reply to: Question for Jim (and anyone else) posted by electracat on November 19, 2009 at 17:21:30:

I have dealt with the exact same thing. Call it whatever you wish, anxiety disorder, OCD, etc.

Here's my explanation:

Your anxiety causes you to be extremely uncomfortable. As a result, your mind tries desperately to rid you of it. It is a very important problem in your life. Well what happens whenever there is something important to worry about? Your mind keeps bringing it up. Normally this is a good thing. If you have a test early in the morning, or you have to be somewhere, you remember.

If you're anything like I was (an still can be), when you 'remember' the anxiety, you get very agitated and upset. The problem is not your remembering of the anxiety (the thoughts), it's your reaction to those thoughts. You need to work on letting the thought in, expect it, and feel the anxiety. As I said before, work on not resisting the thought, almost like facing the fear. Because it really is a fear of more anxiety. When you do this repeatedly, you will over time get confidence that you can deal with it. You will also lose the negative association, the automatic anxiety response, to the thought.

I'm glad you have been helped by the realization that your mind is trying to help you. It's just a little out of whack right now. This realization has helped me greatly, and still does when I get an anxiety spell.

Good luck,
Jim

Follow Ups:

• Re: Question for Jim (and anyone else) F43 05:14 11/20/09 (3)
  • Re: Question for Jim (and anyone else) electracat 10:24 11/20/09 (2)
    • Re: Question for Jim (and anyone else) Jim2 12:39 11/20/09 (1)
      • Re: Question for Jim (and anyone else) F43 14:47 11/20/09 (0)

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