Do you think anxiety disorders all stem from difficult or traumatic past experiences or childhoods? I mean, do people with great parents and nurturing upbringings and no traumatic experiences in their lives still have anxiety disorders? My psychologist says that nurture definitely outweighs nature with anxiety disorders and that its our fearful and negative thoughts that cause the anxiety and not the other way around and by taking baby steps to change those fearful thoughts the anxiety will get better. I am trying but it's super hard to do, like to totally change my thinking. I am in the middle of a very bad few months of anxiety and feeling depressed so maybe that's why it's been so hard for me to do this. I am going to keep trying because it can't hurt but I wonder if other people have much success doing this for months or years. I also feel like I re-hash the counseling session for a few days after and it almost makes me feel worse for some reason. I didn't feel that way with my last counselor, who didn't have near as much experience as the one I'm seeing now. He was just like a family counselor I guess with not a lot of experience. We mostly had friendly chats and he would give me some tips on relaxation and breathing exercises and I would vent but not really get into deep conversations so maybe that's why.
What do you all think?
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Cuchculan
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My own anxiety happened a few years after I had a close call with a car. I ended up under the car. Person with me go thrown about 6 feet in the air. There was nothing ever done or said about it. Kind of like I was expected to just carry on as normal. I did this for a few years. Then a friend died in a car crash. This triggered PTSD for me. The night I ended up under the car I was in shock. I am fully aware of that. I just began to panic outside the house. Mainly near roads with cars on them. Then I found I couldn't go out at all. I was still getting no help at all at this stage. Had no idea what was happening to me. No idea what a panic attack even was. It would take another year before I went to a doctor and explained things to him. Then I began getting help. No miracle cure. That story dates back over 30 years. Good times and bad times. Even ended up in a psych hospital once. But here I still am.
Point of my story is that people get anxiety for different reasons. It doesn't have to be all about a bad childhood. My childhood was great. My father was a heavy drinker. A loud man with drink on him. But there was never anything bad at all. They were fun days. Little would I know what was awaiting me. Then it all fell apart. ( Had to get the name of a book by Moby in there )
We have to learn how to live all over again. Learn not to fear things. Last year I ended up in a normal hospital because of my anxiety. Burst ulcer. All anxiety related. 2 weeks in the ICU. 3 operations. But here I still am. I will always push forwards. No need to look behind me. I have learnt to live in the minute. Take things as they come.
Point of my story is that people get anxiety for different reasons. It doesn't have to be all about a bad childhood. My childhood was great. My father was a heavy drinker. A loud man with drink on him. But there was never anything bad at all. They were fun days. Little would I know what was awaiting me. Then it all fell apart. ( Had to get the name of a book by Moby in there )
We have to learn how to live all over again. Learn not to fear things. Last year I ended up in a normal hospital because of my anxiety. Burst ulcer. All anxiety related. 2 weeks in the ICU. 3 operations. But here I still am. I will always push forwards. No need to look behind me. I have learnt to live in the minute. Take things as they come.
Wow that's horrible. No wonder you have anxiety. I don't think our brains can go through things like that and be like nothing happened. I'm glad you are moving forward. That's all we can do no matter what caused the issues.