# Has anyone conquered SA?



## Telltale_Heart (Apr 19, 2008)

And by that, I mean a complete 360? I know that's not an easy thing to do, but I just wondered. I find it hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks in advance for any replies!


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

Depends what your 360 means. 

If you mean "have you gone from a complete recluse to an international TV presenter who gets all the chicks every time he goes out and has been voted GQ man of the year", then no. If your image of recovery is to become a pimp daddy then you might find you have some struggles with approval addiction and status seeking on the way which will keep you stuck. Just one of the hurdles I faced! 

If you mean "were you previously unable to express who you were, occasionally crippled with bouts of anxiety that left you housebound, felt sensations of panic in most social situations and felt utterly isolated from humanity" - then overcame it - yes I believe I have achieved that.

SA has precise diagnostic criteria, and I no longer fill them. Diagnostically, I do not have SA anymore. Many people on this site have a huge multitude of symptoms, each person being very different to the next, but see curing ALL OF THEM as 'overcoming SA' - which is wrong. Part of the roots of the symtpoms of SA are the human issues that lie underneath. The clearest sign of SA is feeling afraid in front of people - but once this goes you find the NEXT LAYER OF IT - avoidance. Overcoming emotional poroblems, of which SA symptoms will be a part, is not just about feeling calm all the time - its about rebuilding yourself and your life and changing the conditions that lead to your feeling that way in the first place - but all these things are not SA - they are the emotional ingredients of your life.

It also depends on the severity of your symptoms, other conditions (such as depression) that you have alongside it, how long you may have suffered any trauma for, whether you are still living in the traumatic environment, your nutrition, self care, motivation, exercise and so on and so on.

Any emotional problem is like an onion. When you peel away one layer you find another one underneath - you have to keep going til its all gone. But the actual feeling of anxiety can go much quicker, dependent on similar things to above.

Ross


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

I haven't completely conquered it, but by YeahYeahYeah's definition, I have come a LOOOONG way. I still struglle with having to do things (make calls), but once I get started, it really turns out well.

Learning to stand up for myself, when the point is valid, is one of the biggest thigns I have learned about myself.


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## FairleighCalm (May 20, 2007)

EVERYONE has anxiety. So with that in mind I consider myself fully recovered from letting anxiety control me or scare me from doing anything I want to. Drugfree, but used them in the past. Read many books, learned to forgive, made many mistakes, developed healthy physical and emotional habits that keep me balanced. Learning to be in the moment and welcome the next one. Eckhart Tolle's book, A NEW EARTH has helped me the most.

If there is anything you've always suspected you should do, something to express yourself, something that is like a silent reminder of who you are, do it, or start doing things like it. You have to keep your light alive.


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

FairleighCalm said:


> Eckhart Tolle's book, A NEW EARTH has helped me the most.


Being as you are "Lord Calm of Farleighsworth", I am going to take this advice and have a peekachu at the book!!

Ive been reading "On becoming a person" by Rogers too. Still waiting for Gerard to write back to me excitedly about that one  oke @ Gerard.

Ross


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## FairleighCalm (May 20, 2007)

Sir Rossington,
There are so many books I want to read!!


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## GlueEater (Nov 16, 2006)

I HAVE CONQUERED ANXIETY No I haven't :no


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## llj (Apr 15, 2008)

I don't think you can "conquer" it, I think you accept it but don't let it control you. I think, realistically, you live life and allow for some of the problems SA gives you but I think if you think of it as a demon you have to fight, you will end up exhausting yourself.


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## GlueEater (Nov 16, 2006)

I think llj's got the right idea. Some days I think of how it's pretty much impossible for me to ever be 'normal' and it just depresses the **** out of me. You gotta look at it in perspective. I might not be 'normal' but I'm better today than I was yesterday.


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

Perhaps having SA itself is the thing that makes you think you can never get rid of it?

In addition - did you know that 90% of all patients that go to their first therapy session report feeling that they can never change? That they are 'just like this' and must cope as best they can? Then within 5-10 sessions suddenly their view starts to change. 

Funny that a depressive / anxious disorder should make you think that things are hopeless, eh?



Ross


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## korendir (Jul 6, 2007)

> Funny that a depressive / anxious disorder should make you think that things are hopeless, eh?


In physiological terms operant conditioning, or more plainly the things in our youth that made us highly anxious in certain situations are things that can be unlearned, but that learning process requires a departure from obsessing about it - hence I don't think I'll be around the board much longer.

In terms of learning new things I've moved from understanding the stressors of anxiety into what it means to be a man in the modern world(currently I'm reading "Fire in the Belly" by Sam Keen). I think that focusing on the misaligned feelings of anxiety can often produce and sustain them.

Courage is only forged when we move with an open and painful heart into the places that make us afraid and realize through understanding and patience to think and live in a new and challenging way.


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

An honourable progression sir!


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## david90 (Mar 21, 2004)

360? don't you mean 180? 360 is a relapse. hehe.


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## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

self confidence is the antidote for our anxiety in my opinion I dont want to sound stupid but maybe not


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## yeah_yeah_yeah (Mar 27, 2007)

Getting the self confidence is the difficult part


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## Meee (Oct 24, 2005)

No, but i'm working on it. I've got some of my confidence back and my outlook has changed to a more positive, optimistic view of things. I realise there's still lots of things that i need to work on but i no longer feel that it's impossible, and i can actually notice there is some progression (even if it is incredibly slow >_<).

I'm confident that i'll be able to say yes to that question eventually


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