# Advice from Psychologists/Psychiatrists



## justaphishin (Nov 15, 2003)

I had my first CBT appointment yesterday and besides driving to the wrong office, it went very well. He gave me a lot of good information which got me thinking, "Why not share it with others on SAS.com?" I realize that not all of us are seeing a psychologist and that each of our situations is unique, but I think it would be very helpful to start an ongoing thread devoted to consolidating information from professionals on SA. It would also serve as a good review to regurgitate what I've learned. So, if you have something to contribute, please do. If you don't, hopefully this thread will be helpful to you.

Being my first CBT session, I really didn't know what to expect. I'd met with my therapist once before so he had a pretty good idea of where I was coming from. My biggest problem is anticipatory anxiety which is quite literally anxiety derived from thinking ahead to an event. My mind is continually thinking about everything that can possibly go wrong which often leads me to avoid the situation all together. Coming from a buddhist background, my ears perked up when he brought up the practice of mindfulness. Mindfulness is quite simply living and thinking in the now. On the surface it seems like a fairly easy task. But next time your anxiety kicks in, determine whether or not your thinking in the present. It's similar to the "Baby Steps" approach in What About Bob? (rent it if you haven't seen it, it's hilarious) in that you should focus only the things that you need to do to "get by" at the current moment. An example he used was:

Your friend is having a party and on the way to his house your mind starts thinking about all the people that will be there and what you'll say to them. Instead of turning around and driving home in fear, focus on your driving, the roads around you, the car in front of you, the radio ANYTHING but the party.

Another simple yet useful technique he taught me was deep breathing. Whereas mindfulness puts you mentally at ease, deep breathing is a way to calm your body by lowering your heart rate, pulse, blood pressure, etc. When I become anxious, my hands start trembling and I feel like my heart is going to jump out of my chest. Anxiety expressed in physical terms can invoke symptoms of mental anxiety and vice versa which is why it is important to focus on both aspects. To properly breath deeply, inhale and at the same time push your stomach out. This can be kind of weird at first being contrary to how we're used to breathing, but you'll get used to it. By pushing your stomach out, your diaphragm which cushions your lungs, drops thereby giving you more lung capacity. Breath in (belly out) for 3 slow counts, then breath out for 3 slow counts. Obviously you don't want to breath like this all the time but next time you feel your body start to tense up and get nervous, give it a shot.

The session ended with him giving me a homework assignment which was to try using this combination of methods (mindfulness and deep breathing) in different kinds of situations.

Thanks for reading and hope to see some more!

B


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## emeraldoceans (Sep 13, 2006)

What a gr8 idea justaphishin! Like you my biggest prob i think is anticipation anxiety too and ive read many books on mindfullness and living in the now. Your right its not easy but with practise i really think it will get easier and im constantly now always trying to put this into practise wherever i go or whatever it is that im doing. I also do meditation and i believe that this also has been a HUGE help to me, its sharpened my focusing skills and made me more aware of how i breathe, this being very important. Mindfullness really is a gr8 tool and i think that we all spend way too much time living in the past and the future when what we should be concentrating on is the now, i mean the past is exactly that, the PAST, its gone and the future hasnt even happened yet so really we are just worrying excessively about stuff that may not even happen! What a cool thread, something positive we can all learn from!


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## jane (Jan 30, 2006)

justaphishin: 
what type of homework situations were given to you?


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## justaphishin (Nov 15, 2003)

I'm sorry. I should have been more clear about the HW assignment. He didn't give me specific situations but instead asked me what kind of situations normally give me problems. I mentioned that while I'm at work, I tend to worry about my microbiology lab that I have to go to afterwards even though it always turns out fine. So that is just one personal situation that I'm going to try these techniques on. 

B


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## Lilangel27 (Oct 6, 2006)

Very interesting and thanks for sharing!


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