People that have never experienced the pains of anxiety or panic disorders just don't understand what sort of living hell it can put a person through. I determined this to be the case when I found myself sitting at my doctor's clinic hearing him let me know that my anxiety was the result of a chemical imbalance in my brain and also that I ought to begin using different prescription drugs so that it will go away.
It had been obvious he had never suffered with anxiety and I was a bit thrown back by his recommendation that I simply mask my symptoms with a pill. I asked about natural remedies for anxiety that might do the job, and he provided the standard narrative about relaxation, deep breathing and doing yoga.
While those activities might help, they take practice, and my physician isn't the one to steer me with how to get over my panic, that had been evident.
So, I set out to find natural remedies for anxiety on my own and a few things I discovered will probably amaze you.
For starters, I discovered that panic attacks and anxiety is really a learned behavioral reaction to something in your past. It has been confirmed repeatedly, notwithstanding what physicians will say, that it is not a chemical imbalance in your brain. It is something that your human body learns as a protection mechanism to certain situations, then sticks in your mind when equivalent events happen down the road.
That, to me, was a wonderful discovery because if something can be learned by our brains, it may be unlearned. Or, better still, one can learn a new, more empowering behavior to take its place and thus learn how to stop panic attacks.
And you do not need drugs to do this.
The second thing I learned is that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the key to helping you learn different behaviors to replace the old, anxious habits. And CBT is not really something which has to be carried out laying on a couch in the therapists office, it can be done on your own.
You will find literally thousands of books on CBT and how to apply it to yourself. And they are accessible by anyone.
Lastly, I learned that it does not have to take weeks, months or years of therapy to overcome your anxiety. Based on CBT principles and techniques, this literally can change right away. Now, for most people this may not happen, but with practice, there have been numerous reports of people completely wiping out anxiety and panic from their life within days.
You see, your brain creates what is called neural pathways of behaviors. These pathways become so ingrained in our minds that they produce automatic responses in our body. For example, have you ever driven the same way to your job for months on end and one day when you get to work, you can't recollect even driving there? That is the neural pathways at work - you've done this so many times that it becomes an automatic pattern.
It's the same with our behaviors, and therefore our panic attacks and anxiety. Our neural pathways are so large and hairy that they trigger us to instantly become anxious under certain circumstances. The way to cure this is to break that neural pathway and make a new, more empowering one. CBT will let you do this. And it can be done rather quickly, and will differ from person to person.
So, whenever your doctor or psychologist tries to tell you to take a pill, just know that there are actually natural remedies for anxiety that work. Just do your research and get the resources available to you and you can beat panic and anxiety all on your own.