Just wanted to share the following inspirational article about the musician Moby's panic attacks and what helped him to overcome them- taken from the current edition of Psychologies Magazine August 2011, UK edition. Typed out word for word- magazine on my pc desk infront of me.
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Turning point For Years, musician Moby's single status was a result of crippling panic attacks, but some good advice- and an unusual film- prompted him to make a change(August 2011 Psychologies Magazine- taken from the hard copy magazine)
<< I could hardly go on a date, as my panic attacks were so bad>>
I have always been a highly strung person.
But it wasn't until I was 19, and experimenting with LSD, that the panic attack began. When I was 20, I could date someone for a month before the panic set in. By 25, it was three weeks. And at 30, it was two weeks. It got to the point where I could hardly go on a date, as the panic was so bad. I'd have to get really drunk; or I'd only date people who lived 5,000 miles away.
In the end, I decided to do something about it, and went to a psychologist called Dr Barry Lubetkin. His mantra was, 'If something makes you panic, you cannot avoid it.' That was anathema to me - I'd spent my life running away from things that made me panic. But while avoiding them dampened anxiety in the short term, it was exacerbating the problem.
Lutebetkin said I had to start dating people and , it if made me anxious, I had to keep dating them. which served as exposure therapy. I found that soloution hugely frustrating - he was telling me to do exactly what I didn't want to do. SO, for a year, I didn't. My anxiety got worse and worse.
I'd have carried on like that had it not been for one specific moment. On a flight, I watched The Aviator. The film, about the life of eccentric director Howard Hughes, was essentially a case study of degenerative OCD. I suddenly saw so clearly that because Hughes didn't confront his fears, they ruined his life. I realised that if I didn't put in some work, the panic would do the same to me.
So I did it. I went on a few dates and suffered intense panic attacks. But I foreced myself to stay. All of a sudden, the panic began to lift- it was that simple. My brain still recognises my anxiety, but that precognitive response of panic has been disabled. I'm not in a reliationship now, but I know this is just a preference - a rational decision - not an irrational compulsion.
Anxiety starts very small. At first it's a gentle inclination, but through avoidance, the brain learns two things: that the thing you are bypassing is scary, and that avoiding the thing makes you feel good. The more you avoid it, the more it is reinforced in your brain. I think men are more vulnerable to avoidance, because they are the more emotional of the sexes, but they're not used to expressing it. If i hadn't decided to do something, it would have taken over my life.
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Warmest wishes to all, dolphin smiles across the miles from batgirl Clarita
