i have anxiety attacks, OCD, and social phobia. how can i overcome those three?

Question

im seeing a psychiatrist for almost 3 years now and fortunately i'm almost over with the obssesive compulsive disorder. However im still trying to overcome my anxiety (my doctor told me that i do have generalized anxiety disorder). With regards to social phobia we are currently working on it. By the way im taking up zoloft, anafranil, and risperdal and when im about to freak out i take rivotril. Do i have the chance to totally overcome these three? What are the best things to be done? (specially to my social phobia and generalized anxiety disorder). I will be happy to hear from you guys.

Answer 1

i think you need to find that one friend that you can act like a fool with, and slowly hang out with them in public places, then see if yuo can add another, and slowly go from there, and about the who aniety thing, i think you'll over come it, and i wish you the best of luck in everything that you do becuase you sound like a really cool person, and i hope you find your place, cuase you sound like you deserve it, teehee

Answer 2

Try philosophy.

I know, it sounds weird, but it worked for me.

I also have anxiety (and actually it never really bothered me much...I mean, I know it's there and it was weird when I was younger and didn't know what it was, but once it was explained to me, I was ok with it) attacks, and I've been seriously obsessive compulsive my entire life.

Ok, I can't really say that I have any real social phobia's, but I think that it can be resolved in the same way.

Here is my theory, feel free to shoot it down if you'd like, or to totally ignore it, I'm ok with either.

Most of these issues, anxiety and ocd for example, can be treated in your own mind. I studied a great number of religions growing up and then the different eastern philosophies and found that with some self awareness training, these situations can become manageable and even a great learning experience for getting to know yourself.

Check out Zen Buddhism and Taoism, both have some great ideas for centering your life and getting in touch with who you really are. Well, they did for me.

The anxiety still kicks in now and then, the depression is still with me every day but I'm able to accept that it's there and then find a positive in what is going on around me, and the ocd is actually something that if trained well, can keep you seriously organized.

I did try drugs (legal, prescription) for the depression. I despised them as they took away all of my emotion. I found that I would rather have the lows and then the highs that come later than the emotional flatline.

I hope that you find a course of action that works for you. If you opt for one of the drug routes, please try something else along with it and hopefully you can then slowly work your way away from the drugs at some point. The only problem with drugs is that you become dependent on them, at least in my opinion.

Hope that this helps.

Love, as always,

Sebastian

Answer 3

There are medications for the OCD that help a lot. If I'm reading you right, you are more concerned about the social anxiety. You can indeed make some lasting changes here!
Expose yourself to the situations that make you feel anxious in small increments. Like if you are afraid to go to a party, drop in on one and say "hi" and that you can't stay long coz of an experiment you are making in just awhile. Then if you begin to feel panic say,"I enjoyed seeing you guys but I gotta head out to do my experiment."

It's important to continue to slowly expose yourself to the places you fear in small amounts of time.BTW, keep a notebook on your progress. This way you will be truthful when you tell your friends you are doing an experiment. Nevermind that you don't tell them it's on y o u ! If they ask, you can say it's a social experiment and talking about it would ruin the results.

Sleep with new age music or any music that had 50 beats per minute or less.
And before you go to sleep, tell yourself what you did good that day.
Good luck to you.

Answer 4

Yes you can overcome these. The pill /pills won't do it. All the pills do is mask the symptoms until you can get a grip on life to handle it on your own. Therapy can help if you find the right place.

You need to learn the stages of anxiety and learn to recognize it, measure it and take steps from it going to the next stage. Definately before a full blown attack.

You can live a quiet normal life again after learning how. I know because I did.

Answer 5

I take zoloft for the anxiety and social phobia. Also, my psychiatrist has me take xanax when I am about to "freak out." These 2 as a combination have really helped me.

Answer 6

I have both anxiety attacks and social phobia. Right now, I am taking Prozac, but seeing a psychologist is also helping. If you don't already, I would try that. Also, you should find an additional person you can talk to.

Answer 7

If you're already on 3-4 medications the last thing you need is more medications.

Try BIOFEEDBACK. It's a technique that teaches you how to become aware of the signs that lead up to your anxiety attacks (for example) and it helps you identify and control those signs and triggers; eventually it might help you control the attacks themselves.

Ask your pyschiatrist if he is trained in this technique. If not look for someone who is. It's worth a try.

Answer 8

Accept that these are lessons you gave yourself, and not physical problems - biochemical "mistakes" in your brain because of "bad genes," etc - because once we accept that are responsible for these issues and have created them, then we can also acknowledge our power to uncreate them.

This is not to say there aren't biological imbalances your facing, and you must have compassion for the "chemical" dimension of the problem, much of which will be resolved when you move away from profoundly addictive, synthetic, chemical infused junk food, and start eating organically grown veggies and fruits. The vibration of organic whole food is one of healing and love, and can go much farther than any psychotropic out there to bring you back to balance.

Answer 9

I've been on Paxil for 10 years now on 40 m, it seems to work well for me. Occasionally I will take diazapan when I'm facing social functions that make me stress. OCD, had counselling and I'm still a work in progress.

Answer 10

You cannot overcome these on your own! You will have to take medication &/or therophy. But that is not a bad thing.... many, many people do the same thing. You are not alone - just reach out to your resources.