Anxiety Cures

The first confrontations with anxiety and anxiety cures aside (those with my mother and her “go get me my pills” commands), my first understanding of alternatives to medicating anxiety attacks came in a philosophy class in college. My newly found friend (now a contemporary of over 25 years) had walked into the classroom before the session began with her backpack, a drink, and a paper bag bunched at where the neck would be. She breathed deeply into and out of the bag inhaling and sucking the paper with a crackle and exhaling and returning the brown lunch bag back to an expanded balloon state.

Evidently, her need for this maneuver was brought on by an anxiety attack (now also called a panic attack—a sudden surge of dread and fear combined). The anxiety attack instigates an imbalance of blood gases, for want of the appropriate amounts of carbon dioxide in the blood (often caused by the unwitting hyperventilating the anxiety-stricken individual is doing. Inhaling and exhaling steadily through the paper, then, levels out the carbon dioxide.

Because the anxiety syndrome has become more prevalent in specific cultures and countries, experts in the medical and therapeutic fields have suggested other self-help anxiety cures. Some of these include talking yourself up (or down, but not depressedly or negatively), taking your point of focus to a place outside of your body and bodily reactions/symptoms, and sitting calmly with a “this too shall pass” approach and attitude or mindset.

Sometimes, the anxiety attacks are not psychically-related, are not metaphysical, so to speak, but are instead riding on the coattails of a physical illness (such as diabetes, for instance). Then, the anxiety cures you seek might be more involved. Some sufferers consult doctors or therapists or visit clinics dedicated to such disorders.

In addition, people access the options and alternatives for anxiety cures: they partake of medications prescribed for them, get therapy (such as biofeedback/Neurofeedback or psychotherapy), or learn new life-management skills. As well, some experiencing chronic anxiety will endeavor to learn new techniques for breathing, stress-management, and better problem-solving.

As with any disorder or affliction that is consistently plaguing you, your best efforts should include educating yourself on the causes and effects, consulting medical health and/or therapeutic professional (depending on physical or mental origins of the anxiety) guidance, and relevant and appropriate treatment—be that treatment in the form of pills or paper bags.