THE CONCEPT OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY THINKING

This concept is 'central' to everything you will see written here/in my book. It is 'about' a process called 'cutting-off', or coming 'out' of our thoughts. We all do it and it's the 'subconscious' process that 'protects' us from the extremes, and keeps us sane! Just like the time when we 'snap' out of a daydream, you will see that our panic problem is us simply unwittingly 'forcing' ourselves to go 'beyond' these natural 'cut-off' points. When you understand this, you will see there is no need to break the flow of your thoughts. We consciously and unnecessarily 'after'-tense up the mind in 'reacting' to this flow. 

Ok, so  I got round to writing a book! Both Paperback and Ebook versions are available - please see attached review and 'Book Review' sections to see what other people think....

On Fri Apr 25 14:59, pdavid@anxietynomore.co.uk sent This book was written by Will Beswick, who is one of the very few people whose views I respect on the subject of anxiety and the recovery from it. He is also a very nice, genuine person who in the past has given up a lot of his own time to help other sufferers. Will and I have kept in contact over the years since I first developed my site and in one of his emails he mentioned that he felt the time was right for him to write his own book on the subject. I told him I thought that would be a great idea as I admire his work and have always thought it should be available to a wider audience. Once completed, Will sent me a copy of his book and asked if I would review it for him and offer my opinion on it. This book proved to be a real eye opener for me and is one of the very few books I have read on the subject to which I could completely relate and which helped to increase my knowledge. I passed the book on to a couple of friends who were suffering from anxiety in the hope that it would help them also. They thought it was fantastic. I 'genuinely' believe it will help sufferers who are plagued with scary thoughts and obsessive behaviour. Scary thoughts are one of the most common symptoms of anxiety and Will does an excellent job of explaining this frightening symptom in more detail and, more importantly, gives a far better understanding of how to break the cycle, which has also helped me personally.

About The Book

Will, like me, never promises overnight cures; he understands that recovery does not come this way. He teaches that recovery comes through understanding and knowledge. The book tells his own story of suffering and how it affected his life for many years. While at University and at the height of his own suffering he went on to develop his own ideas and beliefs of what was truly wrong with him and how he could help himself (re COPAST). I have read the book from start to finish and believe that it can do nothing but help people to truly develop their understanding and knowledge on the subject, knowledge that can take them a lot further towards their goal of recovery from this terrible illness. Anyone who knows me can confirm that I don't advertise anything and never affiliate myself to any product. Regards Paul

Basically, I came to realise that we can't help what thoughts 'come in', whether they're internally or externally 'prompted'. Whilst they can be negative or positive (see 'Method Of Recovery Diagram' MORD pts 1/2 - Ch 1) - it's pointless trying to alter this, as these 'just happen', almost like some pre-destined event - and that's why I also think this concept does imply there 'is' a fateful line for us all to follow - but - more importantly that this is a path where we can 'flow' through life 'picking up' the 'momentary' positive habit as we go along. 

As you will see, this soon becomes a situation where we can successfully 'control' our own destiny in the primary, as our growing knowledge leads to an improved ability to 'shape' our futures. We can more 'smoothly glide through' life and also the cut-off 'processes' which bring us 'out' of our thoughts, with less of our 'extreme' intense, worrying,  self-doubting leanings ...which were responsible for pushing us into that secondary panic in the first place.

Indeed, the main reason we all panic is because of our intensity - but a little 'trick' is played on our minds, where we 'erroneously' think we have to 'do' more (our 'actual' illness) to cure our 'initial' discomfort, when, in fact, don't need to 'do' anything. Our subconscious ability has already 'dealt' with the thoughts we are 'trying' to go 'back in' to. As you will see, our cut-offs tend to 'stand out' when we're stressed/our control is 'threatened' and we 'respond' with exactly the 'opposite' process of 'intensity being met with further and 'conscious' intensity. As a result, such is our confused mind state, our attempts to correct our discomfort end up with us being even more tense. We're left 'trapped', with no way out. 

Therefore, gaining a deep 'understanding' of this illness is of paramount importance - we have to understand that our recovery is based on us 'not doing more/tensing up further', when we feel panicky. Then we can ensure we 'ride' with the momentary flow of ALL of our thoughts, without 'responding' unnecessarily and breaking that flow.

So, there is nothing we can 'do' about our often imperfect incoming 'primary' thoughts. Secondly, as already stated, what I came to realise is that there is a very subtle process 'going on' in our heads, where we also 'let go' of these thoughts and that we don't have to 'react' to this cut-off process either. Therefore, we 'don't' have to try to 'consciously' fight to correct or run from anything in our thinking, or this intense process just increases our discomfort and becomes a 'mind racing' event where there is 'no way out' (ref 'The COPAST Diagram' Ch 7). We, therefore, become 'stuck', as we're always dealing 'retrospectively' with bygone thoughts and feelings.

As my discussion with Abid revealed ('Advice Column' - Ch 6) - 'it's when we deviate from this path that the problems start to occur'.

As stated, due to our varied character types - our 'reaction' to our thoughts is 'characterised' by a 'fighter or flighter' response. Fighters tend to 'internalise' their panic, whilst flighters tend to 'externalise' theirs - over-control vs complete loss of control if you like (ref also MORD pt 3 - 'The Panic Scramble'). In fact, many sufferers - and I'm not just talking about a small minority here, do it in many aspects of our lives, it's just that 'some' of us may go on to suffer really serious problems if events take a turn for the worse. That's why many of my reference examples also come from my involvement in sport, as I know how the intensity of 'pressure' in the mind can lead to all types of coping behaviours.

In my book, you will see how this has benefitted many other sufferers, that you can recover from panic and any associated 'repetitive behaviours' if you understand 'how' the mind works - and that we 'can' operate 'normally' if we understand there is really no need to panic (see also 'Advice Column' sections with Rob and Anna (Flighters), SJ, Nick, Emma, Terese and Candie (Fighters)). 

Before my next 'Recovery' page, suffice it to say that COPAST is about two strands of thought - one being the person 'in calm flow', who only thinks 'subconsciously' and 'in the moment' (primary) and two, being the person who compulsively and 'consciously' reacts tensely to what they've just thought (secondary). As detailed, we are not just talking about a 'secondary' reaction to negative thoughts here - we are also talking about a reaction to 'positive' thoughts of 'control', very much 'part' of these intense holding on/repetitive behaviours.