Run with your thoughts
Awarded 5* by the UK Mental Health Foundation
Resolving Anxiety and Panic
(see also new profiling strategy on 'Simply Put' page)
This is just about changing our habits
...see it as a repair
This website is dedicated to helping people who suffer from stress 'overload' and anxiety. However, one very important thing I started to understand was that anxiety and panic are 'all' unnecessary... as we actually go one step too 'far'...this is also 'triggered' by a stress response.
In fact, this stress response means we follow an urge to over-control our thoughts by analysing them, but we make that stress worse. As a result, a lot of my work here is simply trying to explain to sufferers 'if' they have stressful thoughts - the crucial thing is to let them go, not hold onto them. This is the true meaning of relaxing (see also Recovery page for why we have to calm).
Going through the mind's processes, we will see (3 zones video) that we actually do the exact opposite of what we need to do. When we feel that stress, we get an urge to over-correct, hence recovery is about dispersing/calming that urge so that we carry on and flow 'through' those stresses.
A few years back, I was struggling to swallow my food at times - I deliberated whether to speak to the doctor, but didn't want to panic and feel 'weak'.
However, learning over the years, I realised that I simply had to stay in flowing thought with this and the answers would come to me, even though I had a strong temptation to panic about it (go 'back in' and analyse that thought).
What is panic?
Again, through years of understanding, I realised that it was simply a case of me reacting to my stress with panic 'analysis'.
As you will see from my Youtube video (link below), the problem here is very much anxiety... 'after' the thought has actually just passed.
Anyway, to carry on...from my previous successes, I just calmed each time I was tempted to analyse my health concern.
... I knew if I started analysing my thinking, it would leave me feeling more hopeless, racing me into panic oblivion.
'Without' me engaging with panic analysis, I had
1. contacted the doctor online (in a rational fashion)
2. discussed possible causes - acid reflux, infammation
...the resulting decision was that I would take anti-acid tablets (I had taken a break from these previously) and review in a week. Then we could decide whether I needed a camera down my throat!
So, not a nice experience feeling uncomfortable with worry, BUT important we understand how 'just' stressful situation can turn into something that could lead to obsessive or panic behaviours.
The fact I had stayed rational and calm meant positive thoughts 'also' came in, as my thoughts were 'allowed' to keep rolling.
As you will see from the following pages - our recovery is simply taking our foot 'off' the pedal at that crucial time when we 'feel' the stress. This is also the point at which we become aware of our plight. You don't have to look for it - it's simply a brief repair when we feel 'anxious and panicky' (see my 3 zones youtube video).
'Don't blame the thoughts - it's our reaction to them'
***see also new advice column discussion - Recovery page
I'm never afraid to put other 'good'sources of information on here and rely heavily on sufferers feedback - I also know Paul David's work very well and he is a great source for anyone, sick of trawling the net (as we typically do) but getting more frustrated and confused with the many different and often misdirected strategies...see also the following
08/04/26 Hi Will thanks for getting back to me....
I came across a YouTuber this week called Maggie Stirling and I did find her contents helpful.
She goes into detail how nothing worked for her, she tried everything and the only thing that got her out of it was pure acceptance!
Acceptance from the point of view where you don't get into a discussion in your head about every single feeling and thought you have and if anything just respond and react with a so what....
'The panic IS the problem, I just cannot do it any more' Back cover testimony - Nick Watts
By tuning in to my Youtube channel doyoupanic@6089 you will hopefully start to understand the processes by which we panic and then we can start to deal with the 'over-control' that often follows on from anxious thoughts and feelings.
The Mind Works – Ch 1 THE PANIC KNOT
‘I'm not talking about medication here - I'm talking about REAL recovery - based on understanding. You're not mad, in fact, you're very much the opposite. This is the start of quite a long explanation of a problem, which I’ve had for most of my life, especially since being a teenager onwards. It’s something, which has put the blocks on a lot of happiness – I know we all have our own ‘crosses to bear’, but this has been what I would call a major problem, because of its frequency and detrimental effect on me and those around me (especially the closest).
This is certainly not a sob story – anything but – I feel quite proud that I have come out the other side of this, although I have had many setbacks, but have nevertheless had a very strong will to pull through and lead a happier life. Why should this account be worth reading? Well, I would hope that it is interesting and also informative, especially for those who have had similar experiences of destructive, compulsive panic or, more to the point, knotted tension, which sometimes makes life intolerable and incredibly lonely…I had to learn that, being the type of person that I was, meant that there was a strong resistance to help or talking, because I was trying to achieve perfection in my life and this did not mean putting my hands up and admitting I had not got it quite right…’
How to get help
I am available to help by email and also offer one-to-one sessions by phone or Skype for free. My book, videos and this website have been put together to help people just like you to recover from anxiety and panic.