RELAXATION FOR ANXIETY DISORDERS TREATMENT
In an effort to help us relax, many of us are prescribed tranquillisers. However, this does not teach us management skills. While we need to be able to control our disorder, our need to be in control prevents us from relaxing. Relaxing means letting go of this dysfunctional control. In letting go, we gain a much more healthier way of control.
Relaxation doesn’t mean curling up with a book or watching television. If it were that simple, we wouldn’t have the disorder in the first place. Establishing the discipline of practising a relaxation technique may appear inconvenient to some people, despite the extraordinary inconvenience of their disorder, but recovery is worth the effort.
The main relaxation techniques are various forms of progressive muscle relaxation, and meditation. Progressive muscle relaxation is a step-by-step technique which teaches us to tense, then relax the major muscle groups in our bodies. If practised successfully, our minds also begin to relax. As our minds relax we may find ourselves meditating.
Meditation techniques work in the opposite way. If our practice is successful our minds relax first, then our bodies relax easily and effortlessly by themselves.
Meditation is over five thousand years old and while we use meditation as a relaxation technique, it is also the oldest cognitive technique in the world. Besides enabling us to access deep levels of relaxation, meditation teaches us how to be aware of and control our thoughts.
The next chapter outlines two meditation techniques. I used meditation because I found it was simpler and easier for me, during the years I had panic disorder/agoraphobia. This is also true for many people I have worked with over the years. This doesn’t mean progressive muscle relaxation doesn’t work—it does, and I have known people who find it easier. It is an individual choice.
Much of our recovery depends on our commitment to lower and keep down our levels of anxiety and panic. Practising a relaxation technique is a proven natural way to do this.
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