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UPDATE: Hijacking the OP to provide (hopefully) actual useful advice instead of my inquiry on this questionable product (I'll quote the original post below for posterity) 1. See a therapist first is my recommendation as I feel it's a more comfortable environment and less clinical than diving right into a psychiatrist (unless your anxiety/depression is so bad that you're failing to function at day-to-day tasks) I feel like they take a more caring approach and will both try to discover what is causing your anxiety/depression and introduce you to exercises that will help you control it. Lots of people liked to drag mine for her recommendation but she has introduced me to mindfulness, generational trauma and familial systems among other things. She is a wonderful listener and trauma hound, and despite our polarity on belief systems (I am an atheist and she is a Christian) she has never even brought up religion even though I imagine she uses it as a tool with other patients. Therapy is an incredible thing that the closest thing I have to liken to is learning guitar. Learning guitar is something I tried a number of years ago and it was hard, and it hurt, and I felt directionless. It felt impossible, and I gave up. Therapy is hard. You learn things but struggle to apply them. You set goals and struggle to make them. It's scary to go, but it feels good that you have. You question whether it's doing anything at all. And then you may not actively notice anything but you'll start thinking back about the last week/month and the differences in your emotional responses and you'll notice significant changes. You'll start seeing changes in how you're reacting to things, and you'll start recognizing that those changes are occurring because of the things you've been learning that you've been so sure that you weren't able to apply. So this year I went back to trying guitar, and slowly but surely, I think I'm getting it. (thanks justinguitar.com) I found my therapist on psychologytoday.com . It may be a challenge, it's harder than it should be. Don't be afraid to shop around if you get one you don't vibe with. There are not enough therapists 2. If the therapy isn't enough, talk to a psychiatrist. I got a referral from my family doctor. Having knowledge learned from therapy will better arm you to inform your psychiatrist as well as make better decisions. You may have to experiment a bit. I tried Lexapro first and after the first few days it turned into what basically felt like an acid trip that lasted about three days after I stopped. That almost turned me off permanently (I already had prejudices against SSRI's), but as my general anxiety worsened I resorted to making another attempt and was prescribed Buspar, which has been very helpful. 3. Learn to meditate. Shits hard, and one of the main motivators I was curious about something as gimmicky as Sensate. 4. Other things - most of these are mentioned by at least one person in this thread and all of these are great ideas to try Exercise. This is a big one for me. When I was struggling pretty much 24/7, walking was one of the few things that helped me. Keeping moving. Getting the heartbeat flowing. My therapist always raves about running but I'm not a runner. Gravity/weighted blanket. Using one of these for the first time was just right. I wasn't really aware of how much it helped me but I really enjoyed it and I've never stopped using one. When I had my Lexapro episode this became a weird necessity and one of the few things that made me feel calm. Massage. Check out the story of Temple Grandin. This one is kind of expensive so it's harder to put into practice, but I think everyone should give it a shot. I definitely store a ton of stress in my shoulders/back. Less junk food, sugars. This is one I struggle with but it's also obvious imo (like when you eat a really healthy wholesome meal you will feel healthy and wholesome). My therapist has recommended a nutritionist but that's more advice I have yet to take. Socialize. Even if you're an introvert. This is the hardest for me. Hobbies. Anxiety and depression kill interest in hobbies, but if you can rekindle your interest, they act as a ward. Embrace your passions. Devote time to them. Any time you spend on passion is time not spent with your mind circling the drain. Work at finding what you love. Start reading again. Get out of the house. At least once a day. I'm a heavy supporter of working from home but you have to supplement it because it's isolating, which is dangerous. Even if your outing is to a solitary nature escape, which mine often are. Love yourself, forgive yourself. You have to love yourself to let yourself heal and learn. Use your struggle to be kinder to others and recognize compassion is coupled with therapeutic progress. Birds and plants, man. News blackout. Hell Yeah posted:don't watch the news, don't follow politics. they're both designed (yes designed) to cause anxiety. it's the same thing as watching alex jones but for some reason it's viewed as acceptable. don't consume the white man's news it is meant to subjugate you and destroy your soul and make you into a little bitch. don't do it!!! Recommended literature: The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D. Retrain Your Brain: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in 7 Weeks by Seth J. Gillihan, PhD Also check out the Headspace series on Netflix. It offers you meditative/relaxing/sleeping exercises. They're great. My original post posted:I'm not talking about that weird show Sense8 but you're okay to talk about that as well. Jelly fucked around with this message at 01:11 on Aug 3, 2023 |
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Jul 28, 2023 01:15
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| # ? May 6, 2024 21:44 |
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No I haven't
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Jul 28, 2023 01:26
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Sensate looks and smells like a scam. A webpage full of buzzwords with no compelling evidence that this could even work isn't helping their case. lol @ Apollo Neuro - people have been selling "bracelets that cure X because magic is real!" since forever. This is definitely bullshit.
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Jul 28, 2023 01:29
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Y'all find something real that works, let me know...
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Jul 28, 2023 01:39
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OP as someone who has a very high level of baseline anxiety, I found that the only genuinely helpful things were cutting way back on caffeine/salt/processed food, and exercising quite a bit daily. Exercise doesnt have to be formal - I have an Apple watch now and I have to burn at least 650 calories a day to feel "normal". I have to hit 1200 cals a day+ to feel relaxed. even tons of  doesnt help  Its actually a weird and bad feeling, like I have to manically drive my body doing stuff. I used to travel a bit for vacations, and I'd average 20k+ steps per day. I think my first day in London I walked fifty thousand steps. I dont know your situation, and I'm absolutely not saying this to be judgemental or anything like that. I'm just saying what has sorta/kinda worked for me, and I'm absolutely not suggesting something asinine like "just sweat it out  "
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Jul 28, 2023 01:43
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I will echo that cutting down on caffeine and exercise helped my anxiety a lot. When I went to a psych for consultation on this, I was actually told explicitly to avoid weed as it *can* make things worse short term and there is apparently reasonable evidence to show negative long term effects.
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Jul 28, 2023 01:46
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Vampire Panties posted:OP as someone who has a very high level of baseline anxiety, I found that the only genuinely helpful things were cutting way back on caffeine/salt/processed food, and exercising quite a bit daily. Exercise doesnt have to be formal - I have an Apple watch now and I have to burn at least 650 calories a day to feel "normal". I have to hit 1200 cals a day+ to feel relaxed. even tons of  Trying to expand my social circle so I'm more motivated to do things.
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Jul 28, 2023 01:50
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This might be a good time to look for a new therapist, one who doesn't believe in New Age crap.
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Jul 28, 2023 01:50
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Sorry op, I want to talk about that weird show Sense8
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Jul 28, 2023 01:52
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Bro Dad posted:Sorry op, I want to talk about that weird show Sense8
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Jul 28, 2023 02:00
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CaptMrWill posted:Y'all find something real that works, let me know...
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Jul 28, 2023 02:01
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Jelly posted:My therapist is convinced my issue is centered around the vagus nerve, and that took her to this recommendation. I understand the value in meditation but I struggle with getting into a meditative mindset as anxiety is counter-productive to that (mind circles the drain) as is my noisy environment. An ice pack on the neck, especially the right side seems to help. Icing/splashing water on the face and eyes, spending time in nature doing moderate exercise, doing a sensory scan like mindfully look at three things, then see if you can smell anything, touch anything, etc. are also useful. Exercises that decompress the neck and shoulders to reduce pressure on the nerves are helping me a ton as that's where people most commonly somaticize anxiety. Avoiding stimulating activities and allowing yourself to just feel lovely for days at a time if that's where you're at is challenging but can really reset things. And struggling with anxiety is kind of the point of getting into a meditative mindset. Being present with the anxiety and sitting with it until you find out how to let it dissipate increases distress tolerance and will lower anxiety over time or produce insight into that anxiety.
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Jul 28, 2023 02:06
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Canine Blues Arooo posted:Sensate looks and smells like a scam. A webpage full of buzzwords with no compelling evidence that this could even work isn't helping their case. Yeah that sensate website is pure scam bait. My favorite part is under 'science' there's a button to read their full article which just points to the same page you're already on, with a vague self reported (or more likely completely made up) graph.
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Jul 28, 2023 02:15
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Jelly posted:I'm surprised it hasn't already happened, have at it it's gay as hell and I'm all for it
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Jul 28, 2023 02:22
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the only treatment for anxiety is the same as it was 20 years ago: benzodiazepines or opioids.
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Jul 28, 2023 02:23
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nice obelisk idiot posted:And struggling with anxiety is kind of the point of getting into a meditative mindset. Being present with the anxiety and sitting with it until you find out how to let it dissipate increases distress tolerance and will lower anxiety over time or produce insight into that anxiety. Everyone's different but this is more or less what ended up working best for me. I just had to accept that I was feeling anxiety, and realize that it can't hurt me and I can still do the things I value even if I'm feeling it. Once I got into that mindset I stopped feeling the anxiety about the anxiety and that just kinda took a big load off.
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Jul 28, 2023 02:32
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Frequent exercise and yes, meditation, seems to work pretty well for me. The former is self explanatory and as for the latter, just set up a timer for lets say 5 minutes, sit down and try to do and think nothing and you will figure it out. Focusing on breathing helps.
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Jul 28, 2023 02:43
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Woolwich Bagnet posted:Yeah that sensate website is pure scam bait. My favorite part is under 'science' there's a button to read their full article which just points to the same page you're already on, with a vague self reported (or more likely completely made up) graph. There's a study you can read by typing 'scientific research' into the help GUI, but it's one study by one guy which looks like it was paid for by Sensate. Re meditation, OP, (from personal experience) the thing is to keep at it, as the major benefits might only become apparent after weeks or months of daily practise. Having distracting thoughts once, a hundred times or a thousand times is in no way a "fail", just keep gently bringing your attention back to your breathing as you become aware of them. It gets better.
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Jul 28, 2023 02:44
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In retrospect meditation is pretty much all about training to focus your attention. Don't worry about setting up any goals and just try not to think by focusing on something constant.
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Jul 28, 2023 02:47
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Sense8 was terrible, this also looks terrible.
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Jul 28, 2023 03:05
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Archer666 posted:Sense8 was terrible, this also looks terrible.
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Jul 28, 2023 03:06
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Everybody name your favourite Sense8! I'll go first: the bus driver
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Jul 28, 2023 04:21
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if you want to cure your anxiety all you gotta do is smoke a shitload of weed really fast
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Jul 28, 2023 04:26
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That thing looks fake. Talk therapy, fluoxetine, and exercise have all been really great for my anxiety though.
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Jul 28, 2023 04:27
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i also have a vagus nerve thing a lot of the standard advice (exercise, stop drinking caffeine) is good but i dont think people realize it's a parasympathetic thing that you barely have any conscious control over what helped me the most was knowing my triggers and learning mindfulness to defeat them when challenged come to think of it really the only thing that ever actually worked at all was mindfulness
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Jul 28, 2023 04:28
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I’m not going to tell someone that listening to some sounds isn’t going to cure their anxiety. But for me it took years of regular therapy to get my hypochondria and panic attacks to a functional level. Just like a healthy body, a healthy mind takes hard work. Shortcuts, miracle cures, and fad products may work for some, but probably not for most.
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Jul 28, 2023 05:02
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 I am the Sensate!
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Jul 28, 2023 21:22
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Lots of people have been saying I'm supposed to having panic attacks but I'm not. It's weird, just this recent trend. I didn't know your goal was for me to panic guy jeez.
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Jul 28, 2023 22:37
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i used alcohol for anxiety for a long time it works pretty okay but i hear its pretty bad for you to do hth OP
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Jul 28, 2023 22:38
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SSRIs are pretty good OP, and probably aren't a scam.
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Jul 28, 2023 22:41
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Not gonna solve your world, but weighted blankets are a nice little comfort.
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Jul 28, 2023 22:42
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A lot of times it helps to find the specific sources of your anxiety and eliminate them, rather than it turning into generalized anxiety without an identifiable pathology or chemical imbalance.
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Jul 28, 2023 22:46
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instead of some gimmicky bulshit just get prescribed an appropriate dose of benzos like valium, xanax, or klonopin and take that dosage. don't spend hundreds of dollars on garbage and get nothing, talk to a doctor about your problem.
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Jul 28, 2023 22:51
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Overdog posted:A lot of times it helps to find the specific sources of your anxiety and eliminate them, rather than it turning into generalized anxiety without an identifiable pathology or chemical imbalance. what if I have generalized anxiety disorder?
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Jul 28, 2023 22:52
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personally, after trying some different things i noticed that a very small dose of an ssri cures my depression and addresses my anxiety substantially. if you want to do extracurricular cockamamie bullshit, i take cold showers every day (hot water all the way off, cold water only) and i have noticed the intense shock of stepping into cold water turns the volume down on the basal level of stress i feel at all times, and slows my mind down. but go to a dr
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Jul 28, 2023 22:55
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Jelly posted:I'm not talking about that weird show Sense8 but you're okay to talk about that as well. 100% effective test: “Is the government/military interested?” No - garbage.
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Jul 28, 2023 23:23
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No, I treat my anxiety like a normal person, with alcohol.
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Jul 29, 2023 00:23
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Sens8 ruled and it kind of blew my mind when like the whole cast shows up in the new Matrix  and it's gay as hell.Those devices look like poo poo. Drew Gooden did a review of some of them recently, and it all looks like scam bs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caVoqAfdkYQ
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Jul 29, 2023 00:28
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Hell Yeah posted:instead of some gimmicky bulshit just get prescribed an appropriate dose of benzos like valium, xanax, or klonopin and take that dosage. don't spend hundreds of dollars on garbage and get nothing, talk to a doctor about your problem. That poo poo causes lifelong dependency. It's incredible for acute issues but I've seen people with regular doses get upped and upped and upped until they can't up them no more. Then they can't pivot because even weening off literally causes seizures.
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Jul 29, 2023 00:28
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| # ? May 6, 2024 21:44 |
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Currently blowing a line of digital coke OP, you want in on this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jwqg0IOy4g
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Jul 29, 2023 00:30
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