Found something that has really helped!

[kris10]

Someone burned a few CDs of "Attacking Anxiety and Depression" a program by Lucinda Bassett of the Midwest center for stress and anxiety. You may have heard the commercials on the radio. It's expensive...~$500! I got a used one on eBay for $260. I should receive it this week.
It talks a lot about recognizing your negative thoughts and trying to change them into positive ones and so on.
I'm excited to get the program and really work hard with it!

[LinLou]

Hope it helps you. I had no luck with it. If anyone is intersted in buying mine, pm me.

[pax80]

this kind of therapies never help me, how could it minimise a brain zap anyways...

[LinLou]

Originally Posted by paxisnt4ever

this kind of therapies never help me, how could it minimise a brain zap anyways...

Exactly. I'm sure it's great for people before they resort to drugs, but once your brain has been altered by them, the program is useless.

[nicemom]

I think you will get many useful tips listening to the tapes. I have it also. It is very good for understanding your anxiety and how your body reacts to it and what to do.

I understand what others are saying, it did no good for my w/d anxiety and symptoms but it was something good for me to listen to back when I needed my mind on other things, and what better than self-help stategies. If you suffered anxiety prior to taking AD, you will find it very helpful!

I hope you enjoy them.

[safarigal]

those cds are a lot of money, you can get self-help books from the library that will give you the same information. You can also rent or borrow meditation cds. For the price of her program you could have several therapy sessions with a real live therapist.

[LCrawford67]

Good for you, Kristen! Hopefully, you'll learn how to cope with the problems that brought you to Paxil to begin with.

[Cookie]

I read "from panic to power" by Lucinda Bassett and found it very helpful and easy to relate to. Would strongly recommend it !!

[nicemom]

Yeah but the tapes/CDs you will have forever and can listen to them when you walk or are in the car. The books are good too. Use it all!!! You have nothing to lose. What works for one doesn't always work for another. Keep trying thing until you find what helps you!

[Scott]

i hope you're talking about the dvd's for that price

[since95]

Kris10

I hope the program and CDs work out for you. The great thing about CDs is that they are always there when you need them, whether it is in your car on the highway or three o'clock in the morning. If it truly helps you, who cares how much it cost. The key is two practise everything you learn from the CDs or you truly will have spent your money on nothing.

[Songbird]

I have found self-help books and tapes extremely useful for years, but I am mainly using those by Louise Hay and Susan Jeffers, they are very inexpensive compared to this, but anyway I'm glad you've found something that helps you.

[kris10]

Originally Posted by IWGMLB

Exactly. I'm sure it's great for people before they resort to drugs, but once your brain has been altered by them, the program is useless.

I don't think the program is useless. I'm not saying it is going to change the physical symptoms I have w/ wd, but it can help me learn to react differently to them and not add fuel to the fire and make them 1000's of times worse..which is what I do.
It's all about positive thinking and getting rid of the negative thoughts....like the word "useless".

[jeanie]

I am glad they are working for you! Having a positive attitude does help.

[LinLou]

Originally Posted by kris10

I don't think the program is useless. I'm not saying it is going to change the physical symptoms I have w/ wd, but it can help me learn to react differently to them and not add fuel to the fire and make them 1000's of times worse..which is what I do.
It's all about positive thinking and getting rid of the negative thoughts....like the word "useless".

Did you get your program yet?

See... I was all excited about it as well when I ordered it because I was suffering anxiety something awful. And like I said, I'm sure it is very good for people who are not suffering a horrible withdrawal or haven't gone the drug route. Maybe that's where we differ, because I was so anxiety ridden when I cold turkey'd, I couldn't even get out of bed. For me, it turned out to be useless for my problem. I had false expectations that it would cure my cold turkey withdrawal anxiety. When I received it, yeah she has great advice and discussed her days of anxiety, but she obviously didn't go through an ssri/benzo cold turkey withdrawal. Her problem and my problem were two totally different beasts.

I'm sorry, I should never have expressed my opinion about the program, seeing how much hope it was giving you. For me, it's just my expectations were too high for what I was going through. I also found that the same exact information she provides for $500 is in the books "Hope and Help For Your Nerves" and "The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook" for $20.

Again...didn't mean to dash your excitment by throwing the word useless out there. It's not useless for everyone.

[Amaya's Nana]

Originally Posted by kris10

I don't think the program is useless. I'm not saying it is going to change the physical symptoms I have w/ wd, but it can help me learn to react differently to them and not add fuel to the fire and make them 1000's of times worse..which is what I do.
It's all about positive thinking and getting rid of the negative thoughts....like the word "useless".

Kris - I'll tell you something that helped me so much through withdrawal. It was exactly what you're getting at here. I had to change the years of habitual negative thinking or I wouldn't have made it through withdrawal. It helped me so much to learn how to do that.......even though I was in the thick of Paxil withdrawal. I'm firmly convinced that learning how to change my thinking is what helped me cope with the horrible symptoms I experienced for almost a year. You hang in there and you do what you have to do and kudos to you for recognizing that changes need to be made. You'll get there......if I can do it, you can do it!

[Homerbcool]

Originally Posted by Amaya's Nana

I'm firmly convinced that learning how to change my thinking is what helped me cope with the horrible symptoms I experienced for almost a year. !

Lisa..that is EXACTLY what each and everyone of us needs to do as well, this goes hand in hand with the thread about tapering by itself not being enough...it is all about attitude, reprogramming your thought process....it worked and is working for me as well....

[Songbird]

I agree that there are two types of anxiety, one is 'physical' (brought on by withdrawal, drugs, hormone imbalance, etc.), the other emotional/psychological (brought on by worrying, negative thoughts, etc.). I have found that when I have the physical anxiety, the psychological anxiety interacts with it and makes it far worse. That is where the self-help techniques come in, they don't take all the anxiety away, but they do reduce the severity and enable me to cope with it better.

[texgirl]

Originally Posted by Amaya's Nana

I had to change the years of habitual negative thinking or I wouldn't have made it through withdrawal. It helped me so much to learn how to do that.......even though I was in the thick of Paxil withdrawal. I'm firmly convinced that learning how to change my thinking is what helped me cope with the horrible symptoms I experienced for almost a year.

The Attacking Anxiety program is great for this. My mom bought it for me when I first started taking Paxil and Klonopin (it was cheaper then!) and went through it twice, once on meds and again as I was weaning off. I agree that it does little to help with the kind of anxiety produced by withdrawal, which is more biological than psychological. I talked with the folks at the Midwest Center about this a few times and they flatly denied that there was any difference, which all of us here know is bull****. I was disappointed by that, and still am. But the fact remains that the program gave me a number of useful tools for changing my negative thought patterns which were useful both during w/d and after. I wish you as much luck with it as I had, Kris.

[Songbird]

Originally Posted by texgirl

I talked with the folks at the Midwest Center about this a few times and they flatly denied that there was any difference, which all of us here know is bull****. I was disappointed by that, and still am.

I couldn't understand my diagnosis of 'anxiety' when I got PPD, it sounded as though I had worried myself sick or something, it made no sense to me. The worrying came afterwards, as I wondered what on earth was happening to me! I believe now it was probably mainly caused by hormonal changes.

There is definitely a difference, maybe not so much in the symptoms, but definitely in the causes. We certainly are not all just worrying ourselves sick!

[nicemom]

There are wonderful copings skills learned with the program. Its not worth the full price thats for sure, but the tapes are much better for those who have a difficult time reading during w/d.

Kris, let me know how you like it!

[LinLou]

[quote=nicemom;436913]but the tapes are much better for those who have a difficult time reading during w/d.
QUOTE]

I think this is why I didn't enjoy the CD's....I am a visual learner and not auditory at all. Sitting and listening is not the way I learn best, and I found I would get fidgety and distracted just listening. The DVD's were better, but they didn't really address the strategies and coping skills. They were more of Lucinda telling you about her story and what anxiety and depression is and where it comes from.

I suppose if you are an auditory learner you may find it more enjoyable and helpful.

[texgirl]

Originally Posted by IWGMLB

I suppose if you are an auditory learner you may find it more enjoyable and helpful.

That's why the CDs worked better for me than her books did. Normally I prefer to read, but during w/d I simply couldn't concentrate well enough to process written information. By listening to it repetititively, I was able to take it in.