Anxiety sufferers have a very simple idea of recovery – “NO MORE ANXIETY”. This is very understandable, and is the reason that when we are in the anxiety state we try desperately to avoid being anxious, or fight to get rid of the anxiety when it happens. We just want it gone, now, and never to return.
If we recover the right way, then we will become free from anxious suffering, and it will not return. In fact recovery achieves this and much more. Personally, the change I have experienced is totally beyond anything I ever imagined. The peace and ease with which I now live is almost indescribable. This is not unique to me, but other recovered sufferers have expressed similar transformations.
Recovery Takes Practice and Time
Right now, relief from anxiety is probably all that matters to you. One of the first things that we must realize and accept is that recovering the right way is not a quick fix. We didn’t get into the anxiety state overnight, and practicing our way out will take time too. The amount of time varies from person to person.
Any instant elimination of anxiety is achieved by masking or suppressing the anxiety and symptoms. This does not lead to full and permanent recovery from anxiety or panic attacks. To change the underlying thought patterns, and ingraining healthier ways of responding, takes practice and so takes time.
Changing How we Respond
The habits of avoidance and fighting keep the anxiety in place. We need a different way of responding if we are to recover. It is counter-intuitive, but basically we need to learn how to face our anxiety and accept its presence. When I first heard this, my reaction was – “I can’t do that, and I don’t want to do that”. How could I possibly accept something so unpleasant and scary?
Well of course we can’t do this right away, but by learning how to do it we change our attitude to anxiety in a fundamental way, and we travel along the journey to full and permanent recovery. There is more to the Acceptance Method than that, but facing and accepting our anxiety is the core of the approach.
The Journey is Predictable
Having observed and guided scores of sufferers making the journey to recovery by learning to face and accept their anxiety, it takes a very consistent course. The journey has very predictable phases as the anxiety state lifts, our sensitization is reduced, and our symptoms fade.
The journey nonetheless has it’s ups and downs. We will have setbacks when it feels we have slipped backwards (we haven’t – it just feels like it), and we encounter some common obstacles and challenges along the way. If we aren’t expecting these, don’t understand what they are, and that they are perfectly normal and expected, and we don’t know how to deal with them, then they can derail our recovery. The Acceptance Method addresses these challenges and setbacks, and provides guidance on how to move past them.
Here is more on How Recovery Works.