Visualisations for Anxiety

[Kazimiera]

Using Visualization for Treating Anxiety, Panic Attacks, and Phobias
http://www.anxietyfreechildren.com/articles/using-visualization-for-treating-anxiety-panic-attacks-and-phobias.html

Visualization is the process of using your mind to form pictures of certain events or behaviors, going the way you would ideally have them go. This mental exercise will help your thoughts to pattern this behavior so that the likelihood of the event or behavior visualized will come to pass. The use of visualization has been taught by many who espouse positive thinking – in other words, as you think it, it shall be. By forming the most positive outcome in your thought patterns and truly imprinting these thought patterns, people can change negative beliefs and negative actions.

There have been many studies done that have not only shown proof of visualization’s benefits to those with mental disorders but also to those with physical illnesses. Since the mental aspects of the technique help to release the brain’s natural chemicals such as endorphins, it’s not surprising that visualization would help to calm and relieve anxiety or panic. Studies that have shown the physical changes that visualization can produce are less able to be explained. Patients have used visualization to shrink tumors, increase white blood cell count and improve immune system functioning.

When it comes to treating anxiety, panic attacks and phobias, creative visualization techniques have proven very therapeutic for sufferers. In order for the visualization to be completely effective, the person must involve all their senses in the process. They need to see themselves performing the behavior, hear the sounds associated with it and feel any tactile sensations. In some cases, even the senses of taste and smell will be involved.

In order for visualization techniques to work, they must be practiced daily until they become second nature. They won’t seem natural at first because we are so comfortable with our negative thoughts that we’ll feel uncomfortable replacing them with positive ones. That may seem counter-intuitive but that is how the human mind works. As mentioned earlier, these new thoughts must be imprinted upon the mind before they will come to us automatically. Imprinting is done by repetition. Just as negative thoughts were imprinted by repeated events, postive thoughts must also be repeated until a new thought pathway is created.

Particularly when it comes to treating anxiety and panic related disorders, visualization is usually accompanied by relaxation techniques. These not only help reduce anxiety and stress by themselves, but they make it easier to imprint the new thought patterns that we want to practice. Some popular and easy-to-learn relaxation techniques include yoga breathing exercises and meditation. The key is to start with the relaxation techniques and once fully relaxed, then work on the visualization technique.

There are several different types of visualization techniques but the one most commonly used with success for treating anxiety disorders is that of guided visualization. With this technique, the sufferer is to visualize themselves achieving a goal – often, the goal will be to not react with anxiety under certain trigger circumstances. For example, perhaps a person has panic attacks when driving a car and that has escalated to a phobia that keeps them from driving at all.

The person would first reach a relaxed state using the chosen relaxation technique and then visualize themselves going out, getting into the car, starting it up and driving around the block. When a person first starts practicing visualization, they may not be able to imagine the entire process without extreme anxiety. They would do further relaxation exercises to calm themselves again and then proceed with the visualization exercise. After a few weeks of practice, most people can imagine the entire process without any signs of anxiety.

Once the person has become adept at the visualization exercise, they can begin to start attempting the process in real life. At whatever stage in the process that the person begins to feel anxiety, they should be able to easily do a visualization exercise to relieve that anxiety. Soon, the thoughts that have been imprinted during the visualization practices will be second nature and the anxiety will often be completely resolved.

[Kazimiera]

Anxiety Visualization That Stops Anxiety
Visualization is a powerful way to manage your anxiety
http://www.calmclinic.com/anxiety/treatment/visualization

Like most people who suffer from anxiety disorder, you are likely terrified just by thinking about confronting your fears… right? In any case, being exposed to your fears will be most fundamental to your recovery.

However, for most patients, direct exposure is out of the question to begin with even when it’s done in a specific context, such as the process of Desensitization. As such, it’s often a good idea to learn some effective relaxation techniques before you start considering exposure.

After all, you can’t build a house starting with the roof. You should focus on developing a strong foundation for your subsequent work in terms of anxiety management. Learning how to perform Visualization efficiently may just provide such a foundation.

In simple terms, this technique entails three stages: choosing a safe place, immersion through relaxation and consistent practice.

Stage 1: Choose your unique personal safe place

When done right, Visualization will provide with you much needed respite from your compulsive fears and exaggerated emotional responses. From a scientific standpoint, Visualization is actually a combination of two powerful techniques used by many psychologists: relaxation and distraction.

The central idea behind Visualization is to imagine your personal safe space: a place in your imagination where you feel completely relaxed and safe, a place where anxiety holds absolutely no power over you, an imaginary place that only you can get access to, because it was created by yourself.

To begin with, you should decide what your safe place is going to be. It can be a place you know from real life, such as a favorite vacation spot or a place you used to play as a child. It can be an imaginary place even or a combination of real and imaginary.

The place you choose is entirely up to you and limited only by your imagination, but you should decide on what your safe place is going to be before you proceed to the next stage of Visualization.

Stage 2: Immersion through relaxation

Once you’ve decided what your personal safe place is going to be, you will begin the process of strengthening the feelings of relaxation brought about whenever you imagine this place. The idea is creating a connection between your imagining of this safe place and the calming feelings you experience through it. To this effect, any relaxation techniques you may know will certainly come in handy, so feel free to throw them into the mix.

When you’re ready to begin, imagine a staircase in your mind. There are 10 steps going down in it, and at the end there’s a door. At the other side of the door your safe place waits, and you’re free to go there anytime you wish. You’re the only person in the world who can open that door. Try to imagine this scene as vividly as possible, and while you’re doing so keep focused on your breathing.

Imagine the sensations brought about as you go down the stairs. What material is the staircase made of? What does the door at the end of it look like? Do you hear any creaking sounds as you go down the stairs? These little details will help create a vivid experience and increase the effectiveness of this technique.

Breathe in from your nose and out from your mouth, and do not force your breathing: just be attentive to it, and let it grow progressively calmer and slower with each breath. For each breath cycle, imagine you’re going down the imaginary staircase. When you reach the end and reach for the door, stop counting and just keep breathing. Change your focus towards imagining the details of your safe place.

Step 3 : Consistent practice makes perfect relaxation

Remember, in this place you visit during your Visualizations you’re god and king, and no one can possibly defy your ruling unless you so choose… not even anxiety. In your imaginary safe place, you’re completely comfortable and blissful. You can go there anytime, and each time you go there it will feel more vivid and reassuring than the last.

You should make a point to visit your personal safe place at least once every day, since what you’re doing is effectively creating a space in your mind where anxiety cannot possibly reach you. Because in this place, anxiety is not even a word, nor does it even make sense.

If you realize you’re being assaulted by negative thoughts or emotions, that means you’ve been “teleported” out of your safe place. If that happens, you must not be concerned with how or why it happened… all that matters is that you can come back anytime. Just imagine the staircase and picture yourself going down through it as you breathe slower and deeper with each step.

Each time you visit your safe place, you should try to see it a bit more vividly, starting with the imagining of the staircase. Try to lock those little details in place, since they will help you immerse yourself in the experience more easily with each new attempt. While you’re doing this Visualization exercise, your only concern should be making it vivid. Focus on all the details, all the positive sensations you explore as you go there.