Help! Friend has anxiety disorder

[marie123 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close marie123]

Hi!

I know this is normal that sometimes we have anxiety, I believe it is part of our everyday life. But what if we had this anxiety disorder? What are the first thing that we should do?

[Tom Busby Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tom Busby]

I believe that the anxious person would be advised to ask themselves, "Am I ok right now?" And then they would answer their question, "Yes, I'm actually fine right now,."

Or, more likely, you would tell/ask them, "You're ok right now, aren't you?" If they object, and say, "no," which is likely, you point out the most obvious stuff -- that they're sitting in a chair, with a bottle of water, and everything is fine. You keep going with this, like the House that Jack Built, where you point out they're sitting in a chair, with a bottle of water, breathing comfortable air. You add one more idea to the talisman each time, so it becomes sort of a game or a song. The repetition, or OCD-ness, of this can replace the feelings of anxiety.

I looked this up a long time ago, when I would business-travel in airplanes with a co-worker who was afraid of flying. Terribly afraid of flying. I'd sit next to him, and keep on pointing out that everything was fine, and he was in the same shape as he would be, sitting in an office chair (etc.). Or, I'd get him into conversations about current music, and we'd discuss the goofy lyrics. Connected, organized chatter of all kinds was helpful, it seemed.

It kept his panic down to a level where he could cope with his anxiety, and fly on planes. He couldn't take anti-anxiety meds because then he wouldn't be sharp enough for work.

I'm not an expert, and it's just a suggestion -- something like this might help.