ok to meditate if you have anxiety?

Pollyanna83

I've read it can actually increase your anxiety. Any counter evidence with people who suffer from GAD (generalized anxiety)? Thanks guys!

justbe

In 2011 I dealt with major panic attacks/general anxiety. Meditation didn't necessarily increase my anxiety, but it did put me more in touch with it and made me less avoidant of it which may have, at the time, made it seem more intense. I would definitely recommend you work with it -- shamatha/tranquility (focusing on the breath) meditations were/are very helpful to me as I continue to find new ways of relating to "myself".

Dakini

Maybe you should ask your doctor, OP. Generally, meditation with proper breathing technique calms the nervous system. But I don't know about how that would work in the face of the type of medical conditions you're describing.

ThailandTom

I have suffered from anxiety, quite severe anxiety from age 12 and still do now. Meditation, if don correctly (there are so many forms of meditation keep in mind), can help you to ease anxiety and maybe even overcome it. try and get some decent reading materials on meditation practice, go to a sangha or meditation class and see what becomes of it. At first you may get a few feelings of heightened awareness of your anxiety, I have done such as feeling sick in the pit of my stomach etc, but that is on;y because you are clearing away the fog in your mind and allowing your mind to focus properly. In time I am sure only positive things can come from meditation if you do it correctly and often. Good luck.

fixingjulian

Hey Pollyana,

I'm really glad you asked that question and I'd like to tell you about my personalized experience. I had generalized anxiety disorder and was on a medication called cipralex. On the medication I felt fine, kind of like a temporary superman thing. I could look people in the eyes whatever, I thought my troubles were over. After about a year I kept getting this empty feeling that was underlying the medication. There were a couple other minor side effects as well. The point is there was something at the root of the problem that I couldn't seem to get at. It felt like people were burning me with a fire poker so I was taking a medication that was numbing my sensation of the poker and also much of whatever I felt towards the whole situation but ok, that's not your question.

In short, meditation has been a miracle in my life. At the start it at least quadrupled my anxiety. note: I went off my drugs. It was HARD!!! I was barely able to stick with it and I have my instructors on the Vipassana retreat to thank. It was like an exorcism.

I ended up with an equanimous observation of the sensation of my anxiety (how it felt on my body). And now anxiety is a dear friend of mine. Anxiety lets me know when I'm being tricked, it lets me know when something is off. Helps me to respond appropriately. And it's something that I now feel infrequently.

If you choose to try meditation, congratulations. Now try to build a support system around you that will allow you to tackle what lies ahead. When you meditate there is nowhere to run. Stuff will get uprooted. I would suggest maybe talking to a therapist in conjunction with meditation or a doctor. If that doesn't work for whatever reason maybe try meditating with a group in a temple of something. Also, I'm sure people here can help you out.

Good luck, I know you can do it.

Invincible_summer

I was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder a few years ago, and my therapist actually led me through my first meditation session to help me, although I didn't know it at the time.

It was just a breathing meditation, seeing how the anxious thoughts arise and eventually disappear.

It really changed things for me, and I personally have never experienced heightened anxiety from this sort of meditation.

Wisdom23

i too am a GAD sufferer. My meditation increased my anxiety at the start but i have recently been reading a book on Existentialism. If you get a change to read around this subject do it is very interesting. But the message i took away from this certain book was. The only certainty in life is death, we don't know when or how it will come but it will come (i know it is pretty much verse six in the Dhammapada). Futrthur thought and reading into this i realised how much had past me ever since i vowed to never worry again and how little progress i have made. Then i though, i have lived with it for as long as i can remember. I nor you, i am guessing like it. I realise i cannot vanish it but i can have some level of control on it. So i have started prioritisng my thoughts on the basis, 'life is short and i want my brief existance to be as pleasurable as possible and the worry storms as i call them are certainly not pleasurable'. So i try to think as frequently as possible of positive thoughts. This may include what i am greatful for or what i am looking forward to.

I once heard anxiety occurs because we are unable to linger in the present moment, so be mindful and present as much as possible.
I would like like to leave you with a lesson that i carry round with me when i feel and anxious thought present.

Has anything, anything i have ever worried about ever come true? The answer is usually a big fat nope.

I could talk all day about it but i won't bother you too much. If you would however like to discuss more jut reply to my comment i would be more than happy to talk.

All the best.

karasti

It is interesting that so many have a history of anxiety here. I wonder if it is coincidence. I was treated with medication (cannot recall what kind this was probably 10-12 years ago) for GAD. I did not stay on it long and sought other methods for dealing with the problem. Much of it came in learning what caused my anxiety and how to deal with it, and prepare for it when I knew I would be in anxiety-inducing situations.

It wasn't until a little over a year ago that I started studying Buddhism and meditating every day. At first it was hard. I had tried it before and it caused me much stress. But I realized that was because I had ideas in mind of what it should be and how I should feel during and after, and my expectations were not met. When I started studying Buddhism and went through meditation exercises with my teacher, it made more sense and I was able to let go of those expectations. I now find it very beneficial and I have a much easier time managing anxiety. I feel it much less intensely and less frequently, and when I do, I can find my meditation place even for a couple minutes and the symptoms decrease immediately. It has been of great benefit to me. But I suspect it depends on what causes your anxiety. For some people it is a chemical imbalance. Even those can be changed via various body practices including meditation but that is likely to take a lot of time and might be most beneficial in conjunction with medical care, at least to start.

In my case it was all in my mind, all due to anticipation and expectations that I thought others had but which I really placed on myself.

chela

I too, have had issues with anxiety. In the past, I had major depression disorder, and then when that seemed to clear up (after some years on an antidepressant), I experienced panic attacks. The panic attacks subsided (again, with medication and also some time), but I still dealt with a level of anxiety, and what I call "racing brain" where I could never just relax and was in a state of compulsive planning and doing. I have only been meditating for just over 3 months, and I can say for certain that it has brought about a number of positive results for me. I am no longer in a state of compulsive racing brain, although I find that some days it is harder to work with than other times. I have to continue to do mindful practices frequently during the day.

For me, I started out doing mindful breathing practices while doing things, like washing dishes, for example. This is kind of like a sneak preview or "light" meditation. I think it is a good way to start training your brain to be more in a relaxed focus instead of chaos. It's a way to start to gently train your mind to settle in small steps. I would recommend a book called Every Step is Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh if you want to explore gentle mindfulness exercises and to get into the right frame of mind (peaceful) prior to doing sitting meditation.

blu3ree

During the practice make notes everytime anxiety arises. Find the cause of it then take steps towards eliminating the factors that cause anxiety to rise. Through diligent practice the roots to anxieties tree will wither and the tree of anxiety will shrink.

Citta

Karasti is correct. " Anxiety" covers a whole spectrum of conditions.
The symptoms of some anxiety disorders may initially be made worse by some meditation practices..simply by focussing on them they are amplified.
The behavioural technique outlined by blu3ee can be very useful in many cases.
Less so in what is known as " free floating " anxiety..where the causes are lost and an all pervading anxiety is the mindset.
Given support, preferably from a teacher, the amplified anxiety will pass by following the breath with gentle persistence. But intially it may feel worse.
It may be worth remembering that there was a time when anxiety did not feature in your life, so it is realistic to assume that this will be the case again.

ThailandTom

Damn we are or for some of us were all messed up people mentally I put that down too being too intellectual, too much thinking That is my hypothesis anyway :coffee: As well as genetic make up as my mother was the same but not as bad as me and my sister had a disorder that she has overcome totally.