ANXIETY

"the number one
mental health problem in the U.S. . . "

Your dutiful LiveReal Agents heartily digging through the mountains of information to get to the bottom of it all . . .

"The problem of anxiety
is a nodal point,
linking up all kinds of most important question;
a riddle,
of which the solution must cast a flood of light
upon our whole mental life."
- Sigmund Freud

What do you think?

Talk about it.
info@livereal.com

(Note: This forum is not designed to replace medical or professional services when needed. The LiveReal Editors are not acting as doctors or medical professionals. We recommended for individuals to view the information below, as with all other information, with both an open mind and a clear skepticism, accepting this only if it makes common sense).

The majority of what you hear on "anxiety" nowadays typically comes from people who are trying to sell you a few bottles of pills.

And after that, several hundred thousand various thinkers, authors, books, pills, tapes, and seminars are being hyped to help us deal, in one way or another, with this invisible force called "anxiety".

So, what's going on? Does any of all this fuss really take us any closer to some sort of peace?

"Anxiety is the most fundamental of all psychological problems.
All mental disturbances, neurotic and psychotic, are ultimately traceable to anxiety.
Many physical ailments such as insomnia, headache, heart condition,
and high blood pressure have their psychical roots in anxiety.
Many forms of abnormal behavior such as alcoholism, drug addiction,
compulsive criminality, and juvenile delinquency
are ultimately conditioned by anxiety."
- Haridas Chaudhuri

Anxiety is often a universal and perfectly "natural" aspect of the human condition. Every individual on the planet experiences anxiety in some form and knows about it in a direct and personal way.

But, in certain cases, it becomes a problem, and something we want to do something about.

What is it? What causes it? Is there anything we can do about it?

In most cases you come across nowadays, anxiety is only discussed in relation to some type of "disorder," when it becomes extreme to the point of interfering with life. If you talk about the issue enough, or seem to really be interested in it, someone will sooner or later probably try prescribing you pills of some sort.

But it may be a good idea to examine the matter as we see it in normal life as well . . .

Mainstream Thoughts

Click here for a mainstream Description and Classification from the National Institute of Mental Health

Another, more clearly-written mainstream description can be found here.

In the illustrious opinion of this particular LiveReal Editor,
these perspectives leave something to be desired.

After all . . .

"Anxiety has increased substantially since the 1950's.
In fact, the studies find
that anxiety has increased so much that
typical school children during the 1980's
reported more anxiety
than child psychiatric patients
did during the 1950's."
- The American Psychological Association's (APA)
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

(Of course, many experts somehow still talk about anxiety being a factor primarily of genes and brain chemistry . . . - so they're saying our genes have changed dramatically over the past two decades? How do you spell "absurd"?)

So if you are interested in digging deeper . . .

ANXIETY

An Anthology of Perspectives

Here is an index, in as brief and simple a form as possible is a bird's-eye overview of the many different perspectives on anxiety.

"Psychological" Perspectives

Psychological perspectives focus on life experiences, and the creation and storage of emotional energy.

Anxiety as a perfectly normal, unavoidable part of life.

Anxiety as different from fear

Anxiety as the result of sexual repression (Freud)

Anxiety as pre-feeling fear, or emotionally anticipating pain in the future

Anxiety as emotional residue of birth trauma (Otto Rank) or previous experience (see below)

"Redirecting Self Therapy" in "The Biology of Emotions"

The Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety

Anxiety as unfelt feelings by Arthur Janov

"Spiritual" Perspectives

These spiritual perspectives focus more on anxiety that seems to be "built in" to the human condition. According to these viewpoints, becoming free of anxiety comes from developing a proper or accurate perspective on life (such as "detachment") and learning to "dwell in 'God'" in life.

Anxiety as a perfectly normal, unavoidable, and expected aspect of human life.

Anxiety as a product of being more aware of the human condition than others

Anxiety as part of our existential condition

Anxiety as evidence of "guilt"

Anxiety as "separation from yourself"

Anxiety as not knowing why we are here

Anxiety as an absence of "love" or "faith"

Anxiety as being out of harmony with your 'conscience'

Anxiety as a basic quality of the human condition

Anxiety as a result of feeling "separated from God"

The root cause of anxiety as "Primal Ignorance"

"Fear arises in the mind
when a sense of being a separate self
(in distinction to what is outside of self)
appears in consciousness.
For when there is a self, divided from the other,
there is an inherent possibility of harm at the hands of that other."
V. J. Fedorschak

Recommended:
The LiveReal Products, Psychology Arena
The LiveReal Products, Spiritual Arena

"Life is such
that it is impossible not to feel anxious or annoyed
at one time or another during the day.
But do not remain passive and allow this state of inner unease to persist.
As soon as you sense you are feeling unsettled,
stop and take stock:
what exactly is it you are feeling;
what has caused you to feel like this?
Try to remember what you heard or saw
or what you yourself did, said, felt or thought.
It is true that we are not always immediately aware
of such an inner state and it is only after some time
that we begin to realize something dark, heavy, distressing
is making us feel unsettled.
But this state inevitably has a cause
and it is good to try and find this cause
so that you may learn from it for the future . . ."
- Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

What do you think?

Talk about it:
info@livereal.com

"The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith,
and the beginning of true faith
is the end of anxiety."
- George Muller

"This is an adventure
that every human being must go through -
to learn to be anxious . . .
Whoever has learned to be anxious in the right way
has learned the ultimate . . .
the more profoundly he is in anxiety,
the greater is the man . . .
Then anxiety enters into his soul and searches out everything
and anxiously torments everything finite and petty out of him,
and then it leads him where he wants to go . . .
[Thus} the individual is educated into faith."
- Soren Kierkegaard

". . . once you have looked at anxiety
without being moved by it
you will be the master of it."
- Osho

What's the Problem