Treating anxiety is not just the doctor’s effort, as a patient, if you want to get better, you also need to invest yourself wholeheartedly in adjustment.
If you act solely on personal will, do not follow medical advice on medication, do not change your cognition. With such an attitude, even if the medication can temporarily relieve symptoms, it is difficult to completely stop, the amount of medication is just a psychological comfort.
Dr. Wang has seen too many patients like this, just because they cannot adjust themselves, resulting in continuous medication for many years, always suspecting that they have a serious illness, but unaware of their cognitive problems.
There was a patient who had suffered from anxiety for more than ten years, enduring dizziness, headache, palpitations, shortness of breath, bodily pain, rapid heart rate, high blood pressure, unsteadiness in walking, often feeling physically weak, and feeling unable to do anything. The family described it as almost paralyzed, not even going out of the house every day.
Later, after taking medication three times according to the patient’s condition, the symptoms improved significantly, but every follow-up visit she never admitted feeling better, always assigning herself a new ailment to overthink and worry about.
If you ask her which symptoms have improved, she will say they have, but she just doesn’t tell the doctor. Patients like this do not believe in themselves from the bottom of their hearts, unless taking medication is more comfortable than for normal people, then they can consider themselves better.
Therefore, as Dr. Wang puts it, you can treat the disease, but you can’t treat the person.
But if you can achieve these 3 points, then adjusting cognitive thinking becomes relatively easier!
1. Being busy is a good medicine for curing anxiety
Find things to do for yourself, let every corner of your life be full of busyness and fulfillment. When our attention is drawn to external things, we have no time to focus on inner anxiety and unease. This “busy therapy” not only effectively reduces the time spent in overthinking but also invisibly enhances our confidence and sense of accomplishment.
2. Understand the condition, eliminate fear
Fear often stems from the unknown. For patients with anxiety or depression, gaining in-depth understanding of the characteristics and manifestations of the condition is the first step in eliminating fear and building confidence. When we have a clear understanding of the disease, we can face it and overcome it more calmly.
3. Cultivate interests, strengthen the inner self
A person with a strong inner self can often resist external storms. Therefore, we should strive to cultivate our own interests and hobbies, making life colorful and vibrant. Whether it’s reading, traveling, exercising, or artistic creation, all can nourish and enhance our inner selves. At the same time, actively participating in social activities, sharing life’s bits of happiness with family and friends, can make our inner selves stronger and warmer.
