11-03-2011, 05:45 PM
(11-03-2011, 03:25 PM)Shannon Wrote: Matt, you remind me so much of who I was and what I was going through several years ago.
I can't speak for everyone, but I think that pills should be an option of last resort, as they obviously are for you. Pills are usually not going to fix the problem. They just hide it in most cases. With risks and side effects to boot.
But today the automatic assumption is to just prescribe some pills, because most doctors don't know anything else anymore. In the 50's, hypnosis was making big inroads in dental and medical practices, but its rare now to see a medical doctor who knows how to do hypnosis, never mind uses it. Better medications today, maybe? I don't think so. I think the laws changed and the insurance companies got involved and the legal system got involved and doctors were crushed in the middle, all the while the drug companies were having a field day. Prescribing pills is much faster and easier, and with insurance being so high and malpractice being so common, what doctor has time for really getting to know their patients anymore? To afford all those insurances and such, they needed to see a lot more patients.
I'd say that it would be difficult to find evidence that your anxiety was biological. I find it hard to believe that such a thing is even possible, honestly. Anxiety comes from fear and insecurity. How is that biological? In a case like yours, though, it requires knowing specifically what the triggers are. You'd do a lot better to see someone who understands psychology and hypnosis, in my opinion. Find the root psychological cause, and it shouldn't be difficult to deal with from there on out. Medical doctors are horrible at anything to do with psychology these days.
Shannon, just wanted to let you know my name is spelled with one t. That probably seems strange to you, but me looking at my name with two ts is strange for me haha. Don't worry about it though, people always spell it with two.
Anyway, on a more serious note. I wish that there were knowledgeable psychologist that were as easily handed out as medication. That's my biggest problem. Psychologists cost money and it's hard to find a good one. I had a bad experience about a year ago with a therapist that was covered by my family's insurance. The guy almost insulted me for not doing anything and told me my anxiety wasn't real and I was just making it up. He didn't understand me and he just milked my insurance for all it was worth. It's hard enough opening up to a complete stranger, but when they think they know you just because of a few sessions it really made me pissed off that he came off as so judgmental. Sometimes therapists are equally as horrible as medical doctors when it comes to psychology.
Pills are a last resort, believe me. If there's one thing I'm obsessed with it's how things work. I always need to understand the underlying principles behind something and medication always has sketchy evidence when it comes to how exactly it works.
Maybe biological is the wrong term to use. I believe it is hereditary in some way. That may seem to lack evidence as well I guess. But when I was a kid I had some irrational fear or over sensitive nature about me. Maybe I learned it from my environment, which would be my mom because she has the same issues as me as well. I have a memory, incredibly embarrassing one at that, of me peeing in my pants in the middle of class in elementary school. I remember exactly why I did it, my teacher was talking and I was too afraid to ask to go to the bathroom so I tried to hold it. To me that seems like something that isn't very normal for a child, to be that afraid to ask a simple question. At such a young age it's hard to imagine how I could be full of that much fear and insecurity. Now here's the part where it gets interesting. When my mom was a kid she did the same exact thing as me. Not the most conclusive evidence, but it makes me wonder if these problems are more than just thoughts in my head.
The problem is modern science still isn't aware of how things are passed down to offspring, if behaviors are hard wired, nature vs nurture, etc. It's all one big mystery, which makes my predicament even more confusing. If I developed my anxiety as a teenager I would be content in saying that it is merely a product of low self esteem or negative thinking. But my childhood seems like it was also filled with anxiety and it just makes me wonder why.
