Advice

I have been in an elevated, if not hypomanic, state for over a solid week. With that comes a lot of extra anxiety for me.

I met with my therapist on Thursday though, and she had some great advice for how to deal with this anxiety. It’s going to sound kind of crazy, so bear with me.

I’m usually concerned that the things I am anxious about, (usually during a mood episode I’m worried about my behavior getting out of control), are actually going to happen. She pointed out that I have been very effective for a while now at managing those behaviors and so I don’t have evidence to support the anxiety so much.

So, given that, I need to just ignore the anxiety! As in, not pay attention to it or give it any room in my head. If I acknowledge it or try to rationalize it away, I am validating it in a way and that gives it more power than it should have.

It actually worked yesterday as crazy as it sounds.

This is not for all anxiety and is really specific to me being concerned about acting out during this mood episode, but it’s been liberating.

It doesn’t mean that I’m not paying attention to myself either, or that I’m suddenly going to start acting out because I’m not worrying about it. It just means that I’m not wringing my hands over the next possible bad thing I could do just because some intrusive thought enters my head. I can let those pass by and not obsess over them.

Anyway, maybe this makes no sense to anyone else, but it sure changed my outlook yesterday. It was a way to rise Above the anxiety of an already elevated mood.

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