I am only an amateur neurologist. My real profession is a criminal defense lawyer. I tend to examine problems in terms of evidence. It occurred to me that I could apply my professional experience toward anxiety. It was a satisfying exercise and there is no reason all of you who are so good at playing doctor cannot play lawyer for a change! When you're done, you can (and should) even pretend to sue yourself for medical malpractice!Your client (we are going to separate you from your fears for the purpose of this exercise) has been charged with the offense of Having a Horrible Disease. It is your job to come up with all the evidence AGAINST this indictment. (Note that this is the opposite of what we often see here, where people seem to filter out all the helpful evidence and concentrate solely on a tiny speck of scary stuff.)I wrote out two pages of everything I could think of that supported my -- whoops, I mean my client's -- innocence of the charge. It was very impressive. In fact, next to it, the prosecution's case was laughably groundless.Here are some examples:"While my leg is unquestionably having the worst problems it has ever had, none of them are inexplicable. It is probably a slow, natural progression of my known lower back problem, aggravated by the ankle injury and recovery process. If I twitch more in my right leg, it is probably because those muscles are more stressed right now, and the sciatica is contributing as well.""In the past, my anxiety has manifested by episodes of health anxiety that are very similar to what I have recently experienced. I can remember compulsively checking my pulse when I had heart concerns. I think I wore out two thermometers compulsively checking my temperature, sometimes every couple of minutes! My current anxiety does seem suspiciously like my past experience. Those fears were baseless, and so are my current ones in all likelihood. I know I have anxiety, and doctors have confirmed this and are treating me for it. It makes much more sense to attribute many symptoms to a known problem than fear-based and ignorant speculation.""I affirm that my knowledge of serious disease is incomplete and I am unqualified to diagnose something exotic in myself. “Twitching” is not uncommon, and is in any case not the hallmark of serious illness, especially when it appeared all over the body all of a sudden. The fact that nothing is relentlessly progressing and my symptoms have waxed and waned over years is also inconsistent with serious illness. The fact that I am still apparently physically normal after nearly five years is a decisive argument against a disease known to take people down quickly. While there may be exceptional cases, the fact that they are so exceptional makes it extremely unlikely that I am among them.""There is a large on-line community of people who suffer similar symptoms and identical fears. Not one of them has ever proven to have a serious disease. It is not likely I am going to be the first. Yet each one of them has been just as convinced as I have been that they do. When looking at their posts, it is easy to see how baseless their fears are because I am not the one whose judgment is clouded by fear. When it comes to my own fears, an objective observer would be equally dismissive of them.""In summary, there is no rational basis for fear of any particular serious illness. All of my symptoms can effortlessly be attributed to much more common sources."The trick is objectivity and detail, but most of all concentrating on what you know, not what you fear. Unlike real criminal defense (usually) in this case the facts are your friends. By taking the time to write it out, you will affirm reality and be forced to set aside your fears. If you wish, you can end with a brief "closing argument" something like this:"I realize that anxiety is terribly destructive of life and potentially damaging to relationships with my wife, my family and God. I resolve to change from an attitude of “what if?” to “so what?” and live my life each day as the opportunity for growth, service and love that it is."'Don't just read this. Do it! If you are serious about helping yourself, and not content merely to wallow in your misery, it is a small enough investment in time.
Play Lawyer for Anxiety Relief
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MarioMasher
Well-known member
This board is amazing in that it can make us actually:A) Worry about something that is medically insignificantand B) Cheer on a defense lawyerWay to go, occasins. 
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)AllGoodHere
Well-known member
Oh darn I read this wrong - I thought it was defense exercise for warriors but it's another anxiety post.
AllGoodHere
Well-known member
Just five? Hahaa you hit it on the head - my type on the forum is boring! Well, also, maybe our definitions of anxiety are different. Everyone has some - it's part of our flight and fight and helps to keep us safe; what some may call 'worrying'. High anxiety is probably what you are meaning. Mel Brooks aside, I am just, I guess, one of the five. I have anxiety like many humans, for my son when he is deployed in Kabul, when someone tries to run into me on the highway I feel it for a while behind the wheel, that kind of stuff. I can see that others suffer with this, I respect the problem, I just don't feel it in regard to my health as so many here seem to. Basically I feel I am fine other than the cramping, jumpy, fluttering, neuromuscular crap, so see no reason to worry about it. However, I would really like some warrior training and exercise as I think it would be good for my battle against PNHE so I guess I was looking for it.....don't think that would be such dry speculation.
Did you never go through a high anxiety phase? That's great if you didn't, seriously. A lot of people have, though, and we get new recruits in all the time with the same old fears. There is something very instructive about the process of passing through that anxiety by consciously asserting rational thought over fear. I respectfully invite you to consider that that involves a high degree of self-mastery under very trying circumstances. Today's worriers are tomorrow's warriors, once they get the proper training by learning the facts and doing whatever it takes to put rationality over anxiety. You are right to point out that this involves discipline, especially the discipline to change bad habits, like not getting enough sleep. People first need to get settled down with a realistic perspective, though, too, and sometimes that has to come before anything else.For the fearful, the facts are your friends.
AllGoodHere
Well-known member
With BCFS? No can't say I did; it was more of a high-annoyance phase or an angry-that-things-aren't-working-out phase. I did go through one with being diagnosed with an eye tumor - that lasted a few months until they pronounced it benign. I tend to want to believe doctors when they say that word 'benign' although I now realize that for the patient it can mean 'difficult', 'annoying', or 'depressing'.I don't see that facts help a lot of the people here - a few perhaps - those who read them and consider what they have read. Most don't seem to read the facts but gravitate to the more exciting topics.
KnottyPirate93
Active member
So if anxiety did not bring you to this site, may I ask what did? How did you even find it? I found it by googling the twitching....scaring the crap out of myself, and then finding this site thank goodness. I think once you move out of the "scared to death of my shadow phase" you become either dismissive or leave the board and I find that sad to say the least. "Just another post to deal with anxiety"? I will say that I do NOT believe this to be caused by anxiety and my case supports that it does not. However, I believe only high anxiety people come to this board because they assume it is or may be worse than someone who has a "comme ci, comme ca" approach to life. Coming to this board, pouring out your fears, and having experienced people reassure you that you are fine is exactly the intention of this board. And a big thank you to all who continue to provide that assurance for people that are EXACTLY where we were at one time or another. Shauna