Stress Center Peer Support

Hi everyone, I guess I am looking for inspiration. Has anyone really recovered afert using this program? I started Session 2 and its overwhelming but I am hopeful. Can you share your ideas or insights about the program? Have you guys recovered? I don't get panic attacks except at night I guess? I suffer from insomnia and take Xanax but now its not even helping. Please share your recovery.

i am experiencing the same thing just started session 2 today and am feeling blah i am cranky and irritated and need some inspiration as well i want to feel better

Plenty of people have recovered using this program and you can too The most important lesson is #3. Pay attention to your constant thoughts. You'll be suprised how many knee jerk thoughts you have during the day, some say 300 and most of them are negative and drag you down and you dont even realize it. Noone can feel good having negative thoughts and noone can have a feeling without a thought making that feeling.
Be sure to start writing these negative thoughts down in a tablet during the day and writing the positive replacement beside it. You'll be suprised at what you'll find and how much better you'll feel after a few days of doing that. You will do well with this program becuase you reached out for help with it.

Hey Terry!!
I am now on week 11 and I can honestly say that I cannot remember the way I was when I started this program, 11 weeks ago! I think about it and talk to my husband about it and it is truly shocking when I start to remember..this program is amazing and you will have really good days and probably a few rough days...but stay hopeful and keep going..I did and here I am almost sad that I only have 4 weeks left!! But I am happy...because I jumped into this and gave it a try! Follow your workbooks, listen to your tapes..and as Tommy said 'write it all down'..another thing I did was try to put a little temporary distance between me and some of the really negative people in my life..some people really had a way of dragging me down and until I learned the tools I needed to not let that happen anymore..I went on a little 'leave of absence' from some people! haha
Keep your chin up high..this program Will help you tremendously!! Please keep me posted how you are..and if ever you need a friend...I am just a note away!!

OH TOMMYBOY AND JEANNI W you guys are tremendously inspiring me! I am so hopeful now and I know I have to work hard. I am willing to and I do have faith it just very hard but I can do it. If you guys are doing it,so can I! WE ALL CAN! Thank you guys!

You got that right...you CAN do it!! Be excited about it Terry...within the next few weeks you will start to see changes with yourself..and I think for me, once I saw a change, then another change..I started working harder at it and getting more excited about it because I was starting to see that it was working! Keep that chin up and smile...you will control anxiety and depression, they will no longer be controlling you!
All the best, my new friend!!!!

Can I ask though Tommy Boy, how do you know when its a negative thought and not just a thought? I do so much obsessing that I dont know which is which? Also everytime I think of something, it creates a reaction in my head and I feel it. Is this normal? Anyhow, how do u know its a negative thought? Do u just get better at it as you go?

Terry, JeannieW is so right. To answer your question.. A negative thought is any thought that makes you feel angry, hurt, sad, scared, helpless, afraid, out of control and the list goes on and on. and to answer your 2nd question, yes it's normal to think of something and it create a reaction in your head. Every thought you have creates some kind of reaction. Every thought you have creates some kind of feeling. Later on in other chapters in this program, it will get more into this. But keep on the schedule of doing each chapter at a time in order. You've heard the saying " you are what you think " and it's so true.
We have learned to think this way over the years and it takes some constant practice to turn it around but it does work!

Hello, and welcome to the program. I would not consider myself 100% recovered, but the skills you learn are so helpful. You have to put work into it to get the benefits from it. I have gone through the program twice, and the reason I went through it the second time is because I got too relaxed and I wasn't using my skills. Good luck to you, stay with it it really does help.