How does this help?

[real stressed]

When you live with constant REAL stressors, as opposed to perceived threats, can this program help? When you live day to day, wonder how you are going to pay your bills or feed the family, Tell me I can learn to sleep at night after spouse losing job, home foreclosure and bankruptcy. Are there any successful ways to cope when it is a real ongoing obstacle as opposed to a personality disorder? I can't journal away the creditor phone calls or magically have an income to support us. Sorry , but I just can't relate to the program and my hx of ongoing trauma, including post traumatic stress, on top of medical problems. Can this work? And for a quote about how your body will just fall asleep when it is tired, she obviously hasn't had the degree of stress where your mind WILL not stop for sleep, even for days, weeks..AND that CAN kill you.

[hopefuljen]

Hi realstressed, I do believe this program can help you. The program teaches general skills that apply for all situations. Both perceived and real. What you are going through is incredibly difficult but how you cope with it will dictate how it continues to go for you. If you think that things will never improve and that you things are hopeless, then they won't change but if you believe you have control of this situation and can find ways to change it then the results will surprise you. You can't magically have an income, that is true, but you can be positive and believe that if you take the right actions, you can and you will change your circumstances. This program will teach you how to do that.

I also recall that line about eventually falling asleep and remembering thinking the same thing but I assure you that the human body does sleep albeit with high levels of stress it may be for extremely short periods of time. Try the relaxation tape, it will be hard initially (was for me) but eventually it begins to work. Try it every day 3 times a day as they recommend for at least a week and see how it goes. And try the program through at least week 3 (but use the workbook and do the homework, it won't work if you don't put in the effort).

I am personally restarting the program again as I have not gone through it all but truly believe it has already taught me some great skills. Unfortunately, I do regress and need to be reminded of the skills. So here I am. Moving on to Week 3 of the program for the second time.

Good luck and I wish you all the best.

[real stressed]

Thanks for your reply. I respect what you say and do actually know this. I understand things don't happen magically. Nothing has been working which is why this is my last resort. Nice to know others understand. It makes it 10 times harder with young children who don't understand why they can't do,go or have what their friends have. Nothing fancy, just talking like birthday parties, because we can't afford the gifts, or out to restaurant, or even having a second car. We went to being worry free so to speak, to our world crashing down. I am however grateful for 2 working legs and arms and will keep trying. The constant cortisol/adrenaline overflow has gotten me pretty exhausted. Thanks again for responding and wish the best for you. And by the way, I do work full time..just not enough to support a family of five.

[irishproud115]

So, I do know from my personal experience with all of those stressors (job, money, bills, family, etc) that this program can help you by helping you better understand the different things that are actually going to help you by thinking about them, and what is just going to hurt you by constantly thinking about it. I honestly, at one point, spent three days before an interview worrying that I wouldn't be able to get the job and continually thinking it all over in my mind. Guess what? I didn't get the job because they could tell that I was stressed out.
Now, lesson number two really isn't the great one for tackling the stress itself that is causing the panic attacks. This lesson is specifically targeted towards battling the attacks themselves. My suggestions to you are this: listen to the relaxation session at least twice a day, once about halfway through and once right before you try to go to bed. Second, listen to lesson 12 (The Courage to Change); a lot of times what causes us stress, anxiety and worry is simply a change that we weren't expecting, and not knowing how to handle it. This lesson is great for that (honestly, it's my favorite lesson in the entire program). And do know, real stressed, that you are going to be okay. You've struggled through so much in your life, you're stronger than you even realize.

[real stressed]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I spend so much time trying to get better, it's actually causing more anxiety when I can't even relax to a relaxation tape, or 2, or 3.It is mentally exhausting. Maybe I can just decide to make anxiety my friend.

[ElectrifiedBrain]

Listen to the CD even if you can't relax right away. Your body needs to learn HOW to relax, and it's perfectly OK if you can't do that immediately.

This program will most especially teach you how to enjoy the things you DO have. Before you know it, it will be over, whatever it is, good or bad. This program teaches you how to effectively tough out the bad things while simultaneously enjoying the good ones to the maximum.

Even though you may not be able to support a family now, if you increase your self-esteem and lessen your anxiety, you'll likely become a better, more productive employee, which could very well lead to a raise. I'm not your boss, so I can't guarantee it, but that's the trend these days, especially since productive employees are hard to come by anymore.

[isabel001]

hi, i really believe this program will help just the mere fact of learning not to worry too much helped me.

[real stressed]

Thanks for taking time to reply. Glad you all have found some mental clarity and appreciate feedback.

[meganlloyd6]

Real Stressed,

I don't know if I can say this on here, but Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" improved my anxiety and depression last year so much when I was living pay check to pay check. It's only $10 audio book $15 hard back at Target, so not too bad. I think you want answers and help with that first or in conjunction with this program and you might be able to de-stress more. Cognitive reconditioning is great, but you have to act on the things that you can change and control that are tangible as well, then you can move on to reconditioning your thoughts. Hope this helps.