Trigger Warning: mention of rape, sexual assault

This is the first of an 8 week series reviewing panic and anxiety from a group therapy point of view. It is based on the group therapy services available through Langley Memorial Hospital. Feel free to follow along and answer the questions posted in each section.

Session 1: Exploring Anxiety Disorders

Tags: agoraphobia, alertness, anxiety, anxiety disorders, apprehension, arousal (alertness), avoidance, blushing, chest pain, cleaning house, cleanliness, communication, compulsions, counting, dirt, distress, embarrassment, escape, exercise, fear, feelings of impending doom, flashbacks, GAD, germs, group therapy, hand washing, hoarding, hope, impulsiveness, judgement, leisure, long term abuse, obsessions, OCD, orderliness, palpitations, panic, panic attacks, panic disorder, phobic disorders, productivity, PTSD, rape, reassurance, recreation, recurrent images, recurrent thoughts, relationships, religion, responsibility, self-care, sexual assault, shortness of breath, social activities, social anxiety, social stigma, spirituality, stress, stuttering, tapping, terror, trauma, triggers, war veterans, worry

Inspired by work people have done on madness maps and mental health first aid kits, I decided to make a checklist/flowchart to use when I am having a particularly hard time or am in crisis. It was a good process for me to make because it helped me to really think about what has helped me or caused me trouble in the past. I really like that we can make these sorts of tools for ourselves instead of relying on more general (often judgmental) dos and don’ts or advice from people who never know us as well as we know ourselves.

Tags: anxiety, art, BDSM, beauty, body, checklists, comfort, counseling, crisis, crisis checklist, depression, eating, emotions, enjoyment, exercise, fear, flowcharts, friends, games, hormones, hunger, hypnotic, illness, injury, insomnia, isolation, journaling, laundry, loneliness, madness map, madness maps, manageability, massage, medication, meditation, mental health, mental health first aid kits, messy apartments, misanthropy, museums, music, pain, painkillers, panic, parks, pets, projects, psych meds, psychiatrists, QueerMentalHealth.org, responsibility, rest, restlessness, self-fear, self-harm, self-help, self-help books, sex, showering, sleep, sleeping environment, snacks, social activities, stair climbing, stress, supplements, support groups, symptoms, task management, tea, The Icarus Project, therapists, therapy, tools, vulnerability, withdrawal, yoga