If you're reading this article, there's a good chance you're living with some form of anxiety disorder at the moment.
And if that's the case, you'll also know how difficult it can be to find a good method to get the anxiety to stop, and there's a good reason for this.
When anxiety starts up, it totally occupies your mind.
It's so powerful and consuming that very little that you think or do even gets noticed by you or your mind.
That's why all the tips and tricks you normally try when your panic starts make very little difference.
If this all sounds familiar to you then you need to try something else, something different: distraction techniques.
A distraction technique is simply anything you can do, or anything you can expose yourself to, that gets past the panic and occupies your mind for long enough to allow your panic to fade.
Not all methods will work, though, since the panic blocks most of the things around you from getting inside you deeply enough to occupy your mind.
So you need to choose your distraction techniques carefully.
You also need to test them out on yourself to see which work best for you.
So what should you try as distraction techniques? The best distraction techniques are those that distract your senses in a strong way.
Your senses, especially your senses of sight and sound, play a huge role in how you feel and where your emotions are, so it makes sense to use distractions that really occupy these senses.
When you expose yourself to visual things that are compelling or unusual, it's hard for your mind to stay centred totally on anything, and that includes panic and anxiety.
The same goes for strange sounds, or loud sounds.
When your mind has to process sounds like these, a part of you has to focus on them, and therefore that part of your mind is no longer focusing on the panic.
You can start trying out these distraction techniques for yourself right away.
All you need to do is expose yourself to strange sights and sounds when you feel your anxiety increasing.
This might be with music, optical illusions, or foreign TV and radio stations (listening to languages you don't understand really scrambles your mind and is great at interrupting anxiety).
The key is to start trying things, because eventually you'll come across something that works great for you.
And when you stumble onto a distraction technique that works for you, it is often one you can depend on for years.
And if that's the case, you'll also know how difficult it can be to find a good method to get the anxiety to stop, and there's a good reason for this.
When anxiety starts up, it totally occupies your mind.
It's so powerful and consuming that very little that you think or do even gets noticed by you or your mind.
That's why all the tips and tricks you normally try when your panic starts make very little difference.
If this all sounds familiar to you then you need to try something else, something different: distraction techniques.
A distraction technique is simply anything you can do, or anything you can expose yourself to, that gets past the panic and occupies your mind for long enough to allow your panic to fade.
Not all methods will work, though, since the panic blocks most of the things around you from getting inside you deeply enough to occupy your mind.
So you need to choose your distraction techniques carefully.
You also need to test them out on yourself to see which work best for you.
So what should you try as distraction techniques? The best distraction techniques are those that distract your senses in a strong way.
Your senses, especially your senses of sight and sound, play a huge role in how you feel and where your emotions are, so it makes sense to use distractions that really occupy these senses.
When you expose yourself to visual things that are compelling or unusual, it's hard for your mind to stay centred totally on anything, and that includes panic and anxiety.
The same goes for strange sounds, or loud sounds.
When your mind has to process sounds like these, a part of you has to focus on them, and therefore that part of your mind is no longer focusing on the panic.
You can start trying out these distraction techniques for yourself right away.
All you need to do is expose yourself to strange sights and sounds when you feel your anxiety increasing.
This might be with music, optical illusions, or foreign TV and radio stations (listening to languages you don't understand really scrambles your mind and is great at interrupting anxiety).
The key is to start trying things, because eventually you'll come across something that works great for you.
And when you stumble onto a distraction technique that works for you, it is often one you can depend on for years.
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