Finding the best anxiety treatment can be hard, because having anxiety is more than being a little worried. Anxiety affects mind, body, and spirit, and it interferes with living. Therefore, people search for effective anxiety treatments: medication, therapy, alternative treatments, and tools and techniques that are effective in managing anxiety. Many research-based, formal anxiety treatments exist, and that’s a very good thing (Anxiety Treatment: How to Treat Anxiety). However, sometimes the best anxiety treatment is a plate of cookies, a glass of milk, and the company of a loved one. 

Although stopping a panic attack can feel impossible, it isn't (How to Stop Panic Attacks). Panic is an extremely intense experience of anxiety that comes on suddenly and grips us in a terrifying vice, like a gigantic boa constrictor snake that winds itself around its prey. It's a natural instinct to thrash against the snake that is a panic attack. Unfortunately, fighting against it only worsens panic attack symptoms. So what helps? Here are eight ways to stop a panic attack in its tracks. 

The effects of anxiety are your starting point for healing, even though they are many and miserable (These Awful Effects of Anxiety Must Stop). Anxiety affects us physically, mentally, and emotionally. Anxiety can disrupt our lives in profound ways, preventing us from being who we want to be and doing what we want to do. Anxiety exists on a spectrum from mild to severe, but whether it is a disturbance or a disorder, the effects of anxiety are negative and far-reaching. That said, they're good, too, for the effects of anxiety are a starting point for healing. 

Anxiety has many different moods; frustratingly, anxiety isn’t a single, simple concept. No one can count on it to be anything other than disruptive and erratic. Perhaps you’ve experienced an all-too-common situation. You’re working hard to manage anxiety. Your anxiety symptoms have lessened and your life feels less restricted. Then, seemingly without warning, bam. Anxiety strikes again, and this time it feels worse somehow. This is a normal experience for people living with anxiety because anxiety has different moods. What are the different moods of anxiety and how can you tame them? 

Is it possible to distract yourself from fear? Fear is a basic human reaction, an instinct even, to something we perceive as a threat to our safety or general wellbeing. It sounds an alarm in the brain and kicks the fight-or-flight response into gear. When we are afraid, we want to run from what it is that's making us feel scared, or we want to confront it and do battle. Our instinct typically isn't to ignore fear by distracting ourselves with something else. Can you distract yourself from fear? Do you want to? 

Feeling full of anxiety is a common experience. Anxiety has a way of infiltrating both brain and body. When we're consumed by anxiety, it becomes difficult to think about anything else, and the emotions and sensations that we pay attention to the most are those that relate to anxiety. Also, anxiety impacts what we do or don't do. Basically, anxiety has a way of taking us over. We become full of anxiety. We can do something about this. If you're tired of being full of anxiety, empty your cup of tea.

I must admit, anxiety-related procrastination plays a part in my life. There are far too many days when I find it very hard to cope with the complicated, impossibly fast push and pull of life. I can feel as though the world is too big and frightening and all I want to do is focus on the tiny acts of nurturing that help me cope minute to minute: nursing a large cup of tea, taking a nap or hiding in the bathroom to get away from the feeling of eyes and supposed scrutiny all around. These things look and feel like procrastination due to my anxiety.

Current events cause anxiety. News and media tell of violence and strife, hate, political problems, and more, and it takes a toll on our mental health. In many cases, these events are geographically distant from viewers and thus aren't an immediate threat to life and wellbeing. Why, then, do we experience news media anxiety? Further, what can we do when current events cause anxiety? 

It's possible to reduce anxiety and guilt starting immediately. Last week's post, Guilt: A Distressing Effect of Anxiety, explored guilt as an effect of anxiety and the vicious cycle created when anxiety increases guilt which, in turn, causes greater anxiety and then more guilt. Just because we feel guilty, however, doesn't mean we have to accept it. The following suggestions can help you reduce anxiety and guilt now. 

Beating anxiety is an active process that is not unlike participating in a triathlon. To find solution focused help to beat anxiety and live the life you desire takes commitment and dedication to the greater goal of living an anxiety-free life (Stop Avoiding Anxiety! Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)). For athletes who participate in triathlons, these events really aren’t merely single events. "Triathlon" describes a lifestyle. Similarly, beating anxiety isn’t just an event but instead is a lifestyle. Just as completing a triathlon requires action, so does beating anxiety. The following approach will help you beat anxiety the triathlon way.