When I am having a panic attack, I have a medication I take to help me calm down. I carry these prescribed pills with me and keep a supply in my house and car. I only take this medication when I am positive a panic attack is occurring. It is an acute treatment, not a daily regimen. As you’d expect, the panic and anxiety medication has side effects.

Mindfulness is an amazing tool for all types of anxiety. Except when it isn't. Wait. What? Mindfulness is touted, rightly so, for its ability to lower blood pressure, reduce the amount of stress hormones in the blood, relax tense muscles, quiet racing thoughts, and soothe roiling emotions. Experts from all disciplines, from the sciences to the spiritual, offer solid evidence of the ability of mindfulness to decrease anxiety. Yet there are times when it does more harm than good. What do we do then?

Anxiety: worry, concern, apprehension, uneasiness, fear, agitation, angst, nervousness, tension. Anxiety: an awful state of being that encompasses our very being -- mind, feelings, actions. The Mayo Clinic describes it as “intense, excessive and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations." Many of us live with it; few, if any, of us want it. What do we do about it?

What’s worse than a panic attack? Having panic induced publicly. In many cases, the public display of anxiety is more troubling than the attack itself. Having an anxiety attack is quite a bit to worry about and adding in the concern for how you are perceived by the people watching is another level entirely.

Things like depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are insidious. We work hard, sometimes for years, to take away their power so they no longer control our lives. And we do it! We’re going along, innocently living our lives, anxiety and such at a tolerable level, when, bam - these beasts spring up and give chase. When this happened to me recently, it took me a while, but I finally realized what was happening.

Anxiety takes many forms. No matter the type, chances are that it feels miserable. By making us feel different fears, worries, or panic or by creating within us obsessions and compulsions, anxiety disorders interfere with our ability to fully live life and enjoy relationships. The good news is, that no matter how extreme anxiety becomes, you don't have to live with it forever. There are ways to treat anxiety.

Like over 40 million people in the United States, I have an anxiety disorder. Two, actually: generalized and social. When living with anxiety, sometimes we're in control. Sometimes, though, anxiety is in control and it seems to chase and overpower us. I recently connected with psychologist and author Dr. Dan Peters, who calls anxiety the Worry Monster. That's apt. Just what does this monster do to people, and can we tame it?

This is my first video blog for HealthyPlace and I wanted to do something that I love, but which also causes me anxiety: public speaking. I want to show you what I go through when balancing these two things. For this reason, the video will be shot “live,” in one take only, with no edits, and all imperfections intact. No Retakes. As I write this, I already feel the anxiety building. I’m taking a leap of faith that I hope will have a soft landing.

It’s no secret that anxiety is very difficult to ignore. Anxiety can be loud and demanding, and as a result, we focus on it. It’s very natural for us to do that, but sadly, focusing on anxiety can make it grow. We need to ignore anxiety by  focusing on what anxiety is not.

Fear. Terror. Worry. Obsessive thoughts. Anxiety and all of its manifestations can be crippling. The mind races with worst-case scenarios, and the anxious thoughts can be unrelenting. As if the thoughts themselves aren't bad enough, it's common for another worry to bubble to the surface of the mind plagued by anxiety: are these thoughts real, and can I trust them?