Ask HN: How do you deal with stress, panic attacks, and that evil voice?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2539423

by diminium • 15 years ago

12 8 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Lately I've been having this little voice in my head that says "your doomed, your not going to make it, stop it" then comes stress and the panic attack with that "feeling" that everything is going to collapse.<p>The only cure I've been doing is to try and keep busy. It helps but that "feeling" never disappears.

Edit: I'm bootstrapping entrepreneurship.

veyron• 15 years ago

Idle hands are the devil's tools and an idle mind is the devil's workshop.

That feeling is healthy :) By healthy, I mean that at least you aren't suffering from overconfidence. I've been having that feeling for months, and I cope by trying to occupy all of my time. HN helps :)

latch• 15 years ago

You've given us very little context. Are you bootstrapping? Are you an employee in a large company? Is your concern over specific projects? Or your place in this profession in general?

Maybe you should just step back and try to enjoy life more. Work out every day, learn to cook, take a trip, read more.

Maybe you should seek professional help. Or speak to your friends and family about it.

ramblerman• 15 years ago

meditate. It's a great way to bring some peace up there :P

RealGeek• 15 years ago

This usually happens when you are working on something for long time and have achieved little or no success so far.

Achieving some successful results can bring a lot of motivation and positivity in your life.

Try to set smaller achievable goals/milestones, and step up from there.

From how long have you been bootstrapping?

ZeroGravitas• 15 years ago

These are all typical symptoms of anxiety.

There's a bunch of physical approaches to reduce anxiety, better sleep, more exercise, eating better, less caffeine, less alcohol, applied relaxation or the relaxation response (two non-spiritual versions of meditation), yoga, gardening, any physical hobbies.

I'd recommend reading some books on anxiety, particularly the science-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) stuff, as often people's panic attacks and the avoidance they cause are literally because people are frightened of fear itself, and the way it makes them feel, and so understanding the basic chemical responses that your body undergoes can be handy. E.g. no-one has ever actually gone crazy or had a stroke or a heart-attack as a result of a panic attack. It's hard to convince yourself of this during one but having that knowledge at the back of your mind helps to prevent you worrying about that outcome and escalating things. Try "When Panic Attacks" by Dr David Burns or some of his other books for some sensible advice on this topic.

The CBT stuff is based on logically addressing irrational thought processes like "I never succeed at anything" and facing up to stressful things so that you'll not fear them similar to the rejection therapy stuff that was popular here a few months back.

SSRI's are popular drug treatments with much reduced side-effects and addictiveness compared with previous tranquilizer type drugs, but they'll still only mask the problem, not cure it like CBT can. Handy if you need the help to get started with CBT or just cope at all, but not necessary for most people and they do have side-effects and risks worth reading up on before taking them. Beta-blockers are a low-risk medication (taken by many people every day of their life for a variety of physical ailments) for controlling the physical responses to anxiety, though it sounds like your suffering more from the mental side (though of course they feed into each other in a vicious circle) but I don't think they're officially prescribed for anxiety in the U.S. so you may have to find a doctor willing to prescribe "off-label" if you think that they'll help.

rlawson• 15 years ago

Go see a good counselor. You may get better just with talk therapy or you may need some anti-anxiety meds. Either way a counselor will help you coordinate your options. I have noticed that programmers (myself included) tend to be an anxious and high strung bunch. There is no shame in something like this happening but take my advice and don't try to deal with it all yourself. Good luck !

Mz• 15 years ago

My two biggest/best calming tactics:

A) A good sounding board to hash things out with.

B) Work on resolving (or at least addressing) whatever problem is inspiring the feeling of Doom.

fistfulofparens• 15 years ago

Don't forget to maintain your physical fitness level. Doing something till total physical exhaustion (like weight-lifting) combined with tranquil sauna sessions always help me through these down moments.

Ask HN: How do you deal with stress, panic attacks, and that evil voice?

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