Vincenza
The list is too long. Over the last five or is it six, maybe seven years I have studied every thing I could about my condition. Not because it is necessary but because I'm that kind of person. I like to know why. But it is not necessary.
CBT is all that is necessary. But you have to do it. The whole it. You can not pick and choose what you are comfortable with and skip the rest. Too many people do that.
So the answer to your question for a lot of people is "not much". Not their fault really since we live in a world where so much is done for us. Whether we want it or not. And then there is the "take a pill" side. I'm guilty of using Tylenol and increasing my other meds so I can keep going. So why not tranquilizers? Because they are not necessary except in extreme cases.
There is a big difference. Physical pain comes from without and when it is gone it can and might stay gone till next time a person overdoes it. (outside the mind) Mental pain comes from inside a person so when they stop the meds it can and usually does return. Unless we learn how not to we bring this on ourselves sometimes with the help of others or just situations.
So unless I am willing to endure the task of doing CBT and memorizing the skills I might as well join the "not much" group and just take a pill. So what does it matter, we all die anyway?, might as well take the pill and not miss out on life.
Well because without panic and without the side effects of the pill a person could be so much more. So very much more as I have learned over all those years. I've only been free of anxiety a few years out of my life but they have been worth it. And I'm getting better. I try not to think of the fifty or more years before CBT. I think of the future and all I will become.
I'm just one person so the question remains. Along with the unspoken question. "do you really mean it?" I do.
Davit.
Sun is shining, there is work to do, physically and mentally. The mental side never stops, it just gets easier.
