The following text was taken from Elyse Fitzpatrick’s book Vencendo Medos y Ansiedades by Editora Fiel.
Judith, a woman struggling with regular fear, worked as a nursing assistant at a local nursing home. Like Catherine, she had great faith in God and wanted to please him. He came to talk to me because he had problems at work. She discovered that every time she entered a critically ill patient’s room, she was overwhelmed by terror. His body reacted with symptoms such as palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath and weakness. He was terrified of fainting, scaring his patients, or hurting them in some way. She felt out of control and thought she might go crazy. I realized he really liked his job, but he was worried about having to change careers. In fact, his problems with some patients became so severe that they created resentment with other nursing assistants and conflicts with his supervisor.
- As we talked about her difficulties.
- She said she had tried to overcome her fears by praying every morning and asking God to help her not think about her fear.
- He was unaware of any terrifying thoughts that might trigger his feelings of panic; looked like they had just come out of nowhere.
Fear, like everything in life, can become habitual. In fact, it can become such an ingrained habit that it actually seems like it came out of nowhere. People who have experienced what we commonly call panic attacks report sudden events of intense anxiety that seem to have no basis in their thoughts. This intense experience can seem so mysterious and unnerving that their fear can easily become a determining factor in a patient’s life.
Let me illustrate how emotional responses can become commonplace. Think about the process of lowering a ladder. When you use the stairs for the first time, you are aware of each step and look carefully where you walk so as not to fall, but if the stairs are part of your daily routine, you will quickly get into the habit of lowering them. without thinking. You can even have a conversation or call someone by following the steps you needed to focus on. Sometimes he won’t even notice. In fact, if you’re athletic, you could even jump two or three steps at a time, or maybe you’ll sit on the railing and slide over it just for fun.
Now, if in the first attempt to go down the stairs you had imagined what it would be like to jump up and down at the same time, then you would probably be afraid and develop feelings of nervousness as you went downhill. If your fear persists, it can become commonplace. Even if you know in your mind that your fear is irrational, it will still have an effect on you because of how you have allowed your perception to be influenced by your imagination.
Now, a panic attack is like jumping from the top of the stairs to the ground in our thought process. Instead of facing a situation, step by step (as it should be when walking on a ladder), we quickly jump from our initial thought. to total panic.
For example, Judith was surprised when she recalled that the first time she panicked was when she tried to take care of her father, who suffered from a chronic illness and was too picky, loved him and was afraid to annoy or hurt him by mistakenly caring for him. girl, reacted with fear to situations that required some kind of care on her part, when reflecting on her childhood she realized that she had become a nurse because she liked to help others, but she always had feelings of error or she was unaware of her fears during her teenage years or college years, but when she returned to care for seriously ill people She answered exactly as she did when she was a child. Can you see how Judith’s fear, while irrational, was based on rational thought and experience?
As we spoke, Judith recalled another situation that seemed relevant, when she started working in the nursing home, one of her patients suddenly suffered a cardiac arrest, Judith handled the situation correctly and alerted her supervisor, but then checked the incident over and over again. Back in his mind. She was obsessed with thoughts like, “What if the man had died?”What if the supervisor couldn’t help her, would I be responsible for her problem?How can I cope with a patient’s family or myself if a patient dies?These questions, and others like these, tormented his thoughts for several days until the incident disappeared from his memory. It was only when she began to fight panic attacks on her patients’ beds that she realized the powerful effect this previous experience had had on her.
People who suffer panic attacks often report similar feelings, it seems that, without any alarm or foresight, the body starts pumping adrenaline, this is what causes panic attacks and certain types of phobias, such as fear of heights or tight spaces. , so hard to understand. Most sufferers are unaware of any thought that predisposes them to fear. It just seems to come out of nowhere. However, instead of being terribly mysterious, the truth about panic attacks and fears is really very easy to understand. People experience it because it has developed a habit. When they find themselves in any situation, don’t they even need to think about their fears?they just react. The mind works so fast and usually that these people mentally jump from the upper to the lower stage without any effort, which in turn leads them to think that their emotions are out of control or that they are going crazy. to try to avoid these
“out of control” situations, allowing the habit to become increasingly paralyzing.
Some people are struggling with fears in social situations, they are afraid to say or do something that sounds silly, so they avoid them, others are afraid of illness or death, while others are afraid of having to talk to strangers or in front of them. A large audience Some people avoid intimate relationships, even if they are alone and want to get married, simply because they are afraid of getting it wrong or disappointing. There are different forms of fear in different situations of life.
Tired of fighting fear and anxiety?You are not alone These emotions are surprisingly common to many women, who fight daily in different areas of life: marriage, children, work, spiritual life and serious health problems.
God knew that fear and anxiety would be real problems for us, and He gave us a great deal of clear and practical help in the Bible. In this book, author Elyse Fitzpatrick will help you:
? Identify the true source of your fears; ? Look for specific strategies to overcome anxiety; ?Learn how to replace your concern with joy; ? Rest safely in God’s protective care.
Find comfort and encouragement by learning examples from other women like you, women who have discovered that it is truly possible to live by trusting in God in all the circumstances of life.
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