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[anxietyhelp]

Hi all, t3 complete para 25 years with chronic generalised anxiety/depresssion. Looking for any Breathing Exercises, Meditation or Guided Imagery techniques specifically for people with a spinal cord injury. All techniques so far have been generalised.

Any help would be really appreciated!!

[Spinal Hub]

Thanks for your post.

If you haven’t already, check out the (general) information in the How to Keep Healthy pages of SpinalHub... http://www.spinalhub.com.au/how-to-keep ... tal-health

Your question is a pertinent one, so we sought out the assistance of some psychologists to help in responding. They are keen to emphasise that anxiety and, in particular, depression can be hard to tackle alone and that seeing a psychologist (for instance) can ensure a truly individualised treatment plan. Again there is information on SpinalHub about where and how to find this kind of support. http://www.spinalhub.com.au/how-to-keep ... y_services

In terms of Breathing Exercises, Meditation or Guided Imagery techniques, for people with spinal cord injury, some people find mindfulness meditation helpful. Mindfulness is simply being aware of our experience, from moment to moment, non-judgementally. Mindfulness mediations are not necessarily designed specifically for people with SCI but because they are about awareness and do not involve active physical activity (such as progressive muscular relaxation or breathing exercises) participation for people with paralysis is possible.

Mindfulness meditation can be very effective for anxiety and depression as it changes the way we relate to our internal experience, for example being less negative or judgmental. You can find out more about it and download mp3’s of guided mindfulness meditations from Australia’s leading practitioner Dr Russ Harris at http://www.ACTmindfully.com.au.

Your situation is not uncommon and there is work currently being done to develop self-directed cognitive behavioural therapy that is better suited to people with SCI. You could read about Coping Effectiveness Training (developed by a psychologist in the UK who specialises in SCI), however there is no self-help version readily available either. We will certainly try to post information in the future if there are further developments in this area.

We hope that helps, interested to hear if anyone else has experiences to share.

Best wishes
SpinalHub

[Judi Potts]

Hi
I've got an incomplete SCI and certainly have found Mindfulness techniques have done wonders for my anxiety/depression. It's been better for me than anything else that I've tried and I'm now in a much better place than I was a couple of years ago.

It's best if you can get a good Psychologist to guide you through the techniques and explain how it works. I know how horrible it is to have those feelings but you CAN get through this.

[VITILIGO Miracle]

It may facilitate to visualize a scientist specializing in anxiety/panic attacks. There area unit lots of books you'll be able to obtain that offer tips for managing this. Look on bn.com ANd explore for keyword "panic attacks" or "anxiety attacks" check that the book was written by an author with a Ph.D. in scientific discipline. you'll get through this. I would like you luck!


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VITILIGO Miracle