Jan 15 2009
Anxiety Attack
Our Internet connection died again this week, which is why I was away for a couple of days. Being a geek, I tend to live online a lot of the time, so the loss of the connection hits me quite hard. Thankfully, the local library has PCs available and I maintain a subscription there for extended periods, but I didn’t have time to get there before the connection came back!
Yesterday was a bit of an odd day here. As you know, most of the posts here revolve around my partner’s problem with alcohol at the moment. However, she also suffers from anxiety disorder - in her case it manifests mostly as social phobia and panic attacks. It’s a condition that can be treated and, here in the UK, help is fairly easy to obtain. Due to our ongoing sleep deprivation courtesy of the cat, she was in a bit of a state. Not getting much shut-eye does strange things to the brain.
So yesterday she was very anxious. Panicking, in fact. For some strange reason, she was convinced that her parents were going to turn up on our doorstep. now, we get on fine with them, but she had a hard time in her childhood (these disorders don’t come from nowhere, after all) and relations can be somewhat strained.
Normally, I’m pretty good at reassuring her in these difficult moments, but when the anxiety borders on the psychotic - no reason, no logic, no sense - I have to admit I’m at a loss. I just don’t know what to do. It’s beyond all normal situations and I don’t have any kind of specialised training in the matter, so i tend to flounder. At best, I help. At worst, I can actually make things worse.
The attack went on and on, but all credit to her: instead of resorting to the bottle, she decided to sleep instead. She had her weekly analysis session today, which was perfectly timed and sorted it out for her. And no, her parents didn’t appear at our front door.
