Category Archives: Self Help

Are  you in a full swing panic attack at this very moment? Or feel one coming on?

There are 2 distinct areas where our self-esteem falters. How we view ourselves, and how we perceive that others view us. And, in reality, both boil down to how we see ourselves.

Love

I will give my furry family member my whole heart. I will cuddle, pet and beam love at them every day, and many times a day.
Despite silly baby-talk annoying other humans, if it causes tails to wag, or purrs to occur, I will engage in as much as we can both stand.

Safety & Freedom

I will provide a safe environment. Warm when it’s cold outside, cool when it’s hot.
I will keep my dog leashed when we walk outside, so he/she can’t harm anyone and stays safe from other people, animals and vehicles.
I will not tie up or constrain pets, unless it is required for their safety (and legal).
I will shore up my backyard, so my dog stays safe in his designated, dog-friendly area.
All my pets will have engraved tags with my current contact information, as well as RFID chips.
My cats will wear break-away collars, tested for their particular weight.
I will keep myself educated regarding what foods, medicines, vitamins, chemicals are dangerous to my pets and be diligent in ensuring such things are inaccessible.

Health

I will provide pet food suggested by my vet, not the garbage sold at dollar stores. I understand that this will elongate their life, and reduce waste. Quality nutrition only seems more expensive when compared by the pound to pet “junk food”, but in reality, they eat less, poop less, and get less diseases, reducing vet bills. In the long run, it’s close to break even or less expensive.
Despite vaccine controversies in humans, I will vaccinate my pets and keep them up to date.
I will know my pet’s condition and habits enough to notice a change in behavior, weight, eating, drinking, potty, etc.
My Veterinary clinic’s phone number is in my phone, and on the fridge. I also have emergency window stickers.

Hygiene & Beauty

I will keep the poop zone clean. A clean yard for my dog, and a clean litter box for my cat, and clean cages or aquariums for others.
Pets with teeth will get dental checkups every 2 years, and cleanings as needed so they have strong, healthy hearts.
Dogs come with tails, cats come with claws. This is what nature intended and I have no right to change that.
Grooming long furred animals can keep them cool, and avoid issues with poop dangles, so I will keep them groomed.

Non-Personification

Even though I love my pet as much as any human family member, I will remember that they are not human, and allow them to have their true animal behaviors.
While I enjoy closing the bathroom door to catch up on social media on my cell phone, my cat prefers to have an eye on anyone approaching. I will therefore not hide, tuck or put a cover on her litter box. Further, while I enjoy the toilet for my business, cats prefer sand (or close). So I will not “toilet” train my cat, nor force her to go in chunky pellets or silica gel, both of which are stressful or even dangerous.  Lastly, pets communicate if they like or dislike costumes, so I will not traumatize my cat for entertainment’s sake, no matter how cute they might look as Yoda.

Fun & Exercise

I will play with my pet daily to stimulate their senses, bond with them, and keep them fit.

End of Life

When it is finally time to pass on, I will ensure a peaceful sleep. I will not allow my pet to linger and suffer because I cannot bear to part with them.
Their quality of life comes before my need to have them around. I will hold them and love them until their last breath.
If it doesn’t rip my heart out to lose them, then I never had a heart to begin with.
It was my honor and pleasure to give them the best, most loving home possible during their time on earth, and the end is no exception.

From Wikipedia

Claustrophobia (from Latin claustrum “a shut in place” and Greek φόβος, phóbos, “fear”) is the fear of having no escape and being closed in small spaces or rooms (opposite: claustrophilia). It is typically classified as an anxiety disorder and often results in panic attack, and can be the result of many situations or stimuli, including elevators crowded to capacity, windowless rooms, and even tight-necked clothing.^[1] The onset of claustrophobia has been attributed to many factors, including a reduction in the size of the amygdala, classical conditioning, or a genetic predisposition to fear small spaces.

One study indicates that anywhere from 5–7% of the world population is affected by severe claustrophobia, but only a small percentage of these people receive some kind of treatment for the disorder.^[2]

Symptoms

Claustrophobia is typically thought to have two key symptoms: fear of restriction and fear of suffocation. A typical claustrophobic will fear restriction in at least one, if not several, of the following areas: small rooms, locked rooms, cars, tunnels, cellars, elevators. Additionally, the fear of restriction can cause some claustrophobics to fear trivial matters such as sitting in a barber’s chair or waiting in line at a grocery store simply out of a fear of confinement to a single space.

However, claustrophobics are not necessarily afraid of these areas themselves, but, rather, they fear what could happen to them should they become confined to an area. Often, when confined to an area, claustrophobics begin to fear suffocation, believing that there may be a lack of air in the area to which they are confined.

Many claustrophobics remove clothing during attacks, believing it will relieve the symptoms. Any combination of the above symptoms can lead to severe panic attacks. However, most claustrophobics do everything in their power to avoid these situations.^[2]

Diagnosis

Claustrophobia is the fear of having no escape, and being closed in. It is typically classified as an anxiety disorder and often results in a rather severe panic attack. One study conducted by University of Wisconsin-Madison’s neurology department revealed that anywhere from 2-5% of the world population is affected by severe claustrophobia, but only a small percentage of these people receive some kind of treatment for the disorder.

Claustrophobia develops as the mind makes the association that small spaces psychologically translate to some imminent danger. This typically occurs as a result of a traumatic past experience (such as being trapped in a dark, small space and thinking that there is no way out because the mind is not fully developed enough to realize there is a way out) or from another unpleasant experience occurring later on in life involving confined spaces. These two causes of claustrophobia both reject the common misconception that claustrophobia is a genetic disorder.

In fact claustrophobia is a conditioned response to a stimulus. It results from when an individual associates a tremendous amount of anxiety and a panic attack with a confined space. That event, the confined space, serves as a trigger or the stimulus, which is programmed into the brain. Because that stimulus is programmed into the brain, so is the response, which in this case, is a tremendous amount of anxiety. As a result, the confined space consistently triggers the same anxious response.

Scale

This method was developed in 1979 by interpreting the files of patients diagnosed with claustrophobia and by reading various scientific articles about the diagnosis of the disorder. Once an initial scale was developed, it was tested and sharpened by several experts in the field. Today, it consists of 20 questions that determine anxiety levels and desire to avoid certain situations. Several studies have proved this scale to be effective in claustrophobia diagnosis.^[3]

From Wikipedia:

Acrophobia (from the Greek: ἄκρον, ákron , meaning “peak, summit, edge” and φόβος, phóbos, “fear”) is an extreme or irrational fear of heights. It belongs to a category of specific phobias, called space and motion discomfort that share both similar etiology and options for treatment.

Most people experience a degree of natural fear when exposed to heights, especially if there is little or no protection. Those who are confident in such situations may be said to have a head for heights.

Acrophobia sufferers can experience a panic attack in a high place and become too agitated to get themselves down safely. Between 2 and 5 percent of the general population suffer from acrophobia, with twice as many women affected as men.^[1]

“Vertigo” is often used (incorrectly) to describe a fear of heights, but it is more accurately a spinning sensation that occurs when one is not actually spinning. It can be triggered by looking down from a high place, or by looking straight up at a high place or tall object, but this alone does not describe vertigo. True vertigo can be triggered by almost any type of movement (e.g. standing up, sitting down, walking) or change in visual perspective (e.g. squatting down, walking up or down stairs, looking out of the window of a moving car or train). Vertigo is qualified as height vertigo when referring to dizziness triggered by heights.^{[citation needed]}

Causes

Traditionally, acrophobia has been attributed, like other phobias, to conditioning or a traumatic experience involving heights. Recent studies have cast doubt on this explanation;^[2] fear of falling, along with fear of loud noises, is one of the most commonly suggested inborn or non-associative fears. The newer non-association theory is that fear of heights is an evolved adaptation to a world where falls posed a significant danger. The degree of fear varies and the term phobia is reserved for those at the extreme end of the spectrum. It has been argued by researchers that fear of heights is an instinct found in many mammals, including domestic animals and human beings. Experiments using visual cliffs have shown human infants and toddlers, as well as other animals of various ages, to be reluctant in venturing onto a glass floor with a view of a few meters of apparent fall-space below it.^[3] While an innate cautiousness around heights is helpful for survival, an extreme fear can interfere with the activities of everyday life, such as climbing up a flight of stairs or a ladder or even standing on a chair.

A possible contributing factor is dysfunction in maintaining balance. In this case the anxiety is both well founded and secondary. The human balance system integrates proprioceptive, vestibular and nearby visual cues to reckon position and motion.^[4][5] As height increases, visual cues recede and balance becomes poorer even in normal people.^[6] However, most people respond by shifting to more reliance on the proprioceptive and vestibular branches of the equilibrium system.

An acrophobic, on the other hand, continues to over-rely on visual signals whether because of inadequate vestibular function or incorrect strategy. Locomotion at a high elevation requires more than normal visual processing. The visual cortex becomes overloaded resulting in confusion. Some proponents of the alternative view of acrophobia warn that it may be ill-advised to encourage acrophobics to expose themselves to height without first resolving the vestibular issues. Research is underway at several clinics.[7

From Wikipedia:

Arachnophobia is a specific phobia, the fear of spiders and other arachnids such as scorpions.^[1]

The reactions of arachnophobics are often irrational (though not all arachnophobics acknowledge this irrationality). It is one of the most common specific phobias,^[2][3] and some statistics show that 50% of women and 10% of men show symptoms.^[4] It may be an exaggerated form of an instinctive response that helped early humans to survive,^[5] or a cultural phenomenon that is most common in predominantly European societies.^[6]

The fear of spiders can be treated by any of the general techniques suggested for specific phobias. As with all phobias, the strength of the associations means the individual must not actively pursue the consequences, and outsiders should not in any way undermine and “play” with the phobia in the meantime.

People with arachnophobia tend to feel uneasy in any area they believe could harbor spiders or that has visible signs of their presence, such as webs. If arachnophobics see a spider, they may not enter the general vicinity until they have overcome the panic attack that is often associated with their phobia. Some people scream, cry, have trouble breathing, have excessive sweating or even heart trouble when they come in contact with an area near spiders or their webs. In some extreme cases, even a picture or a realistic drawing of a spider can also trigger fear.

Arachnophobia can be triggered by the mere thought of a spider or even by a picture of a spider in some cases. Some arachnophobics will, on entering a room, search it for a spider. If they find one they will monitor its progress very thoroughly. Others will do all in their power to distract themselves to avoid seeing the spider.^[7]