Fear is life force… (the clinical term is anxiety)

Fear is life force. We are made to believe it’s toxic in spiritual circles but it is intrinsic to biological survival. We are biological. — Monica Cassani (@BeyondMeds) August 20, 2014

“You have nothing to fear but fear itself.” That too is true..sit with it long enough & it transforms — it can be the gateway to everything — Monica Cassani (@BeyondMeds) August 20, 2014

Of course, it’s not just in spiritual circles but also in mental health circles. Fear and anxiety are too often medicated away instead of acknowledged as legitimate fodder for growth.

It’s not easy to work with fear. A lot of professionals don’t know how to hold space for courageous facing of the dark emotions. Many people don’t learn that it’s actually possible.

For those of us who’ve come off psych drugs and faced severe psychiatric drug withdrawal syndrome it becomes a necessary and often difficult initiation. One of the worst parts of that sort of iatrogenic injury is a terror so grave and complete it keeps some of us sleeping no more than one or two hours a night. In worst case scenarios this can go on for years.

This initiation accompanied by a multiplicity of other horrendous symptoms. Yes. Let me tell you that is one hell of an initiation. This “fear” is often referred to as “neuro-emotion” in withdrawal circles because of it’s exaggerated intensity caused by the injury to the autonomic nervous system. I found that working with it as a universal receptacle  of terror in the human being helped me be with it. Healing takes time.

This exploration continues for me, and wow, has it taught me volumes. Learning to embrace my experience and surrender to it was the way through for me. Fear is life force.

This information may not resonate or be appropriate for everyone.

It’s information that should be shared with people in mental health settings so that they might choose whether or not to delve into these body/mind mysteries.

That would also entail creating safe (residential) places where people could do this work. Being relieved of regular responsibilities is necessary at times. Deep healing sometimes demands this. Our culture doesn’t create such deep healing places right now. Without such deep healing places people will continue to be harmed by psych meds when perhaps, if they knew there were other ways of delving into and healing the body/mind complex they might choose those ways. The choice needs to be created. For now far too many have no choice.

See: To my friends and readers who still take psych drugs (and to everyone on and off meds too) and Informed consent and pro-choice when it comes to drugs and medications

I am, now often, if not always, grateful that I was forced onto what was often a heinously difficult path that psych drug withdrawal created because in the end, it was the only way for me to truly and deeply heal. The drugs weren’t just a dead end for me, they were slowly driving me downhill to my spiritual death. Getting off that ugly merry-go-round involved facing far worse in the short term but on the other side now, I see a freedom that simply wouldn’t have been possible if I’d stayed on those drugs. My experience is shared by many others. Again, if it’s not resonant for someone, that too is okay. I do not write assuming that all I say will have meaning for everyone. We are all on different paths.

The thing is if we provide such choice and also spaces to heal for people before they get injured, it wouldn’t have to be as heinous as it is for those of us who’ve dealt with severe and disabling protracted psychiatric drug withdrawal syndromes. And in fact many folks don’t even have these issues with fear and terror at all before taking these meds. The drugs are often simply agents of trauma. Let us change the way we conceive of healing issues with the body/mind/psyche. Please.

See: Life as a meditation: my contemplative adventure

I didn’t write this post intending for it to be part of the It GETS BETTER series, but I realized that it fits there nicely. So to see the rest of those posts visit: “IT GETS BETTER“. It’s a new series that I’ve just started collecting and it will grow in time. See also: Healing is a shocking process: protracted psych drug withdrawal syndrome (iatrogenic brain injury)

Below I’m cutting and pasting a collection of posts on fear and anxiety with additional commentary:

Fear and anxiety: coping, reframing, transforming…

In case it’s not clear to anyone, I often write and share about that which I am learning or struggling with myself. This is how this blog is as helpful and vital to me as it is to anyone else.

Today I needed to visit this page while I confront some fear that seems lodged deep in my body. Trauma becomes embodied. The way that psych drug withdrawal manifests for many of us in the long run is that the autonomic nervous system is seriously out of whack. That is often experienced (in part) as physiological terror. It’s iatrogenic in nature, but I’ve learned that it also can be dealt with as though it were very real FEAR. Because basically there is no separation. This is how our psyche understands it so it’s helpful for us to handle it that way as well. Physical and emotional become blurry once we embrace things from a holistic space allowing for body/mind/spirit involvement.

May we all learn to approach our fear with compassionate mindful attention.

Anxiety is a clinical term for fear. Everyone experiences it with or without a diagnosis of some sort of anxiety “disorder.” Psychiatry pathologizes much of the normal human experience. In opposing fashion fear / anxiety is often referred to in Buddhism and other alternative philosophies as normal. Which is why many techniques to cope with anxiety have been inspired by Buddhism.  There are many methods to learn how to be with these normal feelings, whether they’re very intense or not. As individuals some of us may be more prone to more intensity than others. We can all work with whatever it is we experience.

In general this blog supports embracing and potentially transforming all our emotions.

That is how we come to know who we are. The whole spectrum of our emotional lives are of value. It’s a shame that we learn to call many of our emotions negative and in keeping with that we try to numb them out in various ways, including with the use of both legal and illegal drugs. It is in resisting our shadow or difficult parts that those emotions we fear grow bigger! That is the sad paradox.

I’ve put together a page with some of the posts on fear and anxiety that have been posted on Beyond Meds in the last few years. I will add to it as is appropriate or when I remember other old pieces from the archives. This page will be part of the drop-down menus at the top of the page so that the archives might be accessed.

The Collection

• Fear and death: how it’s all part of life
• Love and fear are the same energy
• You can’t heal what you don’t feel – by Nicole Urdang

Befriend your fear/anxiety

• If we are honest with ourselves, most of us will have to admit that we live out our lives in an ocean of fear
• Become aware of your anxiety/panic/fear and heal yourself – Why is it assumed that people need remain unaware of their physiological experience? This is exactly what meditation can attend to. It’s called “mindfulness” for a reason. It’s entirely possible to become aware of our bodies, minds and psyches.
• On Fear (or some call it anxiety) and Fearlessness
• Terror wants to be integrated
• Don’t give fear a thought – By Robert Augustus Masters
• Yoga for your health and wellbeing, helps with your heart and anxiety and depression — with direction for some easy yoga postures
• Musings on anxiety…
• The uses of anxiety and panic – By Al Galves 
• Yoga: changing the brains stressful habits 

Whatever we are experiencing including fear and anxiety:  the PRACTICE of embracing everything: The foundation of healing mental distress and of becoming a mature human adult.

Also of potential interest: ●●  Trauma and PTSD Info   ●●  Benzodiazepine Info

fear is life force

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