Is distraction in fact avoidance?

[[ra...]]

Hi,

 

I have read in some anxiety books that distraction may in fact be an avoidance to confront your symptoms and, hence, not a good way to get rid of them in the long run because you let the fear of feeling your symptoms get the better of you and immediately look for a "distraction" to "mask" them. These books say that you can distract yourself but you have to make sure what distracts you is something of real interest to you, not simply something to avoid the feeling of anxiety and confront it in a way to learn that these symptoms are not dangerous.

 

Hope I didn't make any English mistakes, I'm French...

[[Sh...]]

This is an interesting topic.

 

I think we have to make a distinction between symptoms that might have a purely psychological basis and those, like in benzo withdrawal, that have mainly a physiological basis.  You can not compare the two and come up with a single approach for both.  Those of us here going through benzo withdrawal have symptoms with a physical basis which can not be gotten rid of until healing happens, nor can we do anything much positive to speed up the process.  In that instance I think it is very reasonable and even desirable to just distract yourself from them until they pass.  Huge difference in avoiding confronting your problems due to psychological problems, and choosing to not dwell on the physical problems you can't fix.

 

She

[[ne...]]

This is an interesting topic.

 

I think we have to make a distinction between symptoms that might have a purely psychological basis and those, like in benzo withdrawal, that have mainly a physiological basis.  You can not compare the two and come up with a single approach for both.  Those of us here going through benzo withdrawal have symptoms with a physical basis which can not be gotten rid of until healing happens, nor can we do anything much positive to speed up the process.  In that instance I think it is very reasonable and even desirable to just distract yourself from them until they pass.  Huge difference in avoiding confronting your problems due to psychological problems, and choosing to not dwell on the physical problems you can't fix.

 

Shet

 

Great answer, couldn't have put it better myself! 

[[Do...]]

It could be, depending on the symptoms.  I had major panic, derealization, and terror while tapering, and although I did use distraction, I also made sure to do the things I needed to do, even though they were uncomfortable.  I knew that if I avoided things (like grocery shopping - which totally set me off) I could very well end up agoraphobic, or with worsening fear, so I made myself do it.

 

On the flip side, a month after finishing my taper, I got slammed with major physical issues (I actually lost the ability to properly use my muscles).  I have been in so much pain at times that I have actually fainted on a few occasions.  Needless to say, I used meditation to try to get through the worst of it, but I spend a lot of my days trying to distract from the pain.  I am still doing everything I need to do to help my muscles (stretches, physical therapy, gym, meditation, etc), but for quite a bit of the day, I do have to distract myself from the pain.

 

I do think there are people who use distraction as a method to avoid things.  I remember reading a post in a benzo group where a woman said she tried to go outside of the house, had a panic attack, and went back inside.  She stated "oh well, not healed yet.  Guess I'll try again next month".  I didn't say anything to her, but that is not how it works.  To get past my terror and panic, I had to face them.  It sucked and it was super uncomfortable, but I kept pushing so that it would help me get better.  Sitting and waiting to heal is probably not going to happen for any/many people.  The cases I have read of people who suddenly "healed" were all people who were forcing themselves out and about to do things, even though they were extremely unpleasant.  I look at it this way, if a person seriously injures their arm, in order for their arm to work properly again, they may have to go to physical therapy.  Doing physical therapy for an injured arm is going to suck, it will take time, and it will hurt.  However, if you don't do physical therapy, the arm will never properly heal.  I think some of the benzo damage is the same thing.  If people just wait to heal, without doing the really difficult stuff needed, it will probably take much longer to heal.  NOTE:  I am not saying that people would be healed if they tried harder, that is definitely not the case.  I am saying that I think a person is much more likely to heal quicker (and better) if they do things that are uncomfortable than they would if they just wait it out.

[[Sh...]]

It could be, depending on the symptoms.  I had major panic, derealization, and terror while tapering, and although I did use distraction, I also made sure to do the things I needed to do, even though they were uncomfortable.  I knew that if I avoided things (like grocery shopping - which totally set me off) I could very well end up agoraphobic, or with worsening fear, so I made myself do it.

 

On the flip side, a month after finishing my taper, I got slammed with major physical issues (I actually lost the ability to properly use my muscles).  I have been in so much pain at times that I have actually fainted on a few occasions.  Needless to say, I used meditation to try to get through the worst of it, but I spend a lot of my days trying to distract from the pain.  I am still doing everything I need to do to help my muscles (stretches, physical therapy, gym, meditation, etc), but for quite a bit of the day, I do have to distract myself from the pain.

 

I do think there are people who use distraction as a method to avoid things.  I remember reading a post in a benzo group where a woman said she tried to go outside of the house, had a panic attack, and went back inside.  She stated "oh well, not healed yet.  Guess I'll try again next month".  I didn't say anything to her, but that is not how it works.  To get past my terror and panic, I had to face them.  It sucked and it was super uncomfortable, but I kept pushing so that it would help me get better.  Sitting and waiting to heal is probably not going to happen for any/many people.  The cases I have read of people who suddenly "healed" were all people who were forcing themselves out and about to do things, even though they were extremely unpleasant.  I look at it this way, if a person seriously injures their arm, in order for their arm to work properly again, they may have to go to physical therapy.  Doing physical therapy for an injured arm is going to suck, it will take time, and it will hurt.  However, if you don't do physical therapy, the arm will never properly heal.  I think some of the benzo damage is the same thing.  If people just wait to heal, without doing the really difficult stuff needed, it will probably take much longer to heal.  NOTE:  I am not saying that people would be healed if they tried harder, that is definitely not the case.  I am saying that I think a person is much more likely to heal quicker (and better) if they do things that are uncomfortable than they would if they just wait it out.

 

Great post Dolphinator

 

I like your analogy of an inured arm needing physical therapy to regain maximum function.  However,  one does not seek physical therapy when the injury is acute.  A certain amount of healing needs to happen first, and this often requires immobilization for a period of time.  This is the case with any illness.  There is a time to do nothing except rest, distract, what have you, and begin healing and there is a time to push forward in order to facilitate full recovery. 

 

IMO, during acute benzo withdrawal, resting, distracting, not pushing oneself is what is needed.  And I do agree that many here on the forum erroneously expect that dynamic to continue throughout healing.  But at a certain point it is time to get out of the bed, to get out of the house, to begin a graded exercise program, to face our fears and anxieties and address some of the issues that got us here in the first place.  Continuing avoidance is just not healthy in the long run.  If distraction is to be a useful tool after acute, let the distraction be something positive like exercise, getting out in the world, pushing through the discomfort in order to regain our lives.

 

She

[[be...]]

It could be, depending on the symptoms.  I had major panic, derealization, and terror while tapering, and although I did use distraction, I also made sure to do the things I needed to do, even though they were uncomfortable.  I knew that if I avoided things (like grocery shopping - which totally set me off) I could very well end up agoraphobic, or with worsening fear, so I made myself do it.

 

On the flip side, a month after finishing my taper, I got slammed with major physical issues (I actually lost the ability to properly use my muscles).  I have been in so much pain at times that I have actually fainted on a few occasions.  Needless to say, I used meditation to try to get through the worst of it, but I spend a lot of my days trying to distract from the pain.  I am still doing everything I need to do to help my muscles (stretches, physical therapy, gym, meditation, etc), but for quite a bit of the day, I do have to distract myself from the pain.

 

I do think there are people who use distraction as a method to avoid things.  I remember reading a post in a benzo group where a woman said she tried to go outside of the house, had a panic attack, and went back inside.  She stated "oh well, not healed yet.  Guess I'll try again next month".  I didn't say anything to her, but that is not how it works.  To get past my terror and panic, I had to face them.  It sucked and it was super uncomfortable, but I kept pushing so that it would help me get better.  Sitting and waiting to heal is probably not going to happen for any/many people.  The cases I have read of people who suddenly "healed" were all people who were forcing themselves out and about to do things, even though they were extremely unpleasant.  I look at it this way, if a person seriously injures their arm, in order for their arm to work properly again, they may have to go to physical therapy.  Doing physical therapy for an injured arm is going to suck, it will take time, and it will hurt.  However, if you don't do physical therapy, the arm will never properly heal.  I think some of the benzo damage is the same thing.  If people just wait to heal, without doing the really difficult stuff needed, it will probably take much longer to heal.  NOTE:  I am not saying that people would be healed if they tried harder, that is definitely not the case.  I am saying that I think a person is much more likely to heal quicker (and better) if they do things that are uncomfortable than they would if they just wait it out.

 

Great post Dolphinator

 

I like your analogy of an inured arm needing physical therapy to regain maximum function.  However,  one does not seek physical therapy when the injury is acute.  A certain amount of healing needs to happen first, and this often requires immobilization for a period of time.  This is the case with any illness.  There is a time to do nothing except rest, distract, what have you, and begin healing and there is a time to push forward in order to facilitate full recovery. 

 

IMO, during acute benzo withdrawal, resting, distracting, not pushing oneself is what is needed.  And I do agree that many here on the forum erroneously expect that dynamic to continue throughout healing.  But at a certain point it is time to get out of the bed, to get out of the house, to begin a graded exercise program, to face our fears and anxieties and address some of the issues that got us here in the first place.  Continuing avoidance is just not healthy in the long run.  If distraction is to be a useful tool after acute, let the distraction be something positive like exercise, getting out in the world, pushing through the discomfort in order to regain our lives.

 

She

She, another great post, I agree with you 100%.

[[me...]]

This is an interesting topic.

 

I think we have to make a distinction between symptoms that might have a purely psychological basis and those, like in benzo withdrawal, that have mainly a physiological basis.  You can not compare the two and come up with a single approach for both. Those of us here going through benzo withdrawal have symptoms with a physical basis which can not be gotten rid of until healing happens, nor can we do anything much positive to speed up the process.  In that instance I think it is very reasonable and even desirable to just distract yourself from them until they pass.  Huge difference in avoiding confronting your problems due to psychological problems, and choosing to not dwell on the physical problems you can't fix.

 

She

 

 

Agreed! 

[[Do...]]

SheWhoMust - you are right - a certain amount of healing needs to take place before we can begin pushing ourselves.  As you said, you wouldn't start therapy after an arm injury until that injury heals.  I am talking about people who are several months out.  I think there does eventually get to a point where you have to start doing stuff, even if it is really hard, to try to help with healing. There are certain things you can push, and certain things you can't. 

[[Es...]]

Je pensais que “BBs is bad for your mental health”.  Pourquoi donc cette question ? Vouz avez change d’avis ? Superbe. Maybe it would be kind and polite to slightly modify the name of the topic you’ve created? In a more positive/neutral direction? If you decided to stay here and ask ppl for advice?