TIPP Therapy (I’ll explain what it is)
If I were a rich person, I would love to try all the different kinds of therapies out there, like; DBT, EMDR, Play therapy, etc. It would be a nice hobby, to concentrate to "cure and feel better".
But as I am not rich and don't have extra time or money, my therapy for stress relief is normally my Friday night beer or wine (one portion).
I have a friend though, who has a lot of extra money and time, and therefore he often tries different types of therapies. Once he went to a Pillow Therapy, where he hit pillows and thought of stressful things to antistress his mind (cant you do that at home?), and once he went to a monastery and stayed in a small chamber alone for 2 days, without contact to anyone, only "with the company of his own thoughts". I would have panicked in 2 minutes, not to talk about 2 days.
But, this TIPP thing got my attention, maybe because of the funny name, and I decided to give it a try in the hopes of getting some good techniques when I feel my blood level rising.
So, TIPP means:
TEMPERATURE:
"Cooler temperatures decrease your heart rate (which is usually faster when we are emotionally overwhelmed). You can either splash your face with cold water, take a cold (but not too cold) shower, or if the weather outside is chilly you can go outside for a walk. Another idea is to take an ice cube and hold it in your hand or rub your face with it."
INTENSE EXERCISE:
"Simply get on your feet and do one of the following: go for a run around the block, do jumping jacks in your room, go outside and walk fast. You can also try jumping rope, dancing, or lifting weights (if you already have them). Do this for 10-15 minutes but don't overdo it."
PACED BREATHING:
"Breathe in deeply through your nose (abdominal breathing) for four seconds and then breathe out through your mouth (for six seconds). Do this for 1-2 minutes."
PAIRED MUSCLE RELAXATION:
"Start with the top of your body - become aware of your muscles and the upper back and deliberately tighten them for five seconds. Then let go - you should feel the region loosening up. Keep doing this with your arms, your abdominal and back muscles, your bottom muscles, thighs, and upper legs and calves."
After making it clear how it works, I only had to wait for my next anxiety attack!
(which didn't take long)
I was in the parking lot and my kid opened the car door too much and scarched the car on the side. I could feel my body tinkling (not in a good way), my heart pumping and my brain panicking.
What do I do?!?
But hey, I had my techniques!
But I didn't have anything cold in the parking lot so I switched to paced breathing and that helped, I must say. But that was kind of obvious, don't everyone always say "BREATHE" when something dramatic happens?
Then I did some jumping jacks which caused amazed but happy expressions on my kid's face. And that helped a bit too, but I think that it would have helped more if I was somewhere private. The muscle thing was okay too, but it didn't help a lot.
So I left a note for the car owner and I thought if I should leave the TIPP tips too as I was sure that he/she would be the next one having an anxiety attack as well. But I thought that maybe it wouldn't be a good idea...
I went home and wondered why it didn't help.
I tried the techniques alone in my room, and the effect was better, much better. Then I remembered that I couldn't try the temperature thing and I put the shower ice cold and thought about going in...And voilá, it helped!
Without entering the shower, because I realized that the matter was not that serious to get so stressed about.
But if the techniques help other people, good for them, apparently I'll just need something really big to distract the stress to physical things.
And I don't even know how far a distraction helps? Maybe a real diagnosis would help better if suffered too much anxiety?
I don't know, is it "are we coaching ourselves to death" or not? I don't know!
But if I am not able to make a decision, maybe that's enough proof that they are not for me, at least for now.