Help! Who has experience with chronic anxiety?
My sister is a very anxious person she has been her whole life and she has managed it pretty well on her own.
In the last two years her daily anxiety level has relatively stayed the same but the occurrence of anxiety dreams has risen sharply. It is nearly a nightly occurrence now.
In the last year she got her first job as a third grade teacher and many of these stress dreams revolve around protecting her students. Besides that, the most common subjects are her family and her fiance.
She believes she is continuing to handle the stress but i see the lack of restful sleep and the deteriorating affect its having on her health. She wont consider therapy yet, but she knows of my interest in dreams and she is willing to follow advice from me as far as it centers on managing her anxiety dreams.
I have suggested she take a week to keep a notebook by her bed, and just before going to sleep she will write down all distracting thoughts and reminders for the nagging thoughts of what she has left unfinished. She will put the notebook in a box and tell herself that everything is put away and she is free to rest.
What I need are ideas and techniques in managing your anxiety. Preferably ones that have already been tested.
Keep in mind anxiety has been with her since childhood, suggestions of "getting to the root" of her problem are not likely to be helpful.