Meditation for stress, social anxiety

Taphouse

I'm wondering if there's any good literature or videos that give advice on how to cope with stress, or how to meditate. I'm guessing there's not some silver bullet technique for meditation, but I'm curious to know what experiences people have had and what's been effective.

I find physical exercise to be one of the few things that is almost guaranteed to reduce stress, but there's limits to how much I can exercise before injuring myself (i'm injured now). And I think there's an upper limit to what being in shape will get me, because I'm already pretty fit but I'm still crippled by stress and anxiety.

Just some background, and to vent a bit: been through some very frightening experiences in the past couple years. I don't think I could go through the same experiences another time. Nightmares almost every night. I'm also got significant social anxiety, which the stress may have compounded.

I'm seeing a therapist who I like and respect, but I feel like I've kind of plateaued in terms of progress. He has helped though. I've also been on some anxiety/depression medication, but I'm pretty nervous about side effects and how difficult withdrawals are - the last time I went off (earlier this summer) I had weird head shocks for like 8 weeks. Gets worse every time I try it. I'm reserving it as a last resort.

If anyone can relate to the feeling and has made it through to being happy and strong again, I'd be grateful to hear what helped.

ceres

Hoooo boy do I have stories. I went through mild PTSD symptoms that were nevertheless pretty crippling, combined with depression I've always had. Feel free to PM me with or for details, but the long and short of it is:

a) If you trust your therapist, you have to trust him all the way. You have to be ready to tell him everything even if it doesn't seem important, because sometimes you just don't know what's important until you say it out loud to another human being and see the effect it has.

b) Don't bother starting on medication unless you are prepared to stay on it for at least 3 months, and many say 6. Ramp-up periods end, side effects fade, and it's often only after those things are long over that you begin to see the real results. You may have to shop around a bit, but basically, if you are planning for a withdrawal anywhere in the near future, you are doing it wrong. It can be expensive if you don't have insurance and it can feel like a racket, but even after a lot of skepticism I can tell you that it really was true for me. Withdrawal periods can also be mitigated by a really slow weening schedule.

c) There will be plateaus as things get resolved and fade into the background of your consciousness, or even if you're putting them aside as a defense to come back to them later... if you're still having problems, don't worry, another one will surface to make your life miserable for however long until you can put it away long enough to plateau again. They can also happen because let's face it, it is very, very difficult for the human body to sustain abject misery or fear or depression 100% of the time. At some points you are going to go in and not feel awful, and you're probably not going to see much progress from those times. Therapy is just... a lot of time, and talking, and coping, and time.

ceres

Oh, and for meditation, I have never had any luck with it. I hear it takes a lot of practice and I know people swear by it, but unless I'm already falling asleep I've never been able to keep my head in it for long enough to matter.