AAF - Acknowledge Accept Float

[ChessieCat]

AAF - Acknowledge Accept Float can be a very useful technique when other methods do not work.

 

Brassmonkey posted the following here.  I have included it in full.

 

AAF: Acknowledge, Accept, Float.  It's what you have to do when nothing else works, and can be a very powerful tool in coping with anxiety.  The neuroemotional anxiety many of us feel during WD is directly caused by the drugs and their chemical reactions in the brain.  Making it so there is nothing we can do about them.  They won't respond to other drugs, relaxation techniques and the like.  They do, however, react very well to being ignored.  That's the concept behind AAF.  Acknowledge, get to know the feeling involved, explore them.  Accept, These feelings are a part of you and they aren't going anywhere fast. Float, let the feeling float off as you get on with your life as best as you can.  It's a well documented fact that the more you feed in to anxiety the worse it gets.  What starts as generalized neuroemotinal anxiety can be easily blown into a full fledged panic attack just by thinking about it.

 

I often liken it to an unwanted house guest.  At first you talk to them, have conversations, communicate with them.  After a while you figure out that they aren't leaving and there is nothing you can do to get rid of them.  So you go on about your day, working around them until they get bored and leave.

 

It can take some practice, but AAF really does work.  I hope you give it a try.

 

 

Edited December 4, 2021 by ChessieCat

[ChessieCat]

Some videos:

 

Dr Claire Weekes Face Accept Float Let Time Pass

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2BJgtl5H1M

 

The Floating Technique: For Anxiety & Panic Disorder

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxSZi6a4ixo

 

Anxiety: Accepting and Floating Through It || The Dainty Pear

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDtYfCHhPJg

 

[Bego82]

Thank you,

 

 I try to do this but the problems that are causing the anxiety seem like the end. Right now I’m terrified of being on 30mg of Mirtrazapine while I’m fighting withdrawal from Venlafaxine after 9 months of going through it… I want to start reducing it before it’s too late but my morning anxiety is still so bad that I don’t know what is worse, leaving it as it is or start coming off it, and I feel like I’m between a rock and a hard place where either choice is going to lead me to the worst...

 

And while I go through all of this my only support person (I don’t have a family) is getting sick and tired of my reactions and my suffering…

 

Floating seems impossible to me right now 😔 

[Bego82]

On 12/4/2021 at 1:25 AM, ChessieCat said:

What starts as generalized neuroemotinal anxiety can be easily blown into a full fledged panic attack just by thinking about it.

That is true, thank you.