Unfortunately it seems like communication with Dan From Virginia (his original comments are at the bottom) has broken down. I guess I'll provide my own thoughts on his technique and why I think it's a
novel approach.
First, a few preliminary thoughts.
1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy--the most effective
standardized treatment for anxiety--is beset with a slew of problems. One is that CBT's aim is to
reduce anxiety, not help you
overcome anxiety. While
graduated exposure is the only way one can desensitize oneself, it is not entirely clear how to be systematically exposed to certain
elusive fears. For instance, if you have a low tolerance of uncertainty, how do you expose yourself to uncertainty in a systematic and graduated manner that thoroughly desensitizes you to it?
No doubt, CBT has ways to increase tolerance of uncertainty (exposures, cognitive restructuring, etc.). And if you are simply looking for reduction of anxiety, then I would advise you to go seek out a professional CBT psychotherapist (make sure they were specifically trained in CBT and are not simply incorporating CBT with a bunch of hogwash).
CBT is even more effective for phobias. Unlike generalized anxiety, phobias are specific fears, which means it's easier to outline an exposure hierarchy in order to extinguish the fear. Here's part of the problem: exposures for phobias are difficult to endure. And if you suffer from phobias, there's a high probability that you also suffer from mild to extreme generalized anxiety (or at least have GAD tendencies like myself). If so, this issue will most likely surface and interfere with your treatment of the phobia.
Once again, you may be cured of your phobia, but there's a distinct possibility that you may only reduce the intensity of phobia.
2. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is a treatment that essentially tries to insert the technique of Mindfulness
into Cognitive (-Behavioral) Therapy.
This has advantages and drawbacks.
The advantages are that Mindfulness appears to be effective for addressing more abstract fears, like fear of uncertainty, fear of failure, etc. A lot of this is likely due to downregulation of the aymgdala function and positive changes to neurology. Mindfulness is also a handy tool for enduring exposures. So it may facilitate progress along your exposure hierarchy.
A drawback of MBCT is that there's some ambiguity as to when one treats thought as thought (i.e., employ mindfulness) or when one challenges thought (i.e., CBT technique of replacing irrational thought with rational one). These are two distinct options that don't necessarily compliment each other.
Another drawback is that most MBCT psychotherapists are not themselves expert meditators, or at the very least, not expert meditation instructors.
A problem for both CBT and MBCT is that many people struggle with fight-or-flight activation (my problem). Psychotherapists will suggest to perform exposures that induce some fear, but not an overwhelming amount of fear (i.e., avoid intense fight-or-flight). However, if fight-or-flight is your issue, then using the techniques like challenging one's thoughts, using meditation to focus away from the anxiety, or only exposing yourself to a moderate amount of fear are in some ways tantamount to avoidance and safety strategies (i.e., the very things that
fuel anxiety).
3. Regular meditation doesn't
target anxiety and most instructors are not psychotherapists. I would expect any long-term meditator to be less anxious than he/she was when he/she started (due to the changes in the brain that I've already alluded to), but as we've seen, some still struggle with anxiety after years of meditation. In fact, one may come to accept one's struggles with anxiety. I won't comment on whether this is a more rewarding effort, but viewed strictly from the lens of someone that wants to overcome anxiety, this is not success.
4. This brings me to Dan's technique. It essentially appears to be the flip side of MBCT; he's inserting a CBT technique
into Mindfulness. Namely, using the idea of
exposures as a guide for one's attention toward thought.
Here's some advantages to it.
- It targets anxiety.
- It employs exposure in order to extinguish fear.
- The technique generalizes to every fear.
- It is mindfulness. So it assumes the neurological benefits that any meditative practice holds.
- It is the absolute opposite of avoidance/safety behavior. Unlike using cognitive tricks or mindfulness to mitigate fear during exposure, you are exposed to fear itself.
There is of course the problem that it shares with MBCT; when do we engage into content and when do we not? If you engage in content, then you're simply worrying, freaking out, panicking, etc. And this becomes an unproductive exercise.
If you don't engage in content, you can't follow the trail of
hot thoughts.
So it is unclear how one does both.
Dan from Virginia:
Using largely plain descriptive language here to support a repeatable practice...what I would do is literally do a reverse of "avoid the spiral of escalating thoughts/sensations". I head straight for "the spiral". If you remember the "hotter/colder" game we played as children, as variant of concentration practice, play hotter colder with the *escalating sensations*. Essentially as you keep working towards the "spiral" you are getting "hotter" and there are signs that will let you know you are getting to the right place
- first, the "radio player" voice of the mind, will let you know by *escalating thoughts*
- for me, a deeper sign the heart will palpitate with an atrial fibrillation
- for me, a even deeper sign is a slight to moderate convulsive movement in the gut
In particular, I note these signs as progress towards "hotter" because the mind may be telling/yelling and possibly screaming at you to "stop". That is a good sign you're going in precisely the right direction, ie your attention and concentration are fixed on sensations and thoughts that are "hotter". Keep your concentration focused and when one *sensation and/or thought pair* begin to hit upon an even *hotter sensation or thought pair*, allow attention to go to the "hotter" one, in other words - allow attention to make a gentle switch to trade up. :-)
Existing insight (seeing through content to context) in this can be helpful, for obvious reasons, but isn't necessary. I'll also note this can lead to insight. If you have good insight practice already, but seeing through content it isn't yet an instant reflex, then use practice to bring yourself to context first. Then allow yourself to get lost in the content. Yes, that's right. You have to let go and allow yourself to become what you behold (context becomes content again). If being context is a reflex, no worries as it'll co-pilot of its own accord. If being context (insight to see through content) isn't in the repertoire, no worries; essentially by simply holding attention towards the energetic center, the pocket of your consciousness that's giving you the anxiety can come to the surface - given enough time in concentration in the "hottest spot" found in the "hotter colder" game. And simply by holding concentration long enough, the center (aka "spiral" as you said) will flicker and fade like a candle at the end of its wick. With that fading, don't stop; keep concentration for a while (at least minutes) into the quiet. Content is silently dropping (attachment withering) leaving only context even if you can't see this for a while.
It is always best to do this when the anxiety is freshest, that is when it is naturally arising, but do this practice in private until you're confident you can handle it in more public places. If you can't get somewhere private, note/write down the thoughts arising around the sensation and use them for sitting. Tears, sobbing, and many other phenomenologies will occur. Just note them (don't resist them, but don't act on their content - this is not a good time to get up and tell someone off even if every fiber of your being says so...that's just the content talking and right now you're giving yourself to something not to act on, rather something to unfetter.)
You may think you've got it, just to see it pop up again. You may note that the anxiety is greatly weakened and/or that there's a second trigger to the anxiety...rinse and repeat. After a while, you can do this anywhere and your ability to see through such content becomes an unshakable reflex.
Finally, the clearest sign we realize the anxiety is truly gone, is usually when you begin to worry what will happen to you without the anxiety to 'shepherd/push' you (believe it or not). And this belies another phenom in this that to fully resolve one thing, such as a defense mechanism, can then reveal yet another wound it was covering. And in this sense, things can seem better having traversed a "layer" and then worse for a while as we dismantle ourselves.