Anxiety Crisis Care Plan

Being in the information risk business,  one of the things we’re taught to do early on is to develop a crisis response plan and implement it before there’s an actual….crisis. I know! Preparation – what a concept.

The thinking is that in designing your crisis plan in advance, you can test and tweak it to hopefully find gaps and weaknesses before you actually need it. Not only that, but having a plan on which to refer when a crisis hits can make things go more smoothly, as everyone knows their responsibilities, and you don’t have to remember this stuff or design it on the fly as you run around with your hair on fire, metaphorically speaking.

The same concept is true when it comes to having a panic/anxiety crisis plan. What are you going to do when you feel that familiar sense of dread creeping up? How about when you find  yourself in full panic mode, where nothing makes sense and simply functioning is a challenge? Can you help yourself, or do you need help from others?

Anxiety Guru has a good article on developing a solid crisis care plan, including some of the resources you can call on in your moment of need. We’re sometimes a stubborn lot, convinced that we can fix it ourselves or just wait it out, but if we’re going to be honest here, that’s not always effective. It’s certainly not a plan.

The good news is that it’s somewhat therapeutic to design your crisis plan, especially if it entails bringing in friends, family members, and other supporters on whom you’d like to rely. The more they understand about what’s “normal” for you and what sorts of behaviors would cause you to kick off your crisis plan, the better job they can do of giving you the support you need.

So make a plan. Write it down to make it real, and refer to it from time to time. And let me know how it goes. If you come up with an outline of a plan that you think would be helpful to others, let me know and I’ll post it here for others to see. We’re all facing the same hurdles, so let’s share the wisdom!

Crisis Care Plan for Anxiety and Depression