Dear Harry:
If I may contribute a few insights and suggestions from my personal experience and research:
I have found that paraliminal tapes are great for relaxing while listening to a tape, but for generalized anxiety you will need something more: a "practice" that you take with you into your normal activities. This could (and probably should) take place on two fronts: the cognitive (i.e., the thoughts that you are running which keep triggering and reinforcing the anxiety) and the kinesthetic (i.e., the physical postures and tensions which not only express but also perpetuate the anxiety).
It would be a mistake to think of anxious thoughts and/or physical components (hunching your shoulders, etc.) as merely "symptoms" of anxiety. They are, in fact, an integral part of the anxiety PROCESS--and as such can also be a key to interrupting and changing that process.
There are many cognitive "tools" which can be used--such as thought-stopping or saying (mentally) "STOP!" or "CANCEL" when you catch yourself running anxious thoughts--to help you to become more aware (and to get back control) of the thinking processes which are now running amok and creating anxiety for you.
There are also many physical "practices" you can do--from taking a deep breath and consciously relaxing every time you feel yourself breathing tensely and shallowly (N.B., the practice of breath awareness is, in itself, an unbelievably powerful tool) to consciously relaxing your shoulders every time you notice that they are tense.
Believe it or not, these practices can quickly make an enormous difference (if consistently applied) in your level of anxiety. And as anxiety goes down, personal efficacy and functioning go up.
It may also help you to take the relaxed feeling you get from listening to the paraliminal tapes (assuming that they "zonk" you the way they do nearly everyone else), and "map" it over onto more of your ordinary waking activity. Remember how that feeling of mental and physical relaxation FEELS [now I sound like Paul, talking about how a feeling feels, LOL], and consciously relax (both mentally and physically) while recalling it--as often as you can remember to do so--throughout your day.
Of course there are many books on these subjects, and many practices (ranging from simple to very complex and esoteric) you can use--but NOTHING will override or offset what you are continually doing (running anxious thoughts, physically tensing up, etc.) on a moment-to moment basis to generate and perpetuate anxiety. Only YOU, with your ongoing awareness, intention and application, can change this process--and you CAN do it. It is just a matter of doing it until it becomes more habitual than the self-torment that is currently your habitual behavior.
Remember, I speak from personal experience here. I experienced extreme physical and emotional abuse for the first 19 years of my life, which instilled incredible anxiety and all the discomfort and dysfunction that go with it. So I am sharing what works for me, in hopes that it will save you a lot of running around looking for solutions, and help you to start making progress on your own--beginning as soon as you start applying it.
Sure, there are ancillary tools (tapes, therapies, etc.) but none of these will relieve you of the necessity of practicing new behaviors [perhaps you would find the paraliminal tape New Behavior Generator helpful here, if you are willing to identify and work with your own mental and physical "anxious" behaviors] during your ordinary activities.
The good news is, you don't have to dig up all the why's and wherefore's of anxiety to solve the problem. Insight is always nice, but only you can change the behaviors (and thus the anxiety)--regardless of what trauma may have first instilled them in you.
I hope this will be of help. In any case, best wishes to you in your quest for wholeness and peace of mind.
[This message has been edited by shinsei (edited April 24, 2001).]
