When I was getting my depot my nurse asked how my breathing techniques were going. He said the people he taught them to usually got a couple of hours worth of relief from them.
“2 hours!” I said. “I am lucky if the calm remains for 20 seconds!”
He was a bit shocked by this. Am I unusual or do other folk get little ongoing benefit from say a 5 minute session of controlled breathing?
Never even heard of it ! You should ask the guy for some tips next time you see him.
I try controlled breathing and counting exercise my pdoc taught me. It doesn’t have a lasting calm effect but it works for ‘in the moment’ type situations.
My experience is like yours - good for in the moment but not really long lasting.
Same - it’s good for grounding in the short term, but I don’t think it carries over at all.
In through the nose, hold, out through the mouth, hold and repeat keeping a consistent timing is important. So maybe start with a 5 count per step and increase when youv gotten used to it. I do mine at 15 second steps it helps clear the mind and improve oxygen intake…of course this is more meditation techniques but most find it works massively better and for longer peruods if time…
I know controlled breathing helps, but I can’t do it if I’m too amped up.
It’s more adequate when I notice I am escalating and recognize that I need to calm down. Being able to notice and recognize, though, demands I am already attentive to my own responses and relatively self-aware.
And no, even when done faithfully with the best timing possible and the best result possible, I am calm for maybe 5 - 10m before I start all over again – either the psychotic symptoms, anxiety, paranoia, or emptiness / sadness.
The best technique I have found is distraction. I spend most of my time trying to distract myself from what’s going on inside my head. That’s not healthy, but it works, until I try to go to sleep, or I have to go for a walk and I don’t have my headphones, or I am in any way “alone” with myself.