A Chipur Reader’s Review | The Linden Method

Panic Attack Symptoms

Panic attack symptoms, PTSD, chronic and acute stress, generalized anxiety. People helping people, that’s what Chipur’s about. So when a reader asked if she could post a review of The Linden Method, I was more than happy to take her up on it.

I love writing for Chipur, presenting my thoughts and feelings on all things mood and anxiety ick. But it’s important to tune-in to what’s on the minds of others. I mean, sharing always ramps-up learning and healing. And that’s why I’m huge on guest posts.

So, okay, let’s see what Magda has to say about The Linden Method…

Linden does know what it’s like to suffer. The question is: are you suited for his style?

The Linden Method is a very popular anti-anxiety kit marketed and written by Charles Linden. The packet includes a booklet, some hypnosis CDs, and a CD featuring calming exercises. When my beleaguered and bewildered parents bought me the set in the early 2000s, the cost was upward of $300.

After seeing me sink to my knees in sheer terror on some vacations and early evenings at home, and now contemplating a move of nearly 1,000 miles, my parents wanted to help. When I think of them shelling over that cold hard cash to help me, their looney tunes daughter, I just wanted to rattle them and cry. I still have guilt over that purchase.

Charles Linden has been through it – no doubt. His book featured a lengthy autobiography section up to the present day. The method boasts a “proven 100%” cure rate – but here’s the catch – only if YOU follow the program correctly. This leads one to believe that if one deviates from this course even an inch, one is subject to completely obliterating their chances of recovery.

I remember skimming through the tips section. It was a grab bag of good and bad suggestions. Some of the good ones were activating the dive reflex, practicing hypnosis, phoning a friend (with no lifelines!), and the rest ran in this similar vein. However, the stinkers were doozies. For example, one of them boasted that at night if you were feeling anxious to eat an apple. If you were still anxious, eat another. This was only one of the tips, I must stress.

The tips concerning grounding, hypnosis, and breathing were good. But, remember, you must do them correctly, left to your own devices. One of the pillars of recovery was not to talk about your panic attacks. Even if you were having one you were not to talk about them.

I remember pawing my way and clawing open the last CD – the one with “the cure.” It was a recording of Linden talking and the message was (and I quote): “The problem is you.” The tears rolled down my face. Surely, this can’t be the answer I was looking for. It’s not this simple. Sure, Linden has a point. Our inner critic and negative schemas are powerhouses that generate fear responses to stimuli. In that respect, he is right; we have learned our way into our own conditions. But, as panic attack sufferers, most of these tricks, such as distraction and the infamous apple exercise, are not new to us.

Linden is not all bad. He opened my mind to the calming process of self-hypnosis which I use to this day. When I can’t sleep or I’m mired in fear, I do a YouTube search, pull up a clip for hypnosis for anxiety or an NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) track and etch the experience on the backs of my eyelids for a solid thirty minutes. Without Linden’s guidance, I would have shunned hypnosis probably for the rest of my life. And it was good to read that someone experienced what I do to this day.

The Linden Method has come down in price and carries many endorsements. If you think some of the strong points of the Linden Method are a fit for you and suit your personality, then please check it out. There is now a help line and many more implements into the program that did not exist when I tried it. It has streamlined and amped up its outreach. Linden does know what it’s like to suffer. The question is: are you suited for his style?

Good stuff, Magda, and it’s appreciated.

Folks, there are tons of traditional and non-traditional remedies for panic attack symptoms, PTSD, stress, OCD, depression, bipolar spectrum issues – anything we deal with here on Chipur. And the thing is, what doesn’t work for one of us may flow wonderfully for another. Go figure, that’s the crap-shoot current state of affairs within the realm of mind challenges treatment.

So, the Linden Method – whether your experiences with it have been good or bad, let us know in a comment, k? And if you want to learn more about it, here ya’ go.

Hey, one last thing. If you’d like to submit a guest post, drop me a line and let’s chat. And I’m always looking for stories of courage and hope. Wantin’ to hear from you.

Plenty more articles where this came from. Peruse

  • Patricia Miller June 24, 2014, 5:49 pm

    Okay, Magda…. I love your article and I have to tell you I was laughing out loud at the “eat an apple, and then another.” I don’t know that there would have been a sufficient quantity of apples at Walmart Superstore for some of my anxiety episodes if I was to just continue eating apples in an attempt to stave off anxiety. I will say that I have zero familiarity with the Linden Method, but I am a fan of self-hypnosis and will also add that there are several inexpensive apps for the Android available on Google Play that work well if you are not comfortable with your own guided self-hypnosis to a calm and quiet place.

    Reply
    • Chipur June 24, 2014, 8:02 pm

      Hey, Patricia – glad you stopped-on-by. The apple thing was great, huh. And I can picture you walking to the check-out with a cart full of apples LOL. But, hey, could be something to it – who knows. And as I said in the article, what doesn’t work for one may work wonderfully for another. Thanks for the tip on the self-hypnosis thing and apps. You bet, it’s all about sharing, learning, and healing here. Appreciate your participation…

      Bill

      Reply
  • Megan Snider June 24, 2014, 8:45 pm

    Lol, Patricia! I was thinking the same thing about the apples. Eat an apple… Then another… Then another… Then another…

    Reply
    • Chipur June 24, 2014, 9:15 pm

      Good thing the recommendation wasn’t prunes…

      Reply
  • Cathy | Treatment Talk June 25, 2014, 10:54 am

    Enjoyed this post on The Linden Method, Bill. I’m not familiar with it, and it sounds like it certainly does have it’s pros and cons. The hypnosis CDs and calming exercises sound helpful, but I’m another who is not too sure about eating all the apples. Thanks for sharing always interesting information!

    Reply
    • Chipur June 25, 2014, 11:54 am

      Well, thanks, Cathy. Appreciate your visit and comment. How ’bout them apples, huh? Hey, it sure seems to have worked for Ljnden, so what the heck. Gotta’ keep those resources out there for folks – super important…

      Bill

      Reply
  • Beth Wilson June 26, 2014, 10:45 pm

    For some reason, as I read Magda’s piece about the Linden method, I was thinking about lobotomies and how it hasn’t been that long ago that “brain surgery” was one of two solutions offered to patients after presenting with alcohol poisoning.

    Can’t imagine what might happen if a patient ate oranges instead of apples!

    Thanks for the guest post, Magda, and thank you, Bill for continuing to present great content!

    Reply
    • Chipur June 27, 2014, 2:22 pm

      You’re welcome, Beth. Apples to apples, oranges to oranges. As long as it gets us over the hump, who cares, right? Glad you continue to stop by and participate…

      Bill

      Reply
  • Dr. Herby Bell June 29, 2014, 2:19 pm

    Bill,

    Kudos for putting what’s out there, out there. And it’s so nice to settle in with the 21st Century science that it’s all about N = 1–or the “experiment of one.” I won’t know if I don’t go and you are such a cool resource, Bill White, for continuing to teach me about more places–I can go. I keep trying to turn people on to “Herbianity” so for all of us who can relate to the old adage, “My life was a mess and now it’s a message”, I salute you!

    Reply
    • Chipur June 29, 2014, 3:20 pm

      And I salute you in return, Dr. Herby Bell – and your “Herbianity.” It’s so cool when someone approaches and wants to put their two cents in, as did Magda. I mean, it just makes the mission here all the more real and life-like for readers. Resources are huge, as are visits and comments like yours. Keep on keepin’ on, Herby. Thanks…

      Bill

      Reply