tinyE: BRILLIANT!
No shit, I mean it. It's colorful, fast, a great stress reliever while at the same time being somewhat challenging yet not frustratingly so. Very nice suggestion, but with no disrespect to GOG, I think #2 kind of blows #1 out of the water.

MaximumBunny: If a sound bothers you, change it. Change your ringtone, change your alarm, change the materials of your doors to one you like hearing knocks on. Unhappy with the mail? Change your mailbox to something that makes you smile.

Life is only what you make of it regardless of any conditions, relationships, employment, etc. that you have. If you let everything overwhelm and disturb you then the results are always going to be the same. You must learn to love yourself and love life.

I've seen it happen, going from anxiety to none at all over a concern that was causing the problem. Stress/Anxiety tend to do more damage than any ailments or situations. The last thing you want to do is be hospitalized over a stupid bill, for example. :P

AdamR: This is an incredibly insensitive post.
Mental illness doesn't just magically go away because you want it to. If I could have solved my anxiety problems by making little changes to my surroundings, I would have done so 16 years ago to avoid living in pure hell this entire time. Painting my doorknob and putting pictures on my door (I really did this - a lot,) did not help me overcome my anxiety of opening my bedroom door from the ages of 17-21. Neither did replacing the entire door. Writing funny and inspirational quotes on the back of my hand when I had (and still have) a fear of washing my hands didn't help.

The problem is not what a phone or doorbell sounds like. The problem is that these sounds mean you have to interact with another human, and that you are potentially in for horrible news, or a murderer at your door. Changing the sounds do not change your fears.

I'd love to let things stop overwhelming me and disturbing me. I'd love to let little things affect me less. I'd love to love life. Unfortunately, people with mental illness can't do that very well. For people with mental illness, life is not what they make of it. Life is dealt to them before they are born, and they have to live with it possibly forever.

I realize this may sound ridiculous, but it is true to many people with mental illness. Someone telling someone with mental illness to "learn to love life," or "only you have the power to change," or "you need to learn how to not be depressed and anxious" is basically as ridiculous as saying, "You need to teach yourself to not have cancer."
Just like any other disease, you can't will it away. Changing the little things around you might help a little, but that is just putting lipstick on a pig. And that lipstick will wash away very quickly and easily.

You make it sound like preventing anxiety attacks is so easy. It requires an insane amount of work and money just to attempt preventing anxiety. I have seen a dozen doctors, been in therapy for years, been on ~25 medications, and even had electro-convulsive therapy to try and get help from my problems. These problems have destroyed my life, and many of the attempted cures have made things significantly worse.
This is literally a second to second battle for survival, so please try not to make it sound so simple.

misteryo: Yeah, it's interesting. 2 is definitely better than 1. A big part is better level design.

But what's really amazing is the pacing of 2. It puts you in a sort of zen, constantly making decisions, but just critical path decisions, and while it's perhaps somewhat difficult to always make the optimal choice, it's almost impossible to make a bad choice.

MaximumBunny: If a sound bothers you, change it. Change your ringtone, change your alarm, change the materials of your doors to one you like hearing knocks on. Unhappy with the mail? Change your mailbox to something that makes you smile.

Life is only what you make of it regardless of any conditions, relationships, employment, etc. that you have. If you let everything overwhelm and disturb you then the results are always going to be the same. You must learn to love yourself and love life.

I've seen it happen, going from anxiety to none at all over a concern that was causing the problem. Stress/Anxiety tend to do more damage than any ailments or situations. The last thing you want to do is be hospitalized over a stupid bill, for example. :P

AdamR: You make it sound like preventing anxiety attacks is so easy. It requires an insane amount of work and money just to attempt preventing anxiety. I have seen a dozen doctors, been in therapy for years, been on ~25 medications, and even had electro-convulsive therapy to try and get help from my problems. These problems have destroyed my life, and many of the attempted cures have made things significantly worse.
This is literally a second to second battle for survival, so please try not to make it sound so simple.

justanoldgamer: Anyone else here with an anxiety disorder?

Do you know of games that helps?

Some of my triggers are the phone or doorbell ringing, knocking at the door, receiving government mail and to a lesser degree bills.

Weirdly enough, violent horror movies help but not horror video games. Reading also help but I'm searching for a more interactive way to treat the symptoms. Games where one can easily get stuck are also not a good idea.

justanoldgamer: Thank you everyone.

I'm just checking the thread now as I was kind of afraid to check it before but since I'm going to bed I did not want to spend the night wondering what might be here.

To those who were wondering, I do see a doctor and I am under medication.

It's nice to see that I'm not alone here with that mental illness, maybe this thread will show others that they are not alone as well.

And to whom it may concern: There are people who's mental condition is purely psychological, I've tried seeing a psychologist and it made me conclude that my condition is physical, my brain has a malfunction. I also have Asperger syndrome and although it is light I assure you that it is not something I can think away.