27 Feb Managing Anxiety Series (Post 4)
This mini self-help program for anxiety has (hopefully) prompted you to think about accepting how you feel, focusing on what you can change, and then changing how you think about and while experiencing anxiety.
This post will focus more on how you behave before, during and after the anxiety peaks.
As noted previously, the two most common reactions to anxiety are avoidance and escape. Both are normal and understandable; but both are also distinctly unhelpful (sometimes helping in the short-term but almost always, reinforcing and maintaining the anxiety in the longer-term).
The good news, however, is that there’s an alternative; a very effective alternative that’s been used with great effect by millions of people for decades upon decades to overcome anxiety and fear.
I’m referring to what psychologists usually call exposure therapy, or gradual exposure therapy. And in very simple terms it’s about facing your fears.
But don’t be afraid; you don’t have to face all of them all at once. Hence the prefix … “gradual”.
There are different ways this is understood to help but in short, the premise is that by facing our fears we learn that anxiety, and the feared stimuli or situation, is usually not as bad as we’d thought and/or that we can actually cope with the anxiety and/or situation. It’s essentially about relearning what the situation means and how capable we are within said situation.
And this learning is most effective when done “in situ”, in real life, in the real situation.
As hinted at earlier, I know this won’t be easy. By definition, it will be anxiety provoking and scary. But if you do it slowly and gradually, at your own pace, starting with small fears and building up from there, I can guarantee it will provide benefits. Many benefits. Life changing benefits!
Anxiety is a normal and at times, appropriate human emotion. But anxiety can also become excessive and overwhelming and … not helpful. Anxiety can, however, be overcome, and managed better. And facing up to our fears in a controlled and graduated way is one of the most effective paths to greater confidence and happiness.
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PPS: if you’d like to delve deeper into strategies for managing anxiety, you might like to explore my Audible audiobook series (including Habits for Managing Anxiety) which are all FREE for Audible subscribers. Just search for “Dr Tim Sharp” or “Habits for Managing Anxiety” and … listen away : )