Reduce or Stop Your Anxiety Symptoms

Whenever counseling individuals who are trying to reduce or stop their anxiety related symptoms, I have found the below listed cognitive behavioral techniques to be very successful.

If you are committed to reducing or stopping your anxiety, these methods can work to reduce or stop your excessive focus and concern. I want to stress that for success, you need to do them exactly as outlined, and on a consistent basis.

Technique #1: Take Control of Your Anxiety

Do this procedure exactly as it is described.

Set aside 30 minutes each day when you can be alone. Pick a relaxing place which is quiet and completely free of interruptions to be in for this set aside time.

It is helpful if you take a pad of paper to write down some of your thoughts and feelilngs as they happen.

You will also need some type of alarm clock or stopwatch. Set this to go off in precisely 30 minutes.

This gets easier after the first day as you will have everything prepared and ready to go. Now start your time, and:

Start To Worry

[Worry about anything and everything]

Write down anything you feel is necessary (keep your writings confidential), but keep worrying. If you run out of things to worry about, go back and re-worry about something you've already considered.

When the alarm goes off
STOP!

Put away any writing. Leave your "Worry Spot", and do something physical in nature: take a walk, sweep the floor or vacuum the carpet, get on your exercise bike, wash the dishes, etc.

You are NOT to worry at other times during the day. If you find yourself focusing, worrying or thinking a lot about something, STOP!

Just make note of it and worry about it during your "WORRY TIME".

Continue to do this procedure consistently and everyday (no breaks) for a minimum of 30 days.

Technique #2: Learn To Use Your "RESET BUTTON"

Didn't know you had one? You do, and it works very well!
Here's the "secret" to accessing your RESET button:

TAKE A DEEP
CLEANSING BREATH

• Close your eyes, take a slow, deep breath

• Exhale slowly and completely

• After exhaling, notice what is in your mind.

Most likely, you will be aware that your mind is completely blank. Maybe only for a second, and that is still enough time for you to "RESET" your cognitive response sequence.

The next time you find yourself worrying or thinking intently about any issue, STOP! You can use your RESET BUTTON. Once your mind is cleared, you can choose to take back control over your thinking, and thus your feelings and behavior. Next:

1. Dispute your irrational, worry-full thought(s), and correct if necessary. (Use facts NOT assumptions or predictions.)
2. Gently recall that life happens, and often it isn't fair.
3. Also remember that you are capable of coping with events. (Haven't you been somehow managing up to this point?)

What you are concerning yourself about may, or may not happen. It may be an absolute pain to deal with. It might also end up better than you thought or imagined.

• If you need to make a plan to handle things, do so and follow through.

• Reach out for help if you need it.

• Use your mental energy to take action, instead of worry.
  (Deciding to do nothing is still doing something.)

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Here is a handout I give to many of my counseling clients. Print it out; carry it with you. Whenever the need arises, read it. Go down a different street and "choose" to to take back control over your thinking. You don't have to react, you can decide how to respond.

An Autobiography in 5 Short Chapters

(Opens in a separate window so you may read, print & return.)

Copies of the Cognitive Behavioral techniques, are available at the links below.
(You'll need Adobe Reader installed to view the file.)

Technique #1 Take Control of Your Anxiety

Technique #2 Learn To Use Your RESET Button

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To know more about anxiety, along with
some other techniques to help, visit the
My Counseling Site Bookstore.

If you just can't reduce or stop your anxiety, find a
behavioral healthcare professional in your area to work with.

Here is a forum and chat room you may find useful

Visit the Anxiety Disorders Association of America.