Top 20 Cognitive Strategies to Reduce Anxiety
Top 20 Cognitive Strategies to Reduce Anxiety Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Qualified Clinical Supervisor. She received her PhD in Mental Health Counseling from the University of Florida in 2002. In addition to being a practicing clinician, she has provided training to counselors, social workers, nurses and case managers internationally since 2006 through AllCEUs.com #anxietyrelief : A Sample 15 Week #Masterclass with 20 #cognitivebehavioraltherapy #CBT strategies. Links to referenced videos are below 👇👇👇
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Doc Snipes. What is Anxiety and What are Its Effects? https://youtu.be/7K_tCtluy9k
—–Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Skills | A Cognitive Behavioral Approach, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv_etBsR_Ew.
———. Assertiveness Skills and Techniques: Setting Boundaries and Living Authentically, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZwT-pk8Vb8.
———. Attachment Theory and Adult Relationships | Reducing Abandonment Fears in Counseling, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uy25DES_pk.
———. Building Positive Self Talk for Confidence and Self Esteem, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkEjdM7Kw0g.
———. Circadian Rhythm Regulation Quickstart Guide, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzH7Lx7mn2g.
———. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Understanding Cognitive Distortions: Dr. Dawn Elise Snipes, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOoowYQmZr8.
———. Compassion Focused Therapy Overview | Counseling Techniques, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY5LBP1Zj0c.
———. Creating a Rich and Meaningful Life Vision Board | A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Technique, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVPmEeSNflU.
———. Dialectics: Learning How to Find Balance and Walk the Middle Path, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp_AXhAkUj4.
———. Distress Tolerance | 52 Skills Everyone Needs Series, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9E6CMoknyY.
———. Healing the Inner Child: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Strategies to Address Trauma and Abandonment, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKJPtpaNP2A.
———. How Schema Affect Anxiety & Depression | Cognitive Behavioral Interventions, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8Ph8Wj8ZoQ.
———. Listening without Defensiveness | Assertiveness Skills, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZAdFWtTOE.
———. Long Term Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Trauma Part 1, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndWSIkFLq-g.
———. Loving Kindness Meditation | Developing Mindfulness and Compassion, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByyXf44V-k0.
———. Making Peace with the Inner Critic, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QpN8hb5c9Q.
———. Mindfulness for Anxiety Relief | Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Techniques, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoOqSaysm9o.
———. Naturally Increase Neurotransmitters: PACER Integrative Behavioral Health, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgOOTPfRYvo.
———. Optimism vs Toxic Positivity: Counseling Techniques, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtEnlTWiP5c.
———. What Are Healthy Personal Boundaries and How Can I Maintain Them?, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSPQZM9KK3w.
Video by Dr. Dawn Elise Snipes on integrative behavioral health approaches including counseling techniques and skills for improving mental health and reducing mental illness.
AllCEUs.com provides multimedia counselor education and CEUs for LPCs, LMHCs, LMFTs and LCSWs as well as addiction counselor precertification training and continuing education on many of the videos on this channel. Unlike other providers like CE4Less, AllCEUs includes a weekly LIVE Stream Webinar with your unlimited continuing education and professional development membership.
Anxiety Relief Strategies
00:00 Introduction and diagnosis criteria
22:07 Create a list of triggers and vulnerabilities and current effective strategies for reference – Refer to primary care to rule out physical causes or contributors, a nutritionist if their eating habits are poor and a sleep specialist if sleep hygiene interventions do not work or they have a known sleep disorder Have them start keeping daily anxiety
38:24 12. Setting and maintaining boundaries 13. Secure attachment, positive self talk and the inner child 14. Silencing the inner critic 15. Listening without defensiveness 16. Assertiveness
hey there everybody and welcome to this video
on 20 anxiety relief strategies i'm your host dr donnelly snipes in this video i'm going to
walk you through the basic strategies that i use to address generalized anxiety in someone
who comes into my office now it's important to remember that every person is different and
every person may display their anxiety slightly differently so this just gives you a general
idea of tools and techniques that i might use we're going to start out by looking at what i go
over in the assessment or intake interview and how that relates to the symptoms of
anxiety then we'll explore other things that i rule out or rule in that might
be contributing to the person's symptoms then we summarize the typical interventions that
i use when treating generalized anxiety disorder and i finish up by listing 15 psycho-educational
topics that i think are important for everybody to have in a foundation treatment
program if you're not familiar with some of these tools or techniques that i'm using that's okay
i've linked to longer videos that i've done on each one of them in the notes to this video so
just scroll down look at some of those videos remember anxiety is a feeling it's an emotion
so the first criteria for diagnosing generalized anxiety is excessive anxiety that's difficult
to control on most days for at least six months about a variety of things it's not about one
specific thing it's about a variety of things it's also important to recognize that just
like you wouldn't wait to go to the doctor until you had a pneumonia you also are likely
going to do better if you start addressing anxiety when you notice it instead of waiting until
you're at a crisis point or until you accurately and completely fulfill diagnostic criteria just
because you haven't had it for six months or more doesn't mean it doesn't need to be addressed so we
start out with this first symptom and i ask people about what triggers their anxiety what causes
them to feel anxious what things do they think about when they're feeling anxious and
i make a list of these things as we talk and then we examine those triggers for themes are
they related to things like loss or abandonment or rejection or failure or loss of control and we
start trying to group them together a little bit to help the person get a better understanding
maybe of where their anxiety might be coming from then i asked them about their
anxiety vulnerabilities now remember vulnerabilities are different
than triggers triggers are things that kick off the anxiety response vulnerabilities
are things that make people more likely to be triggered when they encounter certain
stimuli so being over caffeinated being unrested being sick being in a strange environment all of
those may be vulnerabilities for people's anxiety and i go through each one very systematically
we look at physical vulnerabilities such as being over caffeinated or having low
blood sugar having poor sleep being in pain then we move on to affective vulnerabilities
if the person's already feeling stressed out or overwhelmed about things maybe they're just
starting to feel burned out then that may make them more vulnerable to react to things with with
anxiety then we look at cognitive vulnerabilities when they are in a particular mood perceiving
the world as either optimistic or pessimistic does that make them more likely to feel anxiety
and then we'll look at environment are there particular environments that contribute to their
anxiety like i mentioned earlier being in a strange place or maybe being in an environment
where there's lots of activity like your kid's preschool classroom or a very busy restaurant as
opposed to your home or the library and finally we'll look at relationship vulnerabilities if
you will and that is people in the person's life that may make them more vulnerable to
react with anxiety are there people that make the person feel on edge that may contribute
to them being a little bit more hyper vigilant so they're more likely to become anxious and notice
for example micro expressions after we go through the themes the triggers and the vulnerabilities
then we go to effective coping strategies what is the person doing right now that helps them
either a little bit kind of take the edge off their anxiety or maybe it helps them relieve their
anxiety even if just for 5 10 minutes 30 minutes those are things that we can build
on and that helps me understand the types of tools that might
be effective for that person the next characteristic or criteria for diagnosis
of anxiety disorder is feeling restless keyed up or on edge now this is different than anxiety this
is having difficulty sitting still and this is a common symptom of adhd so the person may have
anxiety but they also may have concurrent adhd or concurrent ptsd that is contributing to their
sense of restlessness so no matter how much of the anxiety that we treat this particular symptom may
continue to be present unless we also address it so again i asked them about what triggers your
restlessness what triggers your inability or difficulty sitting still and are there any
vulnerabilities that make it more likely that you will have difficulty sitting still or that
you you will feel more keyed up a lot of these often overlap with the anxiety triggers but
it's still helpful to take a look at them then i asked them about their strengths and
coping strategies for dealing with feeling restless or keyed up what do you do when you have
to sit still and you feel restless maybe it's in a staff meeting or on an airplane or something
else what strategies can you use that help you cope with that sense of restlessness and edginess muscle tensions sleep disturbances and being
easily fatigued are all additional symptoms and they can all be caused by a variety of things
muscle tension can be caused by poor ergonomics and pain for example that is completely unrelated
to anxiety so again we can treat the anxiety and we can address the stress related muscle
tension but if there's also muscle tension for other reasons we need to pay attention
to that too because muscle tension is perceived by the body as a stressor and
that is going to trigger the stress response which is going to make the person more
vulnerable to anxiety so i ask about different triggers for their muscle tension and
what's an effective coping strategy whether it's progressive muscular relaxation or massage or
heat or stretching what is it that helps them reduce their muscle tension in terms of sleep
disturbances sleep can be disturbed for a lot of reasons your circadian rhythms can be out of whack
your hormones can be out of whack you're you could be experiencing pain that is impacting your sleep
none of those are necessarily directly related to the anxiety but they could be contributing
to maintaining the symptoms so i asked about what are triggers for sleep disturbances for
example watching particular movies before going to sleep or checking their email before going
to sleep and what vulnera vulnerabilities exist for sleep disturbance what things make you
more likely to have difficulty going to sleep and what are some effective street sleep
strategies that the person currently uses sleep hygiene is a big focus of early treatment
for dare i say just about every disorder that i treat because when a person is sleep deprived
when they're not getting good quality sleep it contributes to a whole bunch of symptoms
physical symptoms cognitive thinking symptoms emotional symptoms as well as emotional ability
and difficulty regulating their emotions so sleep strategies are important and i generally
provide people in the initial intake a link to a video on sleep hygiene and a handout on sleep
hygiene so they can evaluate their own sleep and then if they're easily fatigued why is this
is it because they're not getting good sleep okay that could be it is it because their nutrition
is poor if you're not getting good b vitamins or if you're stressed all the time so your body
can't use the food that you are eating nearly as effectively or if you're eating foods that
don't provide all the nutrients for your body to make energy available then nutrition may be a
cause of fatigue or a contributor to your fatigue over and above fatigue caused by poor sleep
and being anxious or stressed out all the time tension can contribute to fatigue even
though you may not notice that you're holding a lot of muscle tension holding that
tension keeping those muscles clenched takes energy and that contributes to fatigue and finally
deconditioning people who are anxious and people who are depressed often feel overwhelmed and
exhausted because of life so going to the gym that's a pie in the sky thought they feel like
they barely have the energy to get through the day they can't imagine mustering the energy to work
out but even deconditioning in terms of not being able to spend as much time cleaning the house or
working on the yard just doing regular activities of daily living may seem completely overwhelming
so they're not doing them and after a period of time the body loses its conditioning it loses its
stamina the good thing is stamina can be rebuilt but it's not something that comes back overnight
it's something that has to be gradually rebuilt and what helps the person improve their
energy when they're feeling fatigued you may not be able to go from feeling completely
exhausted to ready to go to the gym but if you're feeling fatigued is there something that can put
a little pep in your step besides caffeine and i ask people about music are there particular songs
or playlists they listen to that can give them a little boost music can actually help increase
dopamine and norepinephrine which make energy more available to us so music's one maybe deep
breathing or just getting up and moving around or going outside into bright light those are
all tools or techniques that help some people get a little bit of energy like i said it's not
going to be a panacea but we want to look at any strategies that work for the person at least
a little bit and then we can build on those two more criteria for anxiety disorder include
difficulty concentrating or your mind going blank and irritability when you're stressed when you
feel anxious you've got that fight-or-flight system going on you've got your brain in rescue
mode if you will so your brain is paying more attention to all the threats because it doesn't
feel safe it's paying attention to more things that are going on around you because it doesn't
feel safe which means if you're in an environment where there's a lot of distractions maybe in a
busy restaurant or even at work if you work in a open area with lots of other people moving around
it may be more difficult to maintain your train of thought because you're thinking and then all of
a sudden your hyper vigilance makes you go over here to pay attention to that person that just
walked in or over there to pay attention to sally who just dropped something on the floor and
then you completely lose your train of thought so it's important for people to
recognize when they're feeling anxious what environments what situations
what conditions make them more vulnerable to having episodes where they can't concentrate
or their mind goes blank and what can help them a lot of people find that in this particular
situation having noise cancelling headphones on sitting in a quiet environment at work
maybe in a carol or in a private office can help them focus more effectively and
what effective coping strategies do they have to help them deal with this difficulty
concentrating in their mind going blank making lists is a big one if they have a bunch
of stuff to do at work but they've got a lot of anxiety it may be hard to remember okay what is
it that i've got to do next but if they make lists that can help them keep track and
follow along with what they need to do and irritability is that sense of being
short-tempered if you will and it's important for people to recognize what makes them irritable
irritability is sort of you can think of it as a mild form of anger and anger just like anxiety
is a response to a threat when a person feels anxious when a person feels exhausted when
a person feels vulnerable for some reason then they're more likely to respond to
any sort of outside input especially stressful outside input with irritability it's
like i just can't take one more thing go away it's important for people to
recognize that and recognize what their triggers are for irritability when
they're angry i'm sorry when they're anxious what things tend to trigger their short fuse
if you will and what makes them more likely to be triggered for example being too hyped up
on caffeine or being exhausted or being in pain then i move on to ruling out no matter how much
work a person does on their anxiety and their thoughts and cognitions about their anxiety if there are underlying physical issues or other
mental health issues that aren't being addressed there's only so much progress the person can
make it's important to recognize that people are not just a bunch of independent parts everything
interacts so if somebody's in pain physical pain that's going to trigger their stress response
which is going to make them more vulnerable to anxiety in order to make them less vulnerable to
anxiety helping them address anxiety is great but we also have to address that pain so the stress
response system the hpa axis isn't always turned on we want to rule out thyroid imbalance hyper
or hypothyroid estrogen fluctuations lyme disease nutritional deficiencies food sensitivities excess
caffeine or stimulants and that can come from the form of energy drinks or diet pills or other
herbs that somebody may be taking that have stimulatory effects medication side effects some
medications have in their list of side effects can contribute to anxiety it's important to recognize
that when serotonin gets too high for example it can contribute to anxiety some people
when they start taking antidepressants feel anxiety for the first couple of days
because all of a sudden their body's being exposed to more serotonin than it was prior
to taking the medication now eventually it all balances out but it's important to
recognize that that is a potential side effect alcohol and benzodiazepine withdrawal also
contribute to feelings of anxiety now alcohol related anxiety tends to be much shorter than
benzodiazepine withdrawal when you withdraw from alcohol usually it's two or three days that the
person experiences high blood pressure increased anxiety etc and then things start to level out
i'm not going to say their anxiety goes away but it levels out quite a bit with benzodiazepines
or anti-anxiety medications it can take a lot longer for the anxiety to go away a lot
of people also experience rebound anxiety when their anti-anxiety medication starts to leave
their system so if they're taking a short acting anti-anxiety medication it may start helping them
feel better real quick but then as it starts to leave their system their anxiety rebounds and it
feels like it's even stronger than it was before they took the pill in the first place and it's
important if that's occurring to talk with your doctor about whether there are more longer
acting options that would reduce the rebound anxiety or if there are other treatment options
which there are in in lieu of benzodiazepines pain as i mentioned can also contribute to
keeping that stress response that hpa axis turned on keeping the person hyper
vigilant when you're in pain you tend to be kind of guarding because you don't want to hurt
anymore you don't want to get injured anymore and it can make people more likely to respond with
anger or anxiety so we do need to address pain whether it's chronic pain like from fibromyalgia
or intermittent pain like from frequent migraines we still need to address what's going on for
people who have intermittent pain they can also experience anxiety because they dread having
another episode for people with chronic pain they can have anxiety related to the chronic pain
worrying that it's going to get worse and worrying that it's going to keep them from having the life
they want ptsd post traumatic stress disorder has a lot of anxiety related symptoms however people
can have both generalized anxiety as well as ptsd ptsd symptoms are focused mainly around triggers
reminders of the trauma whereas generalized anxiety the anxiety is about more things but if
a person has ptsd they are going to likely be hyper vigilant which is going to make them more
vulnerable to anxiety about a variety of things obsessive-compulsive disorder has an anxiety
component people have these obsessions that they are they can't get out of their head
and they're worried that if they don't do if they don't do x if they don't engage in a compulsion
then it is going to end up causing bad things or they may just have this repetitive intrusive
thought that they ruminate on that contributes to their anxiety and social anxiety remember i said
generalized anxiety the person is anxious about a multitude of things in social anxiety the anxiety
is specifically about being negatively evaluated by people can you have both yes potentially but we
do need if somebody has a social anxiety component we need to make sure that we're addressing
that in addition to the generalized anxiety the general treatment flow that i go through
with general with generalized anxiety in this initial meeting we have talked about
triggers vulnerabilities and current effective strategies that the person uses so i take all
of those and i put them into a spreadsheet and we look for themes and i give them to the
per give the spreadsheet to the person so they are more aware they can start identifying
vulnerabilities and triggers that they want to address i also refer people to their
primary care to rule out physical causes and contributors like hormone imbalances nutritional
deficiencies chronic pain if they need to be or they want to be referred to a nutritionist
or a sleep specialist i also make a referral to those particular people at that point in time i
also have people start keeping a daily anxiety log in which they note the date the time the trigger
or triggers for their anxiety the intensity of their anxiety on a scale of one to four one
being yeah i noticed it but it wasn't a big deal two is i felt anxious but i was able to get
through just fine three is i felt really anxious but i managed somehow to get through it and
pushed through but it was really really hard and four the anxiety was overwhelming i just i
couldn't i was paralyzed so date time triggers intensity duration did it last five minutes or
five hours and what interventions what things did they do that helped to either reduce their anxiety
or help them recover after the anxiety episode and then henceforth each week we review their
anxiety logs that's like the first thing that i do with people after i ask them you know
how's your week been we look at the anxiety logs and i evaluate it for repeating triggers and
repeating themes for their anxiety then we process at least three of their triggers for their anxiety
and i use the fcp method what are the facts for and against your belief about this situation what
aspects did you have control of in this situation and based on the facts and your ability
to control the factors you had control of what's the probability that this
actually would have ended up being a catastrophe would have actually ended up
being a notable threat that's where we start a lot of times helping people move away from
emotional reasoning into factual reasoning gives them a sense of new perspective and a greater
sense of mastery over the situation they may not feel like they can control it yet but they're
feeling like they have a better understanding eventually as we go through the treatment process
people will learn about cognitive restructuring dialectics living in the and purposeful action and
hardiness and we'll apply each one of those tools as they learn them when we process their
triggers i also look at their anxiety logs for potential vulnerabilities and i and i
identify mitigation strategies include setting and maintaining boundaries assertiveness
and trigger management so for example if one of their common triggers was interacting
with their boss or interacting with their sister-in-law then i would say okay what
mitigation strategies could we use how can you effectively set and maintain healthy
boundaries and manage this trigger in a meaningful way may not be able to completely prevent the
anxiety but how can we help you move from a four where you're completely paralyzed by your anxiety
to a three where you can start you can get through it it sucks but you can get through it and
then eventually we'll get down to a one we discuss what tools have been effective
in the past week it's really important in my mind to help people identify and build on
their strengths and realize the power that they already have realize the resources that they
already have that they may be taking for granted and then i provide a video handout and worksheet
on a particular psycho-education topic and it's important for a lot of people to have a video
that kind of explains it and walks them through it and then a handout or worksheet to apply
it why do i do this for in between sessions because i feel that people's money is best
spent when they're in session with me actually processing stuff the psychoeducation component i
think is something in most cases is something that people can spend their time learning between
sessions i don't want to waste their money lecturing them when they could watch a video on
it i want to spend their time in session actually using what they've learned
and applying the information so the psycho-education topics that i
think are important for everybody to learn about the function of anxiety its connection
to the stress response and the impact of fight or flight on perception and problem solving and i
mentioned that several times in this video that when we're in fight-or-flight mode we don't pay
attention to the good stuff we are actually more aware of more of the threats in the environment
because we are on high alert so to speak which means we tend to perceive the world as
more dangerous and because of all that because of the glutamate and the norepinephrine and
everything else in our brain it makes it harder to think clearly our brain is has tunnel vision
adrenaline haze whatever you want to call it that is geared towards helping us fight or flee
not think about all the possible options and problem solving so until people can get
into what linehan called the wise mind until people can get out of that high anxiety state
it's going to be difficult to problem solve then we talk about distress tolerance
skills which are the skills that people need when they feel anxious to help them
remember that they can tolerate the distress so they don't feed into it by saying oh my
gosh this is going to overwhelm me i'm not going to be able to handle it these distress
tolerance skills help people feel more empowered even in the face of anxiety and can
help them get into their wise mind we talk about circadian rhythms and sleep
hygiene because it's so important for developing new skills for learning new things
as well as for helping the hpa access the threat and neurotransmitter support what we eat is
broken down to make neurotransmitters to make hormones to repair the body so if we're eating
like crap we're probably going to feel like crap a lot of people want to get straight down to the
nitty-gritty of how can i improve my serotonin my dopamine my norepinephrine and ultimately
everything is in a fine balance so if one goes up one happy chemical goes up the other ones are
likely going to go up too but that requires a healthy diet for example making serotonin to
break down tryptophan we need to have vitamin b we need to have calcium we need to have
zinc we need to have iron we need to have tryptophan itself and then to break down it goes
from tryptophan to 5 ht then to break that down even more we need even more vitamins and
minerals so it's important that people understand the importance of a healthy diet but
also understand the regular foods that they can eat to support their body's ability to make those
neurotransmitters like spinach and bananas and cocoa and tea and colorful vegetables it's not
anything that's really weird wild and radical next we talk about mindfulness the difference
between focused mindfulness so you're focusing on something like a candle flame or open
awareness mindfulness where you're walking through a park for example and you're not focusing on
any one thing in particular you're just noticing quote everything as you walk down the
path that open awareness encourages you to be mindful be in the moment instead of
thinking instead of being in your own head and then mindfulness in terms of the self scan
mindfully scanning your your head heart and gut so to speak how am i feeling emotionally how am i
feeling physically what am i needing emotionally what am i needing physically right now the next
lesson is on compassion and loving-kindness developing compassion for yourself as well
as other people a lot of times anxiety comes from fears of being rejected
fears of being criticized fears of not being good enough and sometimes that comes
because your own inner critic is just harsh and hateful so developing self-compassion
recognizing that it's okay to be imperfect can be helpful to encourage people to move towards
self-acceptance as opposed to self-abandonment and loving-kindness meditation is helpful to inspire compassion for others even
others that are being kind of difficult the next unit or topic is cognitive distortions
what they are their function and restructuring them cognitive distortions include think
things like all or none thinking mind reading and catastrophizing and over personalization so
we talk about how those thinking errors are likely thinking strategies that formed in childhood
before you could think more critically so to speak and often remained unchecked then we talk
about alternatives such as looking for alternatives instead of thinking it always
happens or it never happens looking for exceptions you know when has this happened if i if i say it
never happens is that true or are there exceptions if i'm taking things too personally instead of
saying it's all about me or the person's mad at me or hates me what are three other explanations
for why they may have given you a dirty look besides you you were they even did they even see
you or were they caught in their own thoughts then we move on to optimism and i
have in here tragic optimism because unbridled optimism can be just as unhealthy as
unbridled pessimism tragic optimism includes an element of dialectics and living in the
and in tragic optimism we recognize what is but we have hope that it can get better we
recognize the good and the bad and the present and we have hope that we can make a difference
to move towards a more rich and meaningful life unit 9 looks at schema schema
are our brains cliff notes our brain shortcut to help us interpret what
to happen you have schema about everything stop lights i'm assuming everybody who's
watching drives and so you have a schema when you see a stop light that's on yellow
you have a schema that tells you how to react if you think that yellow lights are really long
and you've got plenty of time to get through then you're going to keep on going or maybe even
floor it if you think that yellow lights tend to change really quickly and you don't want to run
the red light then you're probably going to stop so based on your past experiences with yellow
lights you're going to react in the current moment probably without thinking about it you're
not going to sit there and go okay well the last three times i came to this light it changed
really fast it's just sort of an automatic process that's the beauty of schema it helps us do some
of our things in default mode or on autopilot unfortunately if somebody's been exposed to trauma
or has been anxious for a long time then their schema may have been altered to expect that
the world is going to always be a dangerous disempowering un unpleasant place so it's going
to be important to evaluate their schema back then that may have been true in the current context
at the current time is this schema still accurate if so okay how do we deal with it if not how can
you adjust your schema relationships are the same way if you've been in multiple bad relationships
you may expect that people aren't trustworthy but that really sets everybody else up to be
at a loss because you're just expecting they're going to behave badly if you adjust your schema
and you say okay in this context at this time with this person are my beliefs about
what's going on are my expectations true or am i just assuming based on other
people's behaviors and past experiences number 10 is creating a rich and meaningful
life vision board helping people visualize what things are important in their rich and meaningful
life what things do they currently have that are important in their rich and meaningful life and
instead of using their energy just holding on to anxiety and tossing it around in their hands like
a hot potato how can they instead use that energy to nurture the things that are important in their
life and what kind of a difference would that make number 11 is acceptance purposeful action
and heartiness helping people recognize that sometimes life just sucks it is what
it is so to speak but using their energy purposefully instead of using their energy
to be angry about it and stew on it and pout using their energy and saying okay can't change
this situation but what can i change what can i use this energy for that would help me
move closer to a rich and meaningful life number 12 moves into relationships and
interpersonal behaviors and i start out with setting and maintaining boundaries a
lot of times people feel anxious because they have never been taught how to set boundaries
and maintain them they have other people have encroached on their boundaries and told them
what to think or what to feel or criticized them for how they think or how they feel and so
learning how to set and maintain boundaries is really important to helping people feel empowered
and safe in any relationship in section 13 we talk about secure attachment positive self-talk and
the inner child so there's a lot there hopefully by this point in treatment people's triggers
and anxiety experiences are a lot less intense and a lot less frequent so they have more time
to spend on developing additional skills but in order to feel safe in order to feel loved people
typically need to have some secure attachments including a secure attachment with self feeling
like you can be there to respond to your own needs so we talk about what secure attachment
looks like how secure attachment is developed how to use positive self-talk to enhance
your secure attachment with yourself and to help heal your inner child that may
have been wounded because of past things in unit 14 we talk talk more about the inner
critic because the inner critic is huge and contributes to a lot of people's anxiety the
inner critic may bring up past stuff remember back then you failed you're going to fail again
which can trigger anxiety or the inner critic can bring up anticipatory things you
think you're going to be able to do this you're going to fail and
then this is what's going to happen and the sky is going to fall so getting that
inner critic under control is really important in 15 we talk about listening without
defensiveness because defensiveness is a anxiety anger threat reaction when people feel
like they're being criticized or when people feel like others don't necessarily agree with
them the automatic reaction for a lot of people is to feel threatened and to get defensive
so we talk about how to hear other people's opinions maintain your own boundaries and not
get defensive you don't have to agree with them but it's important to be able to listen and then
finally in unit 16 we talk about assertiveness in order to feel safe and empowered which is what
you need to do to feel not threatened to feel less anxious it's important to be able to assertively
communicate your thoughts wants and needs so we talk about any barriers to assertiveness
and how to assertively communicate what you need to others while still respecting
their boundaries and maintaining yours that gives you a general overview of the types
of things that i go through in a 12 to 16 week treatment program with somebody who presents with
generalized anxiety now remember every individual is different so i may add things like a unit on
abandonment anxiety or a unit on grief and loss for people based on what their the themes of their
anxiety triggers are but the skills that i have already gone over the skills that i've highlighted
in this presentation i think are essential foundational skills for anybody to prevent
anxiety and to deal with it when it does happen
#Top #Cognitive #Strategies #Reduce #Anxiety
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Man I’m on Zoloft and mirtazapine tho 🙁 so scared to get off I never felt like the Zoloft helped much even after months was feeling bad but it def hurt when I tried getting off it i hope one day I can get off them with out my anxiety coming back feel like I lost all my progress with the withdrawal
❤I came acrossed a wealth of information 🎉ty
I love the idea of pointing out peoples strengths that they otherwise can’t see themselves, would be very helpful 👌🏼
Great info, I listened to her years ago during my trauma with family and using substances to cope. The commercials interrupting are triggering me. Ima keep my eyes on Jesus. Amen. Thank you. Sending love and healing in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
I don't know if i got anxiety or stress or depression for last 4 months my life got really hell 1st my father had stroke, after that I at only age of 28 diagnosed with Hypertension. I say myself its ok i can manage that, but after 1 month i again got diagnosed with PRE-DAIBATES with 6.4 HbA1c test result. I just don't know if it because of Stress and Anxiety. After my father stroke i am really stressed about family situations. Even now my head feels heavy and always thinking about family and my own health. I just don't know how to overcome it.
I need to find someone that can sit with me and talk so I can figure out why I’m like I am I’m really trying to find myself and over come everything
This is a very informative video! Is it possible to get copies of the Worksheets and/or Videos you share with your clients?
Excellent skills thank you
Thank you so much, my darling. You provide real clarity and empathy. More power to you. All my love and respect for your work.
When you’re being taken care of, it’s not easy to leave situations that are negative
班代表:
1. 診斷焦慮的基本標準
診斷 廣泛性焦慮症 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder, GAD) 的主要標準之一是持續 六個月 或更長時間,對多方面事務的過度焦慮,並且難以控制這種情緒。值得注意的是,即使焦慮情緒尚未達到診斷的標準,我們仍應及早處理焦慮情緒,而非等到情況惡化。
2. 焦慮的觸發因素與脆弱性
焦慮的 觸發因素 是指引發焦慮情緒的具體事件或情境。這些觸發因素可能與 失敗、拒絕、控制感喪失 等有關。除此之外,還有一些 脆弱性 使人更易被觸發焦慮情緒,例如 過度攝取咖啡因、睡眠不足、身體不適 或是處於陌生的環境等。
3. 有效的應對策略
了解個人目前使用的應對策略至關重要。這些策略可以幫助緩解焦慮,即使只是暫時性的,至少可以提供幫助。進一步分析這些策略,有助於找到最適合個人情況的緩解方法。
4. 身體與情緒的症狀管理
除了情緒症狀,肌肉緊張、睡眠障礙、疲勞感 等也是常見的焦慮症狀。這些症狀不僅與焦慮有關,還可能受到其他因素的影響。例如,睡眠衛生 是許多治療方案的關鍵部分,改善睡眠有助於減少焦慮的整體症狀。
5. 專注與記憶的挑戰
焦慮也常會帶來 集中注意力困難 或是 思維空白 的情況。這與過度的警覺性和對環境威脅的過度關注有關。有效的策略如 噪音取消耳機 或在 安靜的環境 中工作,能有效幫助專注並減少干擾。
6. 自我察覺與生活調整
在處理焦慮的過程中,了解自己的脆弱性、觸發因素及應對方式十分重要。記錄日常焦慮情況 及其觸發因素,可以幫助個人更清楚地識別並應對焦慮。
7. 結合身心治療
焦慮症的治療不僅需要關注心理層面的調整,還需要排除 身體健康問題 以及其他心理健康問題,如 營養不良、荷爾蒙不平衡、或是 慢性疼痛 等,這些都可能對焦慮情緒有影響。
8. 多角度處理焦慮
在針對焦慮情緒進行治療時,除了常見的認知行為療法,還可以從 睡眠、運動、營養 等多方面進行綜合調整,這些措施不僅能直接改善情緒,還能增強身體的抗壓能力。
9. 長期的自我觀察與調整
最後,透過 焦慮日誌 來持續記錄並回顧自己的焦慮模式,對每個觸發因素的反應及應對措施進行分析,能幫助我們對焦慮有更深刻的認識,並且促使我們逐步改善。 通過這些策略的實踐,我們不僅可以減少焦慮的頻率和強度,還能夠在生活中建立更強的抗壓能力。每一個小的進步,都將為我們帶來更穩定、更自信的生活狀態。
1. 事實與情緒分辨
首先,將情緒推理轉為事實推理有助於改變我們對困境的看法。當面對焦慮情境時,了解自己能控制哪些因素,並分析這些因素是否真的會導致災難,可以有效降低焦慮感。此過程中,事實推理有助於清晰地看到情況,並重新評估威脅的程度。
2. 認知重建與辯證法
在治療過程中,學會進行認知重建(Cognitive Restructuring)與辯證法的應用是核心。這不僅幫助個體從高焦慮狀態回到理性思考,還強化了他們對情況的掌控感。隨著治療的進展,患者會逐步掌握更多技能,並能有效管理自己的焦慮觸發點。
3. 焦慮觸發點與邊界設定
焦慮往往源自於人際互動,特別是與權威人物或家庭成員的接觸。學會設定與維護健康邊界,以及適當管理焦慮觸發點,能顯著減少焦慮的頻率和強度。這不意味著完全消除焦慮,而是從完全無力的情況中進步到能夠容忍並逐步處理情緒的狀態。
4. 睡眠與營養的關聯
睡眠衛生與營養支持是管理焦慮的基礎。充足的睡眠有助於恢復身體的抗壓能力,而營養則直接影響神經遞質的製造。良好的飲食習慣,例如攝取富含色胺酸、維生素B、鋅的食物,對保持身心健康至關重要。
5. 正念練習與自我同情
正念練習不僅幫助個體活在當下,還能讓他們從頭腦的混亂中解脫出來,實現情緒與身體的和諧。此外,自我同情的發展尤為重要,因為焦慮往往來自對自己過於苛刻的批評。學會接受自己的不完美,能讓我們更具自信,減少對他人反應的過度焦慮。
6. 認知扭曲的識別與挑戰
我們的大腦常常進行不合理的推理,這些認知扭曲(如全或無思維、心靈讀取和災難化等)可能讓我們過度焦慮。學會識別這些扭曲,並尋找更加理性和積極的替代解釋,是減輕焦慮的有效方法。
7. 應對技巧與情緒耐受
情緒耐受技巧幫助個體在焦慮爆發時能夠保持冷靜,從而避免情緒過度反應。這些技巧強調承認焦慮情緒的存在,並學會管理這些情緒,而不是讓它們主導行為。
8. 建立有意義的人生願景
有意識地建立一個充滿意義的人生願景,幫助個體聚焦於生活中重要的事物,減少焦慮的攪擾。這不僅能夠讓人放下無謂的焦慮,還能將精力集中在實現目標上,從而增強生活的充實感。
9. 應用樂觀心態
學會發展一種帶有悲劇性的樂觀心態,即使面對生活中的不如意,仍能保持希望和前進的動力。這種心態強調接受現實,並擁抱生活中的光明與黑暗,勇於迎接未來的挑戰。
10. 人際關係與界限設置
最後,學會在人際關係中有效地設置界限。這不僅有助於減少他人對我們情感的侵害,還能幫助我們在遭遇壓力時保持內心的平靜與穩定。這些策略的核心是自我主張,能讓個體在不威脅他人的情況下表達自己的需求。 透過這些策略,個體能夠有效管理焦慮,並提升自己的情緒應對能力。最終,這不僅有助於減少焦慮的干擾,還能讓每個人活得更有掌控感和意義感。
Thank you! I came across your videos today and I appreciate your enthusiasm
Use the emotion code to remove these trapped emotions and the heart wall and you will get over it faster then what she is doing. I'm Certified in this technique. Email me for details
Hello dr snipes Hope u r fine
My mental health is upset after Covid I feel really scare by listening any body passing away news in my surroundings it made me v scary it makes me panic my heart beat becomes faster by this scary newses only I never listened it and ppl often say me I have evil eye where as I don’t have such problems what should I do to b in safe hands kindly reply
Give your fear anxiety and worry to God in exchange for His peace love joy etc and believe it and get up and go out and remember to quote Scripture, listen to Christian music, pray and journal and talk to other Christians – do all this daily get you ( I) off your mind and put God first – stop saying it is hard! <><🙏✝️ = ❤️😀☮️
How can I rules these medical things out? My doctors aren’t helping me.
Like your point, l thought you could be little less in the argument of caffeine. ( and what you meant too much) .
Excellent 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻
I went to the ER last week and doctor told me I had an anxiety attack. I didn’t know anything about this, one week and it’s been horrible living through this. I am so scared because it feels like I am going to die. Please help me. What can I do to help with this
11:46 ur right 😭
Thank u, god bless u 🙏🏾
How can I get help with CBT you pretty much spoke my language.
Really need this video information for me
I feel anxiety moving into my tummy in the form of gas and it causes burning sensation in different parts of my body also makes feel like I can’t breathe sometimes. And it happens at different times for different reasons
This is a very underrated video!
I experience or belief my bp will either drop too low or too high which will result in tragic end. This makes me always Panic and most times skip my meds which later doesnt turn out good.
I wish I could find a Dr. like you here!
I have anxiety so bad I can't listen to your video. Because it's complicated and doesn't make sense. You go through so much introducturing that I already know about. Pisses me off.