Practical Strategies to Manage Anxiety

‘When you change the way you think, you can change the way you feel’_ David D. Burns.

Anxiety often arises from distorted thinking patterns, such as catastrophizing or overgeneralizing, which can intensify negative emotions. Sometimes identifying them takes time. Here are some tested ways to regulate anxiety problems:

1. Identifying Your Triggers: Triggers can be external events, situations, or even internal thoughts and feelings. By identifying specific triggers, one can gain insight into the specific circumstances that exacerbate one’s anxiety, allowing them to develop targeted coping strategies.
2. Identifying Irrational Beliefs: Recognizing and acknowledging irrational beliefs that contribute to one’s anxiety, such as the Belief that – One absolutely must be able to achieve their goals or one becomes ‘unworthy’ or cannot tolerate it.
3. Challenging Irrational Beliefs: Questioning the validity of Irrational Beliefs by asking for evidence to support them and checking if whether they are functional enough to hold onto or more useful to give up. It helps to challenge thoughts like “I absolutely must not fail” or “I can’t handle uncertainty” by considering flexible and non-extreme perspectives to change faulty attitudes.
4. Practicing Rational Self-Talk: Replacing Irrational Beliefs with rational self-talk based in realism, to combat anxious thoughts with statements like “I can cope with uncertainty” or “It’s tolerable even if I make mistakes.”
5. Embracing Uncertainty: Learning to embrace uncertainty by challenging the belief that one must have complete control over outcomes, is very beneficial. Focusing on what one can control in the present moment rather than worrying about the future helps.
6. Employing Relaxation Techniques: Incorporating relaxation techniques such as deep breathing or mindfulness meditation into one’s daily routine to regulate the mind and body, not used as the only technique but as an additional strategy while challenging your Irrational Beliefs can help to respond healthily to stress, safe-guarding your mental health.
7. Taking Proactive Steps: Break tasks down into smaller, manageable steps reminding yourself that it you can get to it one step at a time can make it achievable and reduce the overwhelm.
8. Developing Coping Strategies: Identifying healthy coping strategies that can work for you while working on your Irrational Beliefs, such as engaging in hobbies, seeking support from friends and family, or practicing self-care activities can be beneficial. Having a range of coping mechanisms can help one to navigate challenging situations more effectively.
9. Cultivating Self-Compassion & Self-Acceptance: Treating yourself with kindness and understanding, especially during times of heightened anxiety is essential in healing. Remember that it’s okay to feel anxious and vulnerable because you’re human first, without judging yourself for your vulnerability and offer yourself the same compassion you would offer to a friend.
10. Challenging Perfectionism: Challenging the Belief that one must be ‘’ Funnily, despite our knowledge of the flaw with this expectation, sometimes, we can continue to be dogmatic about it with ourselves and be extremely harsh with ourselves regardless. When that happens, please know that it might be a part of your Core Belief sytems and it will need more long term, systematic strategies to change such an attitudinal problem.
11. Seeking Professional Support: If anxiety persists despite your efforts, consider seeking professional help from one of our therapists at AltMindShift, trained in REBT (the original form of CBT), evidenced in its treatment techniques for anxiety problems.

I have attempted to uncover some of the basic REBT techniques in this article, which help to cultivate greater resilience in the face of stressors.

To conclude, I will add that managing anxiety is a journey, and it’s okay to seek support along the way. With practice and perseverance, one can learn to navigate anxious thoughts and emotions with confidence.

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