Yes! This is so helpful Ashley. I am now focusing on what the opportunities are. To be honest there are no real threats or risks, so why focus on worry or anxiety. My situation is just different, not life threatening :) Oh no!!!!!! I was a reassurance junkie. I still have to work on it from time to time, so as not to fall back into that pattern. I never thought of it as increasing anxiety, but it does, not to mention how exhausting and draining it is for others around you to constantly reassure you. Great insights - thanks for making me aware of them. You're awesome!
There are a number of CBT techniques that are commonly used to help
people challenge worry including: thought records, thought stopping,
worry time, challenging the value of worry, problem solving, experiments
to increase intolerance of uncertainty and cognitive exposure. Let’s
take a look at them one at a time:
Experiments to build tolerance
of uncertainty: Uncertainty tends to increase our anxiety and anxiety
tends to reduce our tolerance for uncertainty. People who worry a lot
tend to be more anxious and less tolerant of uncertainty compared to
people who do not worry. One way to think about this is that change and
uncertainty is always a double-edged sword. In times of uncertainty
there is always risk (threat) as well as opportunity (challenge). When
faced with uncertainty, most people who worry a little can see both the
risk (threat) in the situation as well as the opportunity (challenge).
Unfortunately, people who worry see only the threat and no the
opportunity. One way to challenge your intolerance of uncertainty is to
always ask yourself “What is the risk or threat here?” but don’t forget
to ask “What is the opportunity?”
Another way
to challenge worry (the “What if…?”) is to try to increase your
tolerance for uncertainty. This can be done either by conducting
experiments to see what happens or using the exposure techniques that
are described in the Panic Program. The first step is to figure out what
behaviors you do to reduce your worry. For example, many people who
worry need to do things the same way all of the time, do a lot of
checking, or need to constantly ask for reassurance from family friends
and doctors. One way to think about these behaviors is that when you do
them, they reduce your anxiety for a little while but only until you
have the same worry again. The trick is to challenge the behavior,
experience the uncertainty and an increase in anxiety and then not do
the same thing, or check or ask for reassurance and see what happens.
You can get more information about how to do this kind of exposure in a
gradual step-by-step way by using the Panic Program.
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