# Quotes & Tips on Anxiety



## Daniel (Dec 29, 2020)

An Alternative Theory of Generalized Anxiety Disorder
					


People with GAD worry a lot. But what do they actually fear?





					www.psychologytoday.com
				




According to their Contrast Avoidance Model (CAM), what worry prevents is not negative emotional arousal per se, but rather sharp negative emotional _swings_...

This notion is analogous to the idea that some people adopt consistent pessimism as a way to avoid crushing disappointments...

Moreover, despite the fact that chronic worry is stressful, emotionally noxious, and physically taxing, people with GAD tend to hold positive beliefs about worry, viewing it as a useful coping strategy, a means of preparing for trouble, and a motivational force toward self-protection. Commonly, worry thoughts become a protective superstition: Having worried much about catastrophes that failed to materialize, people with GAD come to believe that worrying in fact prevents catastrophes from happening. CAM theory suggests that worry's role in preventing sharp negative emotional turns may be another, central reason it is embraced and maintained...

If the new theory is supported further, it may have implications for therapy as well. GAD is difficult to treat successfully, and this may be due in part to our incomplete understanding of the nature of fear in GAD. CAM suggests that a principal fear underlying worry in GAD is of negative emotional contrast. If that's the case, then therapists may usefully look to target specifically clients’ contrast avoidance—for example, by repeatedly following relaxation with negative emotional stimuli or by exposing clients to contrasting pleasant and then unpleasant images in quick succession. Facing the fear of negative contrast experiences directly may help extinguish it, thus releasing clients from GAD's worry trap.


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## Daniel (Jan 11, 2021)

Could You Be Doing Mindfulness Wrong?

Acceptance of yourself -- anxieties included -- can help you bounce back from anxious moments more gracefully, resulting in more confidence and less worry.


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## Daniel (Jan 26, 2021)

To successfully treat depression, the focus must be on the root cause, which is the anxiety. Anxiety is not a diagnosis, but a term that describes a heightened neurochemical state. Since this unconscious survival response is hundreds of thousands of times more powerful than the conscious brain, it cannot be controlled by isolated rational interventions. 

So, how do you decrease anxiety? You decrease the levels of the stress chemicals.

The two general ways of accomplishing this are direct methods that calm the nervous system. Some of the techniques include mindfulness, meditation, martial arts, exercise, and short-term medications. The other category is dampening the chemical reaction by stimulating neuroplastic changes in your brain. Instead of automatically reacting to stress, you create some “space” between the stimulus and response and then redirect your attention to a more functional choice...

By creating the separate diagnostic categories of anxiety, depression, and chronic pain, we are taking the focus off of the root cause being relentless anxiety. One alternative would be to say that remaining in a hyper-vigilant, neurochemical state results in a constellation of symptoms, one of which is depression. The manifestations of this heightened state also include chronic mental and physical pain.

The most effective way to treat depression is to utilize one of the many effective methods to calm down the nervous system.

~ David Hanscom, MD


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## Daniel (Jan 28, 2021)

The Characteristics of High Functioning Anxiety




 Some possible reasons you might not have sought help for high functioning anxiety include:


    You consider it a double-edged sword and don't want to lose the positive influence of anxiety on your achievements.


    You are worried that your work will suffer if you are not constantly driven to work hard out of fear.


    You might think that because you seem to be achieving (strictly from an objective standpoint) it means you do not "need help" for your anxiety—or perhaps that you don't deserve help.


    You might think that everyone struggles the way that you do and may think of it as normal. On the other hand, you might believe that you are just "bad" at dealing with life stress.


    You've never told anyone about your internal struggles and your silence has reinforced the feeling that you can't ask for help.


    You might believe that no one would support you in asking for or seeking help because they have not seen you struggle.


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## Daniel (Feb 11, 2021)

Being too harsh on yourself could lead to OCD and anxiety: A correlation was found between strong feelings of responsibility and likelihood of developing OCD or GAD
					


A new study has found that people who reported intense feelings of responsibility were susceptible to developing Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) or Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).




					www.sciencedaily.com
				




When asked for any tips to reduce anxiety or obsessive behaviors he said:

"[A] very quick or easy way is to realize that responsibility is working behind your worry. I ask [patients] "Why are you worried so much?" so they will answer "I can't help but worry" but they will not spontaneously think "Because I feel responsibility" ... just realizing it will make some space between responsibility thinking and your behavior."


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## Daniel (Feb 18, 2021)

Anxiety Relief Can Be a Step Away | bpHope.com
					


Hope & Harmony Headlines  •  SubscribeFebruary 18, 2021 • Volume 14, Issue 7 Charlie Chaplin once said: “Nothing is permanent in this wicked world—not





					www.bphope.com
				




*“Lacing up your sneakers and getting out and moving may be the single best nonmedical solution we have for preventing and treating anxiety,”* says John J. Ratey, MD. It decreases muscle tension, builds up resources that boost resilience, and activates the part of the brain that reacts to both real and imagined threats.


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## Daniel (Feb 23, 2021)




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## Daniel (Mar 2, 2021)




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## Daniel (Mar 11, 2021)

"Your anxiety and uncertainty can ultimately be overcome, but only by confronting them and building up your tolerance to them."

~ Fred Penzel, PhD


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## Daniel (Mar 15, 2021)

Selective Attention and Anxiety: A Perspective on Developmental Issues and the Causal Status - Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment
					


A plethora of studies on selective information processing in anxiety have been carried out over the past two decades. One of the most robust findings is that anxiety is associated with selective attention (SA) for threatening information. The rationale of research into SA is that it is assumed...





					link.springer.com
				




"One of the most robust findings is that anxiety is associated with selective attention (SA) for threatening information."


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## Daniel (Mar 17, 2021)

“Liminality is an inner state and sometimes an outer situation where people can begin to think and act in genuinely new ways. It is when we are betwixt and between, have left one room but not yet entered the next room, any hiatus between stages of life, jobs, loves, or relationships. It is that graced time when we are not certain or in control, when something genuinely new can happen.”

“… It is when you have left the tried and true, but have not yet been able to replace it with anything else. It is when you are between your old comfort zone and any possible new answer. If you are not trained in how to hold anxiety, how to live with ambiguity, how to entrust and wait, you will run . . . anything to flee this terrible cloud of unknowing.” 

~ Richard Rohr


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## Daniel (Mar 17, 2021)

Wise Mind and Therapeutic Surrender
					


Here's a better alternative to "thinking positive."





					www.psychologytoday.com
				




When Therapeutic Surrender is well learned and has become your automatic response, here is what happens: the anxious thoughts *no longer matter*. They can’t derail you. They come and go. They happen less often. They fade away. It is an indirect path to reducing distress, not a direct one.


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## Daniel (Mar 24, 2021)

Releasing the Grip of Fear
					


Most of us are aware of how fear holds us back in our lives. With Releasing the Grip of Fear, renowned meditation teacher and psychologist Tara Brach offers an in-depth video training course to help you change the way you deal with fear—so you lower your defenses and can be open and caring in...





					www.soundstrue.com
				




Stepping out of the “virtual reality” of our fearful stories and into the safety of the present moment.


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## Daniel (Mar 25, 2021)




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## Daniel (Mar 29, 2021)

__





						Stress | Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA
					


Everyone experiences stress and anxiety at one time or another. The difference between them is that stress is a response to a threat in a situation. Anxiety is a reaction to the stress.





					adaa.org
				




Everyone experiences stress and anxiety at one time or another. The difference between them is that stress is a response to a threat in a situation. Anxiety is a reaction to the stress. Whether in good times or bad, most people say that stress interferes at least moderately with their lives.


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## Daniel (Apr 17, 2021)

“Compare and despair.”

~ unknown


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## Daniel (Apr 24, 2021)




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## Daniel (May 1, 2021)

Daniel said:


> Selective Attention and Anxiety: A Perspective on Developmental Issues and the Causal Status - Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment
> 
> 
> 
> ...











						How anxiety warps your perception
					


An anxious mindset can change the way you view the world in profound ways. But could a simple new treatment offer a way out of the perpetual fear?





					www.bbc.com
				




Anxiety can be a debilitating condition, but new research is showing that we can reverse these biases directly using various types of attention training. Furthermore, this training is now offered through easy-to-use software and even smartphone apps.

The most popular type of training is known as Attention Bias Modification Training (ABMT), also known more generally as Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM). Although the type of specific task used varies, the general idea is roughly the same. In a typical training session, every few seconds a display featuring both positive and negative images appears on the screen — usually happy and angry faces — which is repeated hundreds of times. Since anxiety is associated with a tendency to focus on negative stimuli, the goal of the task is to locate or respond to the positive images with a button response or a tap on the screen. By doing this over and over, and ideally, over the course of days or weeks, the brain is trained to habitually focus attention away from threat and negative information towards positive information.


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## Daniel (May 2, 2021)

__





						Perfectionism: Are You Sure It Pays Off?
					


Perfectionism: Are You Sure It Pays Off? By Jeff Szymanski, Ph.D. OCD Chicago  The “Real” Problem With Perfectionism If you ask someone with OCD about the payoffs for engaging in compulsive behavior (what desired outcomes do you get), he or she will typically respond by saying:  “It is the only...




					forum.psychlinks.ca
				




If anxiety is your decision maker (“I have to do well at everything or it is catastrophic”), then you waste enormous amounts of time on less important, valuable tasks.


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## Daniel (May 2, 2021)

"We’re in a freefall into future. We don’t know where we’re going. Things are changing so fast, and always when you’re going through a long tunnel, anxiety comes along. And all you have to do to transform your hell into a paradise is to turn your fall into a voluntary act. It’s a very interesting shift of perspective and that’s all it is… joyful participation in the sorrows and everything changes."

~ Joseph Campbell


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## David Baxter PhD (May 2, 2021)

I love Joseph Campbell. I watched his PBS series with Bill Moyers years ago and bought the book, _The Power of Myth: Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers_. Worth a read.


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## Daniel (May 4, 2021)




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## Daniel (May 4, 2021)

"You can relax because everything you could ever want or be, you already have and are."

~ _I Heart Huckabees_


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## Daniel (May 4, 2021)




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## Daniel (May 5, 2021)

“If you surrender to uncertainty, nothing goes wrong.”

~ Deepak Chopra


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## Daniel (May 22, 2021)

Supporting a Partner With an Anxiety Disorder
					


Living with someone with an anxiety disorder can strain a romantic relationship.





					www.psychologytoday.com
				




“Patience, open-mindedness, and caring will go a long way to supporting a partner who is struggling with anxiety. We cannot 'cure' another person’s anxiety, but we can do our best to support them as they learn to manage it. Remember that anxiety does not define the person or your relationship. Work to build positive experiences together as a couple—laugh, travel, do things you enjoy, spend time with friends, have fun. These positive experiences can serve as a buffer to the stress anxiety can cause.”

~ Kathleen Tallon


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## Daniel (Jul 12, 2021)

Shift from Worry to Wonder
					


Shift from Worry to Wonder  Whenever our mind desperately tries to control some future event, we experience anxiety and worry. Worry creates an image of an event or problem that's in future and then – like a faithful servant – our body tries to work on it. This plays a dirty trick on the body by...




					forum.psychlinks.ca
				




*Expect a surprise.* Tell your worrying mind to take a break and expect a surprise. Practice rapidly shifting from trying to know what's going to happen in the future to being comfortable wondering what interesting solutions and surprises soon will occur to you. Tell your worrying mind "You haven't the foggiest idea how we'll get through this one, so it's going to be a surprise. This is going to be interesting."


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## Daniel (Jul 18, 2021)

Phone Call Anxiety: Why So Many of Us Have It, and How to Get Over It
					


If you find phone calls stressful, there are a few things you can do to make it easier.





					getpocket.com
				




One of the most effective ways to overcome phone anxiety is to expose yourself to more phone calls. The more you do it, the less overwhelming it becomes. It’s also likely that your phone anxiety is linked to a lack of experience. The more practice you have, the less anxious and more confident you’ll feel.


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## gooblax (Jul 19, 2021)

Daniel said:


> Phone Call Anxiety: Why So Many of Us Have It, and How to Get Over It
> 
> 
> 
> ...


True although it's really difficult to get started.


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## Daniel (Jul 19, 2021)

That was the good thing about rotary phones.   You could work off your anxiety by dialing the number


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## gooblax (Jul 19, 2021)

I never used a functional rotary phone, only had one as a toy. I like dancing to call waiting music to get rid of anxiety, but it's anxiety inducing when they loop the music with a giant click-pause that sounds like someone has answered, only to resume the music.


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## Daniel (Jul 21, 2021)

“Anything I have ever done that was ultimately worthwhile, initially scared me to death!”  

―    Helen Keller


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## Daniel (Jul 21, 2021)

“Anxiety and desire are two, often conflicting, orientations to the unknown. Both are tilted toward the future. Desire implies a willingness, or a need, to engage this unknown, while anxiety suggests a fear of it. Desire takes one out of oneself, into the possibility or relationship, but it also takes one deeper into oneself. Anxiety turns one back on oneself, but only onto the self that is already known.” 

"Meditation showed me that the other side of anxiety is desire. They exist in relationship to each other, not independently.”

  ―      Mark Epstein,            O_pen to Desire: Embracing a Lust for Life -- Insights from Buddhism and Psychotherapy_


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## Daniel (Jul 21, 2021)

“The way out Is through.”

  ―  various


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## Daniel (Jul 24, 2021)

“_þetta reddast_”   (‘it’ll all work out in the end’)

~ Icelandic saying


"I think the Icelanders had to face so many hardships that they learned to meet adversity with a combination of _laissez-faire_ and capitulation. It’s something that became ingrained in the Icelandic people through centuries of living with a climate and landscape that always had the upper hand, against which you had to surrender, again and again, because you couldn’t fight them. It’s difficult in Iceland not to feel your insignificance against the elements.”

~ Alda Sigmundsdóttir


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## Daniel (Jul 25, 2021)

Breaking Anxiety's Bizarre Death Loop
					


What marching army ants can teach us about escaping the grip of dread.





					www.psychologytoday.com
				




The complex societies of eusocial insects like ants and bees can be a useful model for the workings of the human brain. In both cases, an intercommunicating population of dumb agents (insects/neurons) spontaneously gives rise to an entity capable of complex behavior (the hive/the brain). And, as it turns out, the human brain has its own version of the ant mill. It can get caught in a loop, so to speak, without anything being wrong with it organically...

When we feel fear, we’re not just following a trail; we’re leaving one too. That is to say, fear is not just a response to aversive stimuli, but an aversive stimulus itself. And so, like an ant mill, the path of fear can double back on itself.


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## Daniel (Jul 26, 2021)

Phenomenology of racing and crowded thoughts in mood disorders: A theoretical reappraisal​"Crowded thoughts may be conceptualized as a pathological thought process characterized by the occurrence of too many thoughts that co-exist almost simultaneously in consciousness, and that give to the subject a sense of constant and unpleasant agitation in his/her own thinking."









​

			Various forms of depression
		
Symptoms similar to those of mixed depression (especially irritability and psychomotor agitation) can be found in other Axis I disorders, especially in the anxiety disorders which frequently co-occur in mood disorders.  "Crowded thoughts,“ ie, the flooding of the mind by ideas which cannot be stopped, are similar to obsessive ruminations and to the ruminations of excessive worry. Irritability is frequent in major depressive disorder, and psychomotor agitation can be a sign of major depressive disorder or of anxiety. ”Anxious depression“ was defined as a major depressive disorder plus the ”psychic anxiety“ item of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, which includes excessive worrying.


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## Daniel (Jul 26, 2021)

Amazon.ca : Catching Thoughts
		

Have you ever had an unwelcome thought that you just couldn't get rid of, no matter how hard you tried to push it away?

In_ Catching Thoughts,_ a girl is plagued by an unwanted thought. No matter what she does--ignore it, yell at it, cry about it--the thought won't go away. Frustrated and discouraged, she finally looks that bad thought in the face and says, ""Hello."" At last, she is able to notice other more beautiful, positive thoughts all around her. As she catches hold of new thoughts, the girl discovers she can fill her mind with whatever she chooses.

For every child who has been weighed down by sadness or anxiety, this story teaches kids how to acknowledge unwanted thoughts, show them compassion, then actively replace them with positive thoughts instead._ Catching Thoughts _is a quiet, thoughtful story that teaches readers how to practice mindfulness, focusing on thoughts that bring beauty, joy, and calm into their lives.


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## Daniel (Jul 27, 2021)




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## Daniel (Jul 29, 2021)

Don't Feed the Monkey Mind: How to Stop the Cycle of Anxiety, Fear, and Worry (How to Stop the Cycle of the Anxiety, Fear, and Worry) eBook : Shannon, Jennifer, Shannon, Doug, Tompkins, Michael A.: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store
					


Don't Feed the Monkey Mind: How to Stop the Cycle of Anxiety, Fear, and Worry (How to Stop the Cycle of the Anxiety, Fear, and Worry) eBook : Shannon, Jennifer, Shannon, Doug, Tompkins, Michael A.: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store




					www.amazon.com


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## Daniel (Aug 9, 2021)

"What is important is how you treat your mind. If you take everything it says seriously, give it too much respect, and put too much trust in your mind, that is a recipe for an anxiety disorder."

~ Michael Stein, PsyD


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## Daniel (Aug 14, 2021)

Why Horror Films Are More Popular Than Ever
					


It feels good to control what will terrify you.





					nautil.us
				




"Several studies show that increasing perceived control, even if imaginary, reduces activation of brain regions that respond to threat and decreases anxiety."

"Horror films essentially offer a socially-sanctioned outlet for you to express your anxiety."


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## Daniel (Aug 19, 2021)

Living the HSP Life: Tips for Highly Sensitive People
					


Living the HSP Life: Tips for Highly Sensitive People positivelypresent.com September 22, 2019    Note: A lot of what I learned about Highly Sensitive People  (aside from my own personal experience), came from Elaine N. Aron's  book, The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World...




					forum.psychlinks.ca
				




*Trick your mind with your body.* Your mind often gets cues from your body, and you can sometimes use this to your advantage if you're feeling overstimulated. See, if you're super overwhelmed, your body is in that fight-or-flight mode, ready to take on a challenge or get the hell out of there. Your muscles are tense; your vision is focused; your blood is pumping to the places that need it most. But if you actively make an effort to breathe calmly, to unclench your fists, to relax your shoulders, your mind might get a message that there's nothing to be afraid of. This doesn't always work, of course, but it's worth trying! You can also trick your mind into believing you're more relaxed and less alert simply by shifting your body in subtle ways. Stand with confidence, even if you don't feel it. Uncross your arms and leave them loose at your sides. If you're frequently jittery, try to stand still. If there are too many lights, close your eyes for a minute. Too many sounds? Step outside or cover your ears. These small physical things can actually help you feel a bit less overwhelmed.


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## Daniel (Aug 23, 2021)

Sunday Scaries: 8 Ways to Beat the Dread
					


You know that low-grade dread you feel around the same time each week as your weekend winds down? Welcome to the Sunday scaries. We might be stuck with Mondays, but that doesn't mean they have to suck.





					www.healthline.com
				




While scientific research has yet to explore the Sunday scaries, an informal 2018 survey conducted by LinkedIn suggests this feeling is very common. Among the 1,017 adults surveyed, 80 percent said they experienced Sunday night anxiety.

Sure, this knowledge won’t fix the problem, but it might help to know that plenty of other people are feeling the same way you are as the weekend winds down...

*Make Mondays a special occasion. *Schedule things you look forward to, like a video call with distant friends, for Monday to take the edge off some of the dread.


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## Daniel (Aug 31, 2021)

The High Cost of Calm
					


Why relaxing is so much work.





					www.psychologytoday.com
				


​Accept your anxiety.​
Maybe you have to work harder than other people to find a place of calm, but that’s okay. Sometimes letting go of the need to control outcomes leads to greater acceptance of your circumstances. Reflecting on what you’ve accomplished should bring on the realization that as uncomfortable as worries make you, your track record for eventually overcoming anxiety is probably close to 100 percent.


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## Daniel (Sep 12, 2021)

Existentialism - Wikipedia
					







					en.wikipedia.org
				




Psychotherapists using an existentialist approach believe that a patient can harness his anxiety and use it constructively. Instead of suppressing anxiety, patients are advised to use it as grounds for change. By embracing anxiety as inevitable, a person can use it to achieve his full potential in life.







						Existential therapy - Wikipedia
					







					en.wikipedia.org
				




Instead of regarding human experiences such as anxiety, alienation and depression as implying the presence of mental illness, existential psychotherapy sees these experiences as natural stages in a normal process of human development and maturation. In facilitating this process of development and maturation, existential psychotherapy involves a philosophical exploration of an individual's experiences stressing the individual's freedom and responsibility to facilitate a higher degree of meaning and well-being in their life.


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## Daniel (Sep 22, 2021)

Anxiety sensitivity and its importance in psychiatric disorders - PubMed
					


Anxiety sensitivity refers to the extent of beliefs that anxiety symptoms or arousal can have harmful consequences. There is growing evidence for anxiety sensitivity as a risk factor for anxiety disorders. Anxiety sensitivity is elevated in panic disorder as well as other anxiety disorders. It...





					pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
				




Anxiety sensitivity refers to the extent of beliefs that anxiety symptoms or arousal can have harmful consequences. There is growing evidence for anxiety sensitivity as a risk factor for anxiety disorders. Anxiety sensitivity is elevated in panic disorder as well as other anxiety disorders. It is thought to contribute to the maintenance and severity of anxiety symptoms. Studies have shown that anxiety sensitivity more specifically predicts the future occurrence of panic attacks.

The Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), which measures the construct of anxiety sensitivity, has three subscales, namely, the ASI-Physical subscale, ASI-Social subscale and ASI-Mental Incapacitation Concerns subscale. The dimension reflecting "fear of physical sensations" of anxiety sensitivity is the most predictive one of panic attacks and panic disorder. Research on the ASI has demonstrated that persons diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and social anxiety disorder all had ASI scores higher than normal controls.

Depression was speculated to hold a positive correlation to high anxiety sensitivity scores.  The relationships between anxiety sensitivity, alcohol and substance use disorders are still unknown. There is evidence that anxiety sensitivity is related with "drinking used as a way of coping". 

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						Anxiety Sensitivity
					


Anxiety Sensitivity Psychology Today blog: Who We Are  by Steven Reiss, PhD  Why Relief Pitchers Don't Run Away  Imagine: The Chicago Cubs are playing the California Angels for their first ever World Series championship. Each team has won three games, and the series now hangs on who wins the...




					forum.psychlinks.ca
				




In terms of the 16 human needs, both anxiety sensitivity and pain sensitivity fall under the need for tranquility, which predicts reactions to stress, danger, adventure, and risk.


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## Daniel (Sep 22, 2021)

Amazon.ca : The Normal Personality: A New Way of Thinking about People
		


In _The Normal Personality_, Steven Reiss argues that human beings are naturally intolerant of people who express values significantly different from their own. Because of this intolerance, psychologists and psychiatrists sometimes confuse individuality with abnormality and thus overdiagnose disorders. Reiss shows how normal motives – not anxiety or traumatic childhood experiences – underlie many personality and relationship problems, such as divorce, infidelity, combativeness, workaholism, loneliness, authoritarianism, weak leadership style, perfectionism, underachievement, arrogance, extravagance,  stuffed shirt,  disloyalty,  disorganization,  and overanxiety.  Calling for greater understanding and tolerance of all kinds of personalities, Reiss applies his theory of motivation to leadership, human development, relationships, and counseling.


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## Daniel (Sep 28, 2021)

“Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems.”

~ Epictetus


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## Daniel (Oct 20, 2021)

This Is What It's Like to Be an Adult With Separation Anxiety
					


Separation anxiety in adults causes fear or distress over being separated from loved ones. Find out the symptoms of this anxiety disorder and how to cope.





					www.health.com
				




“While historically believed to be prevalent only in childhood, it’s now understood that separation anxiety causes significant difficulties for many adults.”


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## Daniel (Nov 8, 2021)

"All of us react to our anxiety by “partializing” our world, by restricting our consciousness within narrow bounds, to areas that we can more or less control which provide us a sense of self-confidence."

  ―      David R. Loy,            _Lack and Transcendence_


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## Daniel (Nov 19, 2021)

Attitude Adjustment: Optimism Can Stave Off Stroke in Older Patients
					


Optimism has been correlated with faster wound healing, lower risk of coronary heart disease and other health benefits. Now new research from the University of Michigan finds that it can even hold off stroke in older patients.





					abcnews.go.com
				




"Optimism is free!"


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## Daniel (Nov 19, 2021)

Can Stress Cause a Stroke? - Baton Rouge Clinic
					


Here’s how chronic stress and anxiety may affect your risk of having a stroke. Spread the love





					batonrougeclinic.com
				




"When you feel tension rising, take a few minutes to step back and put things in perspective."


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## Daniel (Nov 22, 2021)

“The universe doesn’t allow perfection.”

– Stephen Hawking


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## Daniel (Nov 22, 2021)

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

– Henry S. Haskins


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## Daniel (Nov 22, 2021)

“People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.”

– Thich Nhat Hanh


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## Daniel (Nov 23, 2021)

“The great thing, then, in all education, is to make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy.”

— William James

"I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”  

— Joseph Campbell


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## Daniel (Nov 23, 2021)

"We weigh ourselves down with so many obstacles we can't even buy a goldfish bowl."

  ―      Barbara Sher,          _ Refuse to Choose!: Use All of Your Interests, Passions, and Hobbies to Create the Life and Career of Your Dreams _


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## Daniel (Nov 23, 2021)

"A common feature across anxiety disorders is aberrant and excessive anticipatory responding under conditions of threat uncertainty...The incorporation of mindfulness traditions into CBT – namely, emphasizing awareness of moment-to-moment internal and external events, and non-judgmental acceptance (rather than avoidance) of negative emotional states – allow one to tolerate unavoidable uncertainties, and help those suffering from anxiety to understand that uncertainty about the future need not rule their lives."

~ Dan W. Grupe and  Jack B. Nitschke, 
	

			Uncertainty and Anticipation in Anxiety
		

 (2013)


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## Daniel (Nov 24, 2021)

How to Worry More Mindfully (Published 2020)
					


It’s possible. Here’s how to cope when stressful thinking seems constant.





					www.nytimes.com
				




“Our minds will try to solve a problem, even if it’s a problem that can’t be solved by us.”

~ Lizabeth Roemer


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## Daniel (Nov 25, 2021)

Metacognitive Therapy for Anxiety and Depression
					


The excerpts below are from the first chapter :acrobat: of Metacognitive Therapy for Anxiety and Depression by Adrian Wells.   Copyright ? 2009, Guilford Publications.  METACOGNITIVE THERAPY FOR ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION  Thoughts don’t matter but your response to them does.  Everyone has negative...




					forum.psychlinks.ca
				




On the surface these beliefs may seem reasonable. However, in order to show their erroneous and distorted nature, they are repeated below with some useful questions...

*“If I worry I will be prepared.”*
Is it possible to be prepared without worrying? Is it possible to worry about everything that could happen? Does worry give a balanced view of the future or a biased one?

*“Focusing on danger will keep me safe.”*
How do you know which danger to focus on? Is it the danger you see or the one you don’t see that will catch you out? Could focusing on danger make you less safe because you forget the usual things?

_*“I must remember everything and then I’ll know if I’m to blame.”*_
Is it possible to remember everything? How will knowing if you’re to blame help you feel better and move on? Can you move on without blaming yourself?

_*“If I analyze why I feel this way I’ll find answers.”*_
How long have you been doing this? How much longer will it take? What if the answer is stopping your analysis? What if there is no answer other than changing the way you think?

_*“I must control my thoughts.”*_
How do you know which ones to control? Is it possible to control all of your thoughts? Could controlling your thoughts stop you from finding out the truth about them?


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## Daniel (Nov 26, 2021)

Is the Universe Friendly? You Decide!
					


How one simple choice can change your life.





					www.psychologytoday.com
				




"The single most important decision any of us ever have to make is whether to believe we live in a friendly universe.”

 ~ Albert Einstein


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## Daniel (Nov 26, 2021)

"Rushing to get to an outcome—and certainty—makes you miss much of life."

~ Shala Nicely


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## Daniel (Nov 27, 2021)

Daniel said:


> “Anxiety and desire are two, often conflicting, orientations to the unknown. Both are tilted toward the future. Desire implies a willingness, or a need, to engage this unknown, while anxiety suggests a fear of it. Desire takes one out of oneself, into the possibility or relationship, but it also takes one deeper into oneself. Anxiety turns one back on oneself, but only onto the self that is already known.”
> 
> "Meditation showed me that the other side of anxiety is desire. They exist in relationship to each other, not independently.”
> 
> ―      Mark Epstein,            O_pen to Desire: Embracing a Lust for Life -- Insights from Buddhism and Psychotherapy_



Other quotes by Epstein:

"Desire is a teacher: When we immerse ourselves in it without guilt, shame or clinging, it can show us something special about our own minds that allows us to embrace life fully."

"Something in the person (dare we call it a soul?) wants to be free, and it seeks its freedom any way it can. ... There is a drive for transcendence that is implicit in even the most sensual of desires.”


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## Daniel (Nov 27, 2021)

"We can’t function forever fuelled by adrenalin and caffeine, fogged brains scrabbling to function, nerves frayed like a cheap phone cable. Sure, we can sleep when we’re dead, but a little rest before that would be nice."

~ Emma Beddington


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## Daniel (Dec 7, 2021)

North Phoenix horse therapy ranch helping to wrangle anxiety
					


At a ranch in North Phoenix, those who step foot on the grounds and onto the backs of its horses hope to harness a positive state of mind.





					www.abc15.com
				




“The horses release my anxiety and they make me happy.”


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## Daniel (Dec 26, 2021)

Let Go of Control: How to Learn the Art of Surrender
					


Things go much more smoothly when you surrender control—when you let things happen instead of making them happen. Here's how to let go.




					tinybuddha.com
				




"The energy of surrender accomplishes much more than the energy of control."

~ Amy Johnson, PhD, author of _The Little Book of Big Change_


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## Daniel (Dec 26, 2021)

Those Damn Unwanted Thoughts!
					


Those Damn Unwanted Thoughts! By Robert L. Leahy, Ph.D. Psychology Today blog: Anxiety Files    June 1, 2009  Have you ever felt plagued by thoughts and images that you just couldn't stand? Perhaps it's the nagging thought, "I made a mistake" or "I think I have cancer" or "I'm going to lose...




					forum.psychlinks.ca
				




"Evaluations and thought-control strategies for intrusive thoughts and images are a core feature of all of the anxiety disorders."

"People with social anxiety disorder treat their intrusive thoughts about "appearing anxious" as the equivalent of being humiliated."

~ Robert L. Leahy, Ph.D., author of _Don't Believe Everything You Feel_


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## Daniel (Jan 19, 2022)

"Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here."

~ "Desiderata," Max Ehrmann


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## Daniel (Jan 19, 2022)




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## Daniel (Jan 20, 2022)

How to Turn Bad Anxiety Into Good Anxiety
					


A new book explains that anxiety can give us clues about how to make our lives better.





					greatergood.berkeley.edu
				




“If we simply approach it as something to _avoid_, _get rid of_, or _dampen_, we not only _don’t_ solve the problem but actually miss an opportunity to leverage the _generative power_ of anxiety.”

~ Wendy Suzuki, _Good Anxiety_


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## Daniel (Jan 29, 2022)

Daniel said:


> “Anxiety and desire are two, often conflicting, orientations to the unknown. Both are tilted toward the future. Desire implies a willingness, or a need, to engage this unknown, while anxiety suggests a fear of it. Desire takes one out of oneself, into the possibility or relationship, but it also takes one deeper into oneself. Anxiety turns one back on oneself, but only onto the self that is already known.”
> 
> "Meditation showed me that the other side of anxiety is desire. They exist in relationship to each other, not independently.”
> 
> ―      Mark Epstein,            O_pen to Desire: Embracing a Lust for Life -- Insights from Buddhism and Psychotherapy_



Another Epstein quote:

"Separateness and connectedness arise together and make each other possible." 

~ _Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart: A Buddhist Perspective on Wholeness_


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## Daniel (Feb 15, 2022)

Treatment of Clinical Perfectionism Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
					


Clinical perfectionism is characterized by rigidly pursuing unrealistically high standards on which self-worth is contingent and experiencing distress when these standards are not met. Because clinical perfectionism is associated with many psychological diagnoses, understanding how to treat it...





					digitalcommons.usu.edu
				




Clinical perfectionism is characterized by rigidly pursuing unrealistically high standards on which self-worth is contingent and experiencing distress when these standards are not met.


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## Daniel (Mar 28, 2022)

Why One Neuroscientist Started Blasting His Core
					


After he discovered a new anatomical basis for how movement decreases stress





					www.theatlantic.com
				




“You have lots of different circuits built on top of one another, and they’re all feeding back to one of our most primitive and primordial response systems. They've really shown that stress is controlled by more than the traditional high-level cognitive areas. I think that’s a big deal.”

~ Peter Strick


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## Daniel (May 3, 2022)

@worrywellbeing


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## Daniel (May 3, 2022)

30 Funny & Encouraging Anxiety Quotes That Are WAY Too Relatable
					


If you experience anxiety, then you know how overwhelming it can feel. These relatable & encouraging anxiety quotes will let you know that you're not alone.





					butfirstjoy.com
				




“Go easy on yourself. Whatever you do today, let it be enough.” – Unknown

“Anxiety is one little tree in your forest. Step back and look at the whole forest.” – Unknown


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## Daniel (May 8, 2022)

For avoiding avoidance:

_“Life itself still remains a very effective therapist.”_ — Karen Horney


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## Daniel (May 30, 2022)

"The situation is hopeless but not serious."

~ Paul Watzlawick


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## Daniel (May 30, 2022)

A Litany for Survival by Audre Lorde | Poetry Foundation
					


For those of us who live at the shoreline





					www.poetryfoundation.org
				




...When we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraid

So it is better to speak
remembering
we were never meant to survive.


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## Daniel (Jun 4, 2022)

"Back into the moment.  Back into the here and now.  Back into the reality you are built for."


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## Daniel (Jun 28, 2022)

*Things Might Go Terribly, Horribly Wrong: A Guide to Life Liberated from Anxiety

"Self" as a Verb*

The creation of your identity is an ongoing, dynamic process that continues to take place for as long as you are breathing...

Sometimes, though, we all fall into repetitive patterns of responding that, over time, make us progressively less sensitive to context. Anxiety can be part of such a repetitive pattern...

Consider the question, "Am I an anxious person?" ...The way you organize your activities around that answer can have a huge impact on your experience of life. This is especially true if you've had a long history of struggle with anxiety.


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## Daniel (Jun 29, 2022)

"We can tell ourselves that feelings of guilt, shame, or anxiety have nothing to do with our true identity or worth and should be replaced by reason and love in guiding our adult lives."

"Obeying negative legacy emotions is like feeding wild critters. They will take over and grow in power until we have unmanageable beasts trying to overwhelm us from inside our heads. We need to stop feeding the squirrels in our heads. We can start by refusing to listen or respond to them.”

― Peter R. Breggin, _Guilt, Shame, and Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming Negative Emotions_


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## Daniel (Jun 29, 2022)

Signs of Guilt
					


Excessive guilt can open the door to a host of problems. It can lead to anxiety, depression, physical health issues, and more.





					www.webmd.com
				




There’s no magical cure for excessive guilt. Overcoming it takes a lot of consistent emotional work, just as with any strong emotion. Frequent recognition and reflection are two touchstones for overcoming guilt. Ask yourself questions like, “What is making me feel guilty?” and “What actions or thoughts are occurring because of my guilt?”

Additionally, positive thinking and reinforcement can help overcome guilt. Changing the verbiage for your thoughts can alter your outlook on the source of your guilt. Change “I should” or “I could” to something more positive, like “I get to,” “I deserve,” or “I can” when applicable.


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## Daniel (Jun 30, 2022)

https://www.guilford.com/excerpts/neff.pdf
		


The quintessential self-compassion question is “What do I need?”


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## Daniel (Jul 1, 2022)




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## Daniel (Jul 17, 2022)

Recorded Trainings | Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety | Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
					


The Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety at the University of Pennsylvania is an internationally renowned treatment research center dedicated to developing, refining, and testing state-of-the-art therapies for anxiety and traumatic stress disorders.




					www.med.upenn.edu
				




"Worry can be conceptualized as a cognitive form of avoidance, and this formulation has important clinical implications.  Interestingly, the cognitive nature of this condition can lead therapists to presume that cognitive techniques are most suitable for these clients – however, several behavioral techniques have strong empirical support (as components of CBT for GAD protocols, or as standalone interventions)."


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## Daniel (Jul 24, 2022)

10 Quick Ways to Calm Down
					


10 Quick Ways to Calm Down By Therese Borchard Jun 24, 2015  As a highly-sensitive person (as defined by Elaine Aron in her bestseller The Highly Sensitive Person), it?s easy for me to become overwhelmed, or over-aroused (not in a sexual way ? not on antidepressants).     I have been compiling...




					forum.psychlinks.ca
				




*Hand Massage*
I learned this one in both the MBSR program and in Brukner's book. What's great about it is that you can do it while attending a lecture, listening to your kids fight, or sitting at your desk working. No one will notice. Simply use the thumb of one hand and press around the palm of the other hand. It's very soothing.


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## Daniel (Aug 13, 2022)

“The problem of anxiety isn't that the organism responds to threats by near-instantly powering up. That's clearly a good thing, species-survival-wise. It's that sometimes the organism starts seeing threats too readily.”

~ Daniel Smith, _Monkey Mind_


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## Daniel (Aug 13, 2022)

I Am Not A Drama Queen, I Have Anxiety
					


I thought it was normal. But was it?





					thoughtcatalog.com
				




"I am not a drama queen, I have anxiety and sometimes it is a challenge to make it through the day."


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## Daniel (Aug 17, 2022)

3 top tips to curb your public speaking anxiety:)
					


Three practical and fast-working tips to help settle that pesky public speaking anxiety.





					colinjamesmethod.com
				




Presentations are, in fact, not about you. They are about your audience. When you divert your attention to thinking about what your audience needs most, and what you can give them, you can more easily _turn nervous to service_ and position yourself mentally as a facilitator of their well being, rather than the person with the target on your back.


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## Daniel (Aug 21, 2022)

“I figured out once that if you decide to have fun when you give a public talk, then you relax...Moreover, the audience doesn’t get bored when it is fun.”

― Ajahn Brahm


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## Daniel (Aug 24, 2022)

The relations among worry, meta-worry, intolerance of uncertainty and attentional bias for threat in men at high risk for generalized anxiety disorder: a network analysis - BMC Psychiatry
					


Background Improving the psychotherapies for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is dependent on a deeper understanding of the relations between GAD and its associated cognitive factors. In the present study, we investigate how the core feature of GAD (i.e., worry) and its associated cognitive...





					bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com
				




In the present study, we investigate how the core feature of GAD (i.e., worry) and its associated cognitive factors, such as meta-worry, intolerance of uncertainty, and attention bias towards threat, relate to each other in men at high risk for GAD...

Worry and meta-worry had the highest expected influence and predictability. In contrast, attention bias towards threat showed the lowest expected influence and predictability.

-----
metaworry​_n._

1. persistent worry about one’s own thoughts and cognitive processes. 

2. a negative metacognitive process in which one worries about one’s own worrying and about its potentially harmful effects on oneself. According to British psychologist Adrian Wells, who first described this process in 1994, it contributes to the development of generalized anxiety disorder.


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## Daniel (Aug 26, 2022)

“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”

 – William James


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## Daniel (Aug 26, 2022)

Facing the Fear of Uncertainty: How to Target GAD Worries without Working on Clients’ Actual Worries – New Harbinger Publications, Inc
					


By Melisa Robichaud, PhD If you’ve ever used cognitive-behavioral strategies like decatastrophizing, probability estimation, or exposure to help





					www.newharbinger.com
				




Several decades of research has shown one of the main reasons GAD clients worry excessively about daily life situations is because of their intolerance to the inherent uncertainty present in daily life. 

Clients with GAD tend to hold negative beliefs about the likelihood and severity of threat in uncertain situations, and underestimate their ability to cope with anticipated negative outcomes. 

Worry can therefore be construed as an attempt to avoid or eliminate uncertainty by mentally planning and preparing for every eventuality.


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## Daniel (Aug 27, 2022)

Earnest Becker's normalizing appraisal of anxiety is that everyone is more anxious than necessary:  "a hyper-anxious animal who constantly invents reasons for anxiety even where there are none."


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## Daniel (Aug 28, 2022)

"What if glorifying resilience can actually be detrimental?"


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## Daniel (Sep 5, 2022)

"Basic anxiety can be roughly described as a feeling of being small, insignificant, helpless, deserted or endangered in a world that is out to abuse, cheat, humiliate, betray, envy...And special in this is the child's feeling that the parents' love, their Christian charity, honesty, generosity...may be only a pretense."

~ Karen Horney


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## Daniel (Sep 9, 2022)

Finding Mental Health Issues Hidden in the Past
					


An archaeologist speculates about how to uncover evidence of depression, anxiety, and neurodiversities in ancient humans.





					www.sapiens.org
				




I think it is interesting to ponder whether looking closely at examples of artistic specialization and expression is one way we can see coping strategies for anxiety and depression in the past. My blanket, ceramic fine wares, paintings, other specialized crafts, and the tools used to make them all could be reflections of more than just ritual significance.


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## Daniel (Sep 11, 2022)

How to Turn Off Harmful Stress Like a Switch
					


Stress comes from anxiety about future problems and the lack of control over them. This article introduces a few surprising techniques to handle stress.





					www.nirandfar.com


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## Daniel (Oct 6, 2022)

*Helping Clients Relieve Their Worry & Anxiety*

"You can also encourage clients to practice *progressive muscle relaxation*, release-only relaxation, and cue-controlled relaxation. They might even find it useful to set aside time once or twice a day to relax for twenty minutes to bring down their general level of arousal and tension associated with anxiety and worry. You can offer clients the Record of General Tension form for them to keep a log of their level of relaxation at the beginning and end of each dedicated relaxation session, if they like."

Author's self-help workbook:
Amazon product

Source:


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## Daniel (Oct 24, 2022)

Resilience can get you through life's trials
					


Resilience can get you through life's trials By Denise Foley December 4, 2007  Survivors of tough times know how to cope ? and you can learn, too   Angela Madsen was a military police officer in the U.S. Marine Corps when she injured her back so severely that she had to take an early discharge...





					forum.psychlinks.ca
				




"Developing connections to others may be our most important emotional survival skill."


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## Daniel (Oct 28, 2022)




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## Daniel (Oct 30, 2022)

"The situation is hopeless, but not serious."

~ Paul Watzlawick, who "believed that people create their own suffering in the very act of trying to fix their emotional problems."


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## Daniel (Nov 7, 2022)

Don’t stop believing: Rituals improve performance by decreasing anxiety
					


From public speaking to first dates, people frequently experience performance anxiety. And when experienced immediately before or during performance, …





					www.sciencedirect.com
				





We identify a novel strategy for reducing pre-performance anxiety: rituals.


Performing a ritual decreases anxiety and improves performance.


Rituals are more effective than other forms of distraction or trying to calm down.


The same behaviors improve performance more when they are described as a ritual.
Given their ubiquity in countless performance domains, it is possible and even likely that rituals may improve performance through several mechanisms. For example, rituals may prove helpful because they delay performance for a beneficial period of time, improve concentration, increase perceived control, or boost motivation. We focus on one mechanism that has previously been tightly linked to performance, assessing whether rituals improve performance by directly reducing anxiety.


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## Daniel (Nov 7, 2022)

Quick Thoughts – Anxieties.com
					


Quick Thoughts Washington Post on Panic Attacks Cara McDonough did a wonderful job in her Washington Post article on the trauma of panic attacks, including her personal experiences. I’m honored to be ... Read more





					anxieties.com
				


Shifting the Client’s Game Plan​Anxiety is a mighty competitor, & it hides the true task of treatment. Anxiety shrewdly misdirects clients’ attention toward the content of their fears, such as the worry of causing harm to self or others through carelessness (OCD); worry about health concerns, money, relationships or work performance (GAD); the fear of criticism or rejection (social anxiety). This is a clever distraction, since the true nature of the challenge is tolerating the generic themes of doubt & distress.

Early in treatment, in addition to correcting misinformation, I have 2 goals. First, I want clients to recognize this distinction between the distracting content of their worries & the actual issues of doubt & distress that they must address. Second, I want them to take actions in the world that are the opposite of what Anxiety expects of them. Instead of seeking certainty & comfort,* I encourage clients to voluntarily, purposely, choose to look for opportunities to get uncertain & anxious in their threatening arenas.*


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## Daniel (Nov 20, 2022)




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## Daniel (Nov 21, 2022)




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## Daniel (Nov 22, 2022)

Anxiety Help:  Practical,  Powerful Solutions for Panic and Anxiety
					


Anxiety Help That Works. Effective Methods to Overcome Panic, Phobias, Generalized Anxiety, Social Phobia, Fears of Flying and Public Speaking.




					www.anxietycoach.com
				




Three things you need to know about anxiety disorders:

 Anxiety Disorders are very common
 Anxiety Disorders are difficult, but very solvable problems
 Anxiety Disorders are counter-intuitive problems, and this is what makes them difficult


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## Daniel (Nov 30, 2022)

*Stressed? Instead of distracting yourself, try paying closer attention*

When something sad, stressful or hurtful happens, so many of us look for a way to distract ourselves from the ensuing pain and discomfort. It may seem counterintuitive, but an effective way to manage our negative reactions to life's stressors actually involves *slowing down* and paying very close attention, says Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR).

"The kind of awareness we're talking about is so big and so open hearted and so spacious that it sees the good, the bad and the ugly of the human condition all at once, and it doesn't get caught and imprisoned by any of it."


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