Anxiety about Anxiety: Break the Anxiety Cycle Day 12

Nov 9, 2023

Explore the harmful cycle of anxiety about anxiety and learn how to break it. Understand that feeling anxious is normal and can be managed. Discover strategies for handling anxiety, creating space, and managing anxious feelings without judgment. Learn essential skills for working with anxiety, including acknowledging sensations and shifting focus.

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Introduction

00:00 • 4min

Breaking the Cycle of Anxiety About Anxiety

04:29 • 2min

Handling Anxiety and Creating Space

06:51 • 2min

Approaching and Managing Anxiety

08:58 • 2min

Working with Anxiety: Acknowledging Sensations and Shifting Focus

11:20 • 1min

Break the Anxiety Cycle in 30 Days- Online Course- https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/anxietyskills

Feeling anxiety won’t harm you. Your body is wired to feel anxiety. It’s supposed to. You can handle it. But when we become afraid of our feelings, then suddenly we get stuck in a super unhelpful spiral. We start struggling against them, trying to force ourselves to calm down with “deep breathing or meditation” anything to make the anxiety go away. But this just makes things worse. We pile anxiety onto our anxiety. Anxiety about anxiety looks like -Fear of losing control -Anticipatory Anxiety: -Feeling anxious about your anxious thoughts. Oh no! I’m catastrophizing again! This will ruin everything! In this podcast we will talk about how to stop that anxious spiral.

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Therapy in a Nutshell and the information provided by Emma McAdam are solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and are not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health. In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger Institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life's direction.

And deeper than all of that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ orients my personal worldview and sense of security, peace, hope, and love https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe

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