managing anxiety

Where Are You Letting Your Thoughts Take You?

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Where Are You Letting Your Thoughts Take You?

The Anxiety Responsethinking head

Anxiety is a response to a perceived threat. Sometimes, there really is a threat. We have to jump out of the way of a car or are in a dangerous place. Often times however, we are actually in a safe place with no threat in sight. Yet threats in our minds (our thoughts) can often create the same anxiety response as a real threat right in front of you. Continue reading →

Mindfulness Can Help Your Anxiety

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Mindfulness Can Help Your Anxiety

Components of Worryingmeditation on beach

Ever notice that your worries are typically concerning something in the future, or something that happened in the past? Feelings of anxiety, worrying, or ruminating are often related to past or future events. This is because when something just happened that made us feel nervous (i.e. going on a first date) we tend to interpret that event based on our feelings (nervousness/anxiety). This leads to us worrying about what we said, how it went, and what our date thought of us. Regarding future worrying, this is often because uncertainty or lack of control can make anyone a bit anxious. In order to deal with the anxiety about the next date, we worry about all the potential outcomes or possibilities.  Thoughts about the future and the past are common, and not always anxiety provoking – but can be a huge part of someone’s anxiety. Continue reading →

Exposure Therapy: Learning to Feel Safe

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Exposure Therapy: Learning to Feel SafeBrain_thinkdesign_shutterstock_176571203

As discussed in previous posts, a core component of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is overcoming avoidance and starting to face your fears. This is known as “exposure therapy” and is one of the most effective treatments for anxiety disorders such as panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and specific phobia. Continue reading →

Unified Protocol: An Evidence Based Treatment for Emotional Disorders

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Unified Protocol: An Evidenced Based Treatment for Emotional Disorders

What are Emotional Disorders?Mood chart

Emotional disorders include anxiety and mood disorders (i.e. depression) that have one major feature in common: a lack of emotion regulation skills. Individuals who experience emotional disorders use certain strategies to deal with their symptoms that typically involve avoiding uncomfortable emotions as much as possible. Yet, avoidance maintains these uncomfortable symptoms longer, and often exacerbates them.

One evidence-based treatment for emotional disorders is Unified Protocol (UP). UP is a treatment that teaches you to better understand your emotional experiences, helps you to understand how the way you behave or think may unintentionally contribute to your symptoms, and offers you skills to help you to manage these symptoms when they arise. Continue reading →

Coping with Unwanted Thoughts

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Coping with Unwanted ThoughtsThought bubbles

Has anyone ever given you the advice “just don’t think about it,” when you share worries, fears or concerns? For most worriers this advice can feel defeating and near impossible. While the advice may be well meaning, the truth is that “just not thinking about something” is not only ineffective, the act of trying to avoid thinking about something can actually make you think about it more! Fortunately, cognitive behavioral therapies offer several effective techniques that can help you manage these unwanted thoughts. Continue reading →