worry, anxiety & tension

frequent distressing worry that’s difficult to control about many things that might go wrong in the future

restlessness, irritability, muscle tension, fatigue,difficulty concentrating,and sleep disturbance

more “freeze” than “fight/flight”: thoughts more than images, unhappy but not strongly connected to emotions or the present

moment

successful cbt approach to worry

self-monitoring for early signs of anxiety and tension

training in calming skills, application during daily life, and coming into the present

using imaging to encourage use of calming skills and cognitive coping strategies

cognitive coping strategies include worry tree, worry outcome diary, worry problem solving times, worry-free zones, beliefs about worry, etc

let the worry go now or later?

now later

let the worry go let the worry go

decide on action & do

it

decide when to act &

schedule it

notice when you’re getting caught by worries

ask yourself what the worry is really about

can you do something about it?

“no” “yes”

the “worrytree”

how to let worries go

remind yourself that worry isn’t helping consider rational, balanced alternative viewpoints see thoughts as fish hooks – let them float on by exaggerate the worry until it becomes obviously

ridiculous use applied relaxation and/or imagery e.g. worries

into box act unworried in posture, expression, speech &

behaviour redirect attention to more appropriate tasks write about the feelings/images – can use finger as

“pen” set worry aside until your scheduled “worry time”

when you can problem solve more effectively

experiment to find out which of these methods, singly, combined or adapted,

works best for you:

how to lessen worry frequency

regular physical exercise several times weekly regular use of well taught applied relaxations skills clarify & correct any beliefs that worry is helpful use worry records to show worrying is a waste of

time learn effective methods of active problem solving desensitise to most upsetting worries using loop

tapes use therapeutic writing to work through particular

fears identify times & situations when most vulnerable to

worry & try to reduce exposure to these times/situations

tom borkovec research on adding interpersonal focus

it’s likely to help most if you use several of these methods: