A Therapy I Use for Anxiety

[LisaBeaudoin]

Hello

I'm a survivor of abuse and suffer from multiple mental conditions but I'm also a child abuse advocate and help others. One of my conditions is Complex PTSD, and I still suffer from anxiety attacks but when I get them I've learned to work through them enough to know they come from me thinking too much or trying to do too much or trying to make other people happy, or from when I don't exercise or stretch which is actually just as important, or even at times I believe are attributed due to certain foods, like something very salty or sugary or caffeine --

So my first piece of advice is to avoid those products and try to get yourself as healthy as you can.

But I also do all kinds of therapies and would like to share them with you, which you should of course talk to, or even do with your therapist. One of my favorite therapies is what I call, "Imagine if" and it's very simple.

First you just type on a word processor or if you can at least hand write about something that's really bothering you. You could just say it, but by writing it out you will feel the power of your emotions from it much stronger.

For example I'll first write, "I always worry because every day feels like I have way too much to do and I end up feeling very overwhelmed. I try to do it all but then I'm not really paying attention to what I'm doing and end up making mistakes, then I feel bad and overwhelmed..."

The thing is I must be realistic and I can't get it all done in a day, so if I wrote, "Imagine if I could get it all done in a day", I'd be setting myself up for letting myself down.

So instead my phrase is, "Imagine if today I do what I can today but most importantly enjoy my day and know eventually I will get to the other things in time."

Then when you're in a moment you start to feel anxiety place your fingertips of one or both hands on your heart (which gives your heart your focus) and take nice normal breaths while you inwardly recite those words, or even do some deep breathing every morning and then every couple of hours while saying the phrases.

The great thing about this therapy is that you can target the exact things that are bothering you and begin to replace with more optimistic thinking of "imagine if".

Try it, I hope it helps