Avoidance happens. Avoidance creates every type of suffering. You suffer. Suffering is pain plus resistance. Resistance and avoidance are functionally synonymous. Sometimes acting in accordance with your values and experiential avoidance will be the same behaviors. The difference between your values-driven action and avoidance is your attitude. Workable behavior is a dynamic adaptation based on your context, rather …
1) What was the trigger? Was it internal or external? Being at a social event, having critical thoughts about my competence 2) What sensations do you feel? Stomach in a knot, muscle tension, light-headed, pain in chest 3) What thoughts are you having? “What if other people notice how anxious I am and judge me? What if …
Example of self-monitoring for Social Anxiety DisorderRead More »
As you set yourself up to relate effectively to anxiety, you want to predict the phases of your anxious pattern, so that you know what strategies you will need. The phases tend to be different depending on whether the trigger was external or internal. Anticipatory anxiety, situational anxiety, and post-event processing In the case of …
1) What was the trigger? Was it internal or external or both? Driving on the highway 2) What sensations do you feel? I’m having the sensations of heart racing, sweating, stomach in a knot, shoulders tight, arms and legs tingling, head hurts a little, dry mouth 3) What thoughts are you having? I’m having the …
Self – Monitoring is helpful for two reasons: #1 – One of anxiety’s best tricks is hiding itself from you. You’ve gotten into the habit of avoiding so quickly that you don’t actually observe what’s happening. You are having a thought, the thought is arriving in your body with sensations, and your mind is interpreting …
Using self-monitoring to start facing your anxietyRead More »
Several members commented that what I wrote about urgency last week was helpful. Great! Let’s turn that into a game! Anxiety makes everything feel urgent. Just because your sensations and thoughts make your content feel urgent and important doesn’t mean it is urgent or important. Training yourself to slow down when you feel urgent across all aspects …
I was talking to a client filled with regret about waiting until late in his life to pursue the romantic relationships he always wanted, and I had the thought, “The belief that ‘I have to meet some arbitrary criteria in order to live my life’ is a really problematic one. Later that day I had …
I suggest writing as homework frequently. There are different types of writing exercises that are likely to be helpful for different types of suffering. Here’s a working list. We can add to it when we talk more about it. Writing for OCD and anxious doubt Self-monitoring for daily anxiety and OCD. This writing has a really …