Let's chat
I want to work on myself:
Confidence in self and also in terms of conversing and conflict: @40% to 65%?
Ability to control anxiety independently without relying on others: @30% to 80%?
Noteworthy lessons:
Our thoughts are important because they have a big impact on how we feel and what we do
People with anxiety or low mood often have more unhelpful and unrealistic or negative thoughts. This makes us see the world in a more hopeless or threatening way. The thoughts we have affect how we feel and what we might do
Challenging thoughts is one of the most effective skills for managing anxiety and depression. People who are aware of and are managing their thoughts, report greater overall well being – even when dealing with very difficult situations and circumstances
One of the key messages of this Course is that you must learn to fight against and challenge your symptoms
By doing the opposite of your symptoms, you can learn to manage and overcome them
We can tell ourselves things that are realistic and helpful
Thought Challenging is a skill that helps us to manage negative and unrealistic thinking. This skill helps you to keep a realistic perspective and helps break the Cycle of Symptoms. It also helps us become kinder and more supportive to ourselves.
Stop and recognise the thought
Question and challenge the thought
Do something helpful
I did try them in the last two weeks, particularly in moments when I feel anxious/overwhelmed at work, it certainly helps to try and stop the cycle of negative thoughts which normally leads to even more anxiety and exhaustion, and to learn from the process and try to just move past the challenging time instead of getting stuck with the bad thoughts. I had a question/was wondering if you can help me with an unpleasant experience I had. While thought challenging would be helpful when dealing with my anxiety, I sometimes get somewhat unexplained panics. Like I cannot pinpoint a cycle of negative thoughts/symptoms that lead to a panic attack. For instance, it happened last week while I was in a crowded area with loud people, I have experience with social anxiety in parties usually result of self doubt but never had the experience of panic without a trigger/direct cause of stress/anxiety as at this point I was with trusted friends and comfortable leading up to the panic, so it was strange and hard to deal with. I had to temporarily leave until I could calm down. I assumed my mind was perceiving a threat from the crowd so I tried the thought challenging in the sense of reminding myself there is no actual threat. I made myself return and I was mostly okay with the loud crowd for a while after. But I was wondering if you had any tips for dealing with a situation like this. As I said it was sort of a first for me since my other panic attacks are usually the result of extensive anxiety and specific triggers through certain thoughts (which this course is helping me deal with).
Thought challenging Breathing Assertive speaking -Note down stepladder for graded exposure?
Following on from our call, I've noted below the list of helpful things to do that we created:
Getting in contact with people sounds good but is not always helpful because leads to self pity
Going for a walk
Play music and hum along to it
Doing something with hands is distracting -> cooking
