Linzi29
08-04-13, 20:49
Some Golden Rules I found when researching different therapies on helping to get on the road to recovery from anxiety, When I read this it helped me understand alot so I just wanted to share the information and hope it helps others :)
Prof.*Isaac Marks, one of the pioneers of exposure therapy, provides these “Golden Rules”:
1. Anxiety is very unpleasant but fundamentally harmless, i.e., fears of physical (e.g., heart attack) or mental (e.g., nervous breakdown) catastrophes are normally unfounded. (It’s also nothing to be ashamed of as it’s a natural “evolutionary” response and much more common than most people realise or admit.)
2. Stop trying to anxiously “avoid” getting into feared situations or “escaping” quickly by leaving the situation prematurely*because this simply maintains the problem.
3. Encourage yourself to actively face your fears as often as possible because practice makes perfect, i.e., the more often you enter feared situations the more easily you will overcome your anxiety.* (Think of the cliche about getting back in the saddle as soon as possible after being thrown from a horse.)
4. The longer you face them for the better, because anxiety is inherently temporary and will reduce (“habituate”) naturally if you remain for long enough in a feared situation, i.e., “what goes up must come down.”* Each time, anxiety is likely to peak at a lower level and to reduce more quickly and easily, leading to a more permanent reduction.
5. The more quickly you confront your worst fears, the more quickly your anxiety will reduce.* Start as close to the top of your hierarchy as you can.To this, most modern cognitive therapists would probably add,
6. Ban yourself from trying to do*unnecessarythings that make you “feel safe”, when confronting your fears, as these “safety behaviours” often prevent habituation and will stop you proving to yourself that you’re already safer than you realise.
7. Learn to question your unhelpful thoughts, images, and beliefs (“cognitions”) about exposure, e.g., “Something bad is bound to happen and I won’t be able to handle it!” – what evidence do you really have that things will be awful and you won’t be able to cope?
I hope this information was helpful in someway to you all :-)
Prof.*Isaac Marks, one of the pioneers of exposure therapy, provides these “Golden Rules”:
1. Anxiety is very unpleasant but fundamentally harmless, i.e., fears of physical (e.g., heart attack) or mental (e.g., nervous breakdown) catastrophes are normally unfounded. (It’s also nothing to be ashamed of as it’s a natural “evolutionary” response and much more common than most people realise or admit.)
2. Stop trying to anxiously “avoid” getting into feared situations or “escaping” quickly by leaving the situation prematurely*because this simply maintains the problem.
3. Encourage yourself to actively face your fears as often as possible because practice makes perfect, i.e., the more often you enter feared situations the more easily you will overcome your anxiety.* (Think of the cliche about getting back in the saddle as soon as possible after being thrown from a horse.)
4. The longer you face them for the better, because anxiety is inherently temporary and will reduce (“habituate”) naturally if you remain for long enough in a feared situation, i.e., “what goes up must come down.”* Each time, anxiety is likely to peak at a lower level and to reduce more quickly and easily, leading to a more permanent reduction.
5. The more quickly you confront your worst fears, the more quickly your anxiety will reduce.* Start as close to the top of your hierarchy as you can.To this, most modern cognitive therapists would probably add,
6. Ban yourself from trying to do*unnecessarythings that make you “feel safe”, when confronting your fears, as these “safety behaviours” often prevent habituation and will stop you proving to yourself that you’re already safer than you realise.
7. Learn to question your unhelpful thoughts, images, and beliefs (“cognitions”) about exposure, e.g., “Something bad is bound to happen and I won’t be able to handle it!” – what evidence do you really have that things will be awful and you won’t be able to cope?
I hope this information was helpful in someway to you all :-)