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#972
Nicole T

    Hi all,

    Fellow anxiety person here. I am with all of you and totally get it. I have also dealt with it for years. I am an MSW student and recently just came across some interventions for anxiety that I would be helpful to share. It was actually for adolescents, but as someone with anxiety, I thought these tips might still be applicable to our age group. A lot of the tips surround recognizing the anxiety, acknowledging it, and reframing it.

    Some common mindsets some of us may get stuck in include:
    -All or nothing thinking (I do this all the time: If I don’t work out in the AM, I cannot work out at all!)
    -Disqualifying the positive
    -Jumping to conclusions/mind-reading
    -“Should” thinking
    -Labeling/mislabeling situations before they even happen
    -Blaming
    -Catastrophizing (thinking of the worst thing that could happen)

    Two possible ways to reframe our anxiety:

    Think about the STOP method
    -S: Am I scared or nervous about a certain situation
    -T: What thoughts am I having in this situation
    -O: What other, more realistic, thoughts can I have
    -P: Praise myself for thinking more realistic thoughts.

    Do your detective work:
    -What is the evidence leading you to feel this way?
    -How do I know this would happen?
    -How else could I explain the situation?
    -What is the worst thing that could happen?
    -What else might happen?
    -What has happened to me before in this situation?
    -Is worrying about this situation helpful or just making me feel worse?
    -Is this thought helpful?

    Also for those of you who find yourself unable to say no to friends, found this article this morning that I thought was wonderful: How to Get Your Friends to Stop Treating you Like a Therapist – New York Times