For my clients that come to me with anxiety I recommend they watch “Noise In Your Head”. They are 6 part videos adapted from Dr. Reid Wilson’s book Stopping the Noise in Your Head: The New Way to Overcome Anxiety and Worry.
The series follows a young woman named Susan who experiences anxiety and applies techniques in the book to help her manage. It’s a comedic and informative approach to help anyone understand anxiety and how to interact with it.
As a CBT therapist, many of the themes discussed in the videos are ideas we will explore in therapy together as we work to reduce your experience with anxiety. Here are a few key points:
- Often times, worry is unhelpful and not productive (this is referred to as noise). During therapy we learn to question anxious thoughts and to not always believe them at face value. “Just because you think it doesn’t mean it’s true”, this is something I say a lot!
- Learn to live with uncertainty. Anxiety wants to plan for every possibility but this is a lot of energy and ultimately makes us stressed out. Anxiety wants you to believe that you can predict the future. Once you accept that there is a lot of uncertainty in life, the less you will try to plan for and predict a future you likely can’t predict.
- Increase your tolerance for discomfort. Something I say often is that “avoidance breeds fear.” Through avoidance you are telling anxiety “You are right!” More times than not you will find that it’s not as bad as your anxiety tell you is it. Even if it is uncomfortable or challenging, you have coping skills, resources and problem solving abilities that will continue to help you.
- It’s opposite day every day. Doing what anxiety tells you to only keeps the anxiety alive. In order to get rid of it or “lessen the noise”, you need to do the opposite of what the anxiety tells you. This is true of all mood disorders, including depression. Another thing I say often in therapy is “action proceeds how you feel”. You can change your mood through change in behavior. By doing the opposite you are telling anxiety (and depression), ” you are wrong!”
- Embrace fear. Part of CBT treatment for anxiety or OCD may include exposure therapy. You are exposing yourself to your anxiety to see if it’s as bad as you thought and test whether you can do the thing that you told yourself was impossible. When anxious people experience fear it’s usually saying “You can’t” or “It’s dangerous” when really it’s just uncomfortable. You are more capable than you believe. When you allow fear to turn into avoidance it cements the anxiety. When you embrace the fear, you end up lessening the anxiety over time.
- You can exist together. Worry can sometimes serve a purpose but when it comes to anxiety you can learn to interact with it in a way that allows you to live your best life. Kind of like that one annoying roommate in college. Remember, it’s just noise.
Watch the complete series here. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram!
