Anxiety Habits

Note: You can also print this document in Adobe PDF format by clicking  here. (It requires Adobe Reader which you can obtain for free  here.)

I’m hoping you’ll really ponder the following analogy and principles and keep them in the back of your mind when you go through your day to day life.  Okay here we go.

Ever notice that you often make the same mistakes?  For example, maybe you bump your head in the same spot, maybe you make the same kinds of typos, etc.   

It’s amazing how ingrained habits become in our behaviour, i.e. making the same continuous errors.

This tendency certainly applies to our mental habits. That is to say, we may have the same recurring, anxious thoughts, which lead to the same recurring, anxious feelings.

The great news is that we can all learn to use this tendency to our advantage by developing new habits, new ways of thinking about the world which leads to mental well-being. This is important because the same principle of repeating past negative behavior can be utilized so that you can learn new positive behaviour that you can then repeat habitually.  Positive thoughts lead to positive results in your life.

I don’t say this as a means to simply make you feel good but rather to point out that more and more scientific studies are demonstrating how effective changing thoughts can be for relief from anxiety, panic attacks, and agoraphobia. 

Mainly the focus is on the Cognitive Restructuring that occurs from doing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – which is covered in great detail in this newsletter - but the real point here is that changing your thoughts can indeed make you feel better and as many studies reveal, this can be as effective, if not more effective, than medication in dealing with things such as anxiety, panic attacks, and agoraphobia – and there are no side-effects from changing your thinking!

Once you continue to repeat new, positive thoughts from restructuring your old ones,  you’ll not only benefit your anxiety, panic attacks and agoraphobia, but you’ll also continuously benefit your overall well-being.  This of course means you will be making a huge shift in your life – for the better.

Again I would highly encourage you to keep this idea in the back of your mind when you go through your day to day life and restructure your thoughts. I think this type of insight can be very helpful and motivating for someone who suffers from anxiety.  I think it would be worth while writing down the key concept of this installment on a flashcard or other means recording it so that you are habitually seeing it.

Join the Panic Attack Recovery Newsletter: get "real" help with your Panic Attacks now!