How to cope with anxiety effectively?

I would say when it comes to coping with anxiety, this book has taught me a great deal. (Coping with Anxiety: 10 simple ways to relieve anxiety, fear and worry by Edmund Bourne)

Dr. Bourne mentions a psychological technique called Defusion. I found this to be the most effective technique because I struggle with situations where I feel trapped, and not able to cope going into a situation. When you manage coping in a trapped situation, you have to actually do certain self-talk routines. I would say it works when you put the phrases on index cards. Over the past couple of weeks in Sept 2016, I have felt more at ease. If I had to talk to my parents about a difficult topic, I did not feel like I was bottle inside my head.

Are you wondering what Defusion is?

Defusion roots off from ACT( Acceptance and Commitment therapy) and it is opposed to fusion. What are you fused to? Your thoughts of possibilities are fused with thoughts of reality. We see no difference between the two. As a result, we bring misery into our lives. If we were to imagine the possibility of your car breaking down, then you would actually feel like it would happen. Further, it would use up all your energy in avoiding or thinking about it when you could have used that energy for more useful things.

However, our goal is not to separate the thoughts whether they are true or not, but you want to see is having the thought helpful? Honestly, I have issues of ruminating, which means I rerun thoughts or make the worst possible outcomes in my mind. I ask myself is ruminating helpful. Somehow I stop ruminating.

It is absolutely necessary to ask yourself a question.

“ Okay, what is my mind telling me right now?”

The last part of the exercise I have to visualize placing every thought that I have on a leaf and it floats away. Of course, there is much more to do that in the book.

There are powerful phrases and affirmations that you need to go over in your daily life. This is what takes hard work. You want to reprogram yourself. If you want to spend your time thinking, then why not spend it thinking in the most positive way.

In summary, I think we should read this book if you want to have everlasting results for relieving anxiety.