{"id":24279,"date":"2014-05-31T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-31T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?p=24279"},"modified":"2015-02-12T06:06:45","modified_gmt":"2015-02-12T14:06:45","slug":"a-six-part-approach-to-managing-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/six-part-approach-to-managing-anxiety-053114","title":{"rendered":"A Six-Part Approach to Managing Anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WomanMost of us experience anxiety<\/a> at different times in life; it’s when it takes over our quality of life<\/a> that that it becomes a problem. But what is anxiety, and do you experience\u00a0it?<\/p>\n

There two different types of anxiety: external and internal.<\/p>\n

External anxiety comes from outside events that produce an internal reaction inside us. Examples include sitting in traffic jams and worrying about being late, or perhaps an argument with a spouse.<\/p>\n

Internal anxiety is when a person internally generates anxiety with an internal thought.<\/p>\n

Thinking, \u201cWhat if my boyfriend doesn’t like what I said and he leaves me, and then I’m all alone and I can’t take care of myself and I break down?\u201d<\/p>\n

We think the worst, and then our thoughts become a generator of this biochemical reaction in our bodies. A moment of anxiety automatically sends an alarm system to our brains<\/a>. In this case, the anxiety is all in the mind, and it manifests into a physical reaction. When this happens, we start to question the physical symptoms.<\/p>\n

The fuzzy, anxious feeling won’t hurt you. It’s only an adrenaline response. But when you focus on the fear<\/a>, you may create more cortisol<\/a> and adrenaline, which will create more body symptoms and more confusion. When adrenaline hits the lymbic system of the brain, we feel intense terror. The thinking part of our brain reacts, and we start to question how we feel and we want to fix it.<\/p>\n

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Start by making a list of situations that make you uncomfortable and you find yourself wanting to avoid. Here are some possible examples:<\/p>\n