Anxieties Blog
8 OCD Self-Help Principles in 5 Minutes
I suggest that you generate some generic doubt and distress. Better yet, I suggest that you seek it out. Do something that makes you feel uncertain. Then keep marching on.
Bad Days Are Excellent Days to Practice
What Michael Phelps can teach us about commitment to the work. Has Anxiety ever given you permission to “take it easy?” I’ve said it before: Anxiety is the most cunning of challengers. Aside
Dear Anxiety, Please Drench My Armpits
When worry rears its ugly head, address your anxiety directly and paradoxically. When worry has relentlessly nagged you in the past, I imagine all you wanted was for worry and
Wrestling With Anxiety in the Canadian Rockies
How to personify, externalize, and simplify your anxiety. I love the Canadian Rockies, and a few years ago I had an opportunity to explore them. I was scheduled to teach
Living With OCD During COVID-19
How to survive a global pandemic with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The coronavirus pandemic presents a unique challenge to individuals living with OCD, to those who are continuously seeking out reassurance and certainty and have
Finding Opportunities to Feel Intimidated and Insecure: Part 2
How to generate distress to dominate anxiety. Remember Mary? (If you need a refresher, read Part 1 of this series.) After our first session, I asked Mary to practice her new
Finding Opportunities to Feel Intimidated and Insecure: Part 1
How to push your content aside to make room for doubt and discomfort. The ten-hour flight back from London was uneventful, but being in the very back row meant that
Lessons Learned in Trapeze School: Just Jump!
Detach from dysfunctional points of view and leap into action Your first time flying can be a terrifying experience. They don’t put that in the brochure. Before signing up for
Why Exposure Therapy Isn’t Enough
Technique is overrated. Focus on your point of view. In behavioral therapy, we have a term called habituation, a longstanding principle in the treatment of phobias and other irrational fears. Habituation means