While some anxiety can result from some nutritional deficits (people who are starving or fasting or lacking in certain nutrients are more prone to anxiety for example), most anxiety is a result of what we are thinking about or focused on. When we think of scary things, or frightening possibilities we tend to produce more stress hormones like adrenalin and cortisol, for fight or flight, and our breathing becomes more shallow, which cause us to feel anxious – and often make it harder for us to think of options or remember what we need to do; or to think of hopeful possibilities.
Likely the most effective approach for dealing with these anxious thoughts comes from research in the field of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). To learn more about CBT check out Step 4 on Strategies for Overcoming Stress under Brain Health Essentials. There you will find the following paragraph and link to a webpage featuring a lecture and illustration of how this can be used to reduce anxiety by David Burns, M.D., one of the pioneers of CBT, and one of the top experts in the world on reducing anxiety.
“Learn to see stressful situations from a different perspective or point of view. For example, many anxious or depressing thoughts actually arise from inaccurate, limited, or distorted interpretations of events, and many problems may be seen as opportunities for learning or impetus for making improvements. (Click on this link to a great website on this topic with a TED talk by our friend David Burns, M.D. (read down or skip down a few pages to David Burns), on how he got into this, and why this approach works better than meds. That website also offers examples with worksheets and suggestions to help visitors work through their own distortions.”
If you struggle with anxiety or depression we would strongly recommend reading his new book Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment for Depression and Anxiety. (His earlier book Feeling Good, was a classic in this field, but he has some new more effective strategies in this book – now available through Amazon. We suggest starting with Chapter 31, then reading the first 3 chapters and Chapter’s 17, then the rest as you have time. It’s a well written, fascinating book, which teaches in detail an empirically proven process. For a deeper dive into more serious anxiety see his book When Panic Attacks.
Does this work? Yes! Exceptionally well! In fact in one study people who simply read Feeling Good, his first book, found that more helpful than therapy with a live counselor, or prescribed medication.
