Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Fear and anxiety are normal emotions that all of us feel sometimes.Difficulties arise when we get stuck in a cycle of anxious thinking and avoidance behaviour (we have anxious thoughts: ‘Something awful will happen’  and ‘I wont be able to cope’;)  as a result we feel frightened; when we are frightened, the we tend to avoid.

Use this Three Step Plan to break the anxiety vicious cycle:

1. Recognise the anxious thoughts that set your anxiety cycle in motion:

Stop and ask ‘What exactly do I think is going to happen?’

2. Challenge the anxious thoughts

‘What is the worst that can happen?’  ‘How likely is that to happen (based on evidence/past experience)?’  ‘If that does happen, how awful will it really be?’ ‘Should that happen will I really be utterly helpless or am I overlooking some skills/tools that will help me cope?’

3. Face your fear :

Avoidance might give some short-term relief (‘Phew I escaped that!’) but in the long-term it makes us even more anxious as it consolidates the anxious thoughts ‘Something awful will happen’  and ‘I won’t be able to cope’.  We  learn nothing helpful from avoidance; but by facing our fear, no matter how difficult that might be, we may learn that it’s not as bad as we thought it would be and that we can cope.