The Anxious Thoughts Workbook for Teens by David A. Clark

Author:David A. Clark
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
Published: 2022-06-08T22:23:08+00:00

for you to do

Set aside thirty minutes each day to confront your anxious thoughts. Choose a location where you’ll be comfortable and free from distractions. Have available the stories you developed with It’s Not a Catastrophe (Activity 14) and Thinking More Calmly (Activity 16). And…go!

To get relaxed, take two to three minutes to focus on slow, deep breathing.

Bring to mind the anxious intrusive thought or worry. Focus all your attention on your catastrophic thinking. Remember how you think badly about yourself and exaggerate the possibility of something bad happening. It’s important to make the experience as realistic as possible.

Read aloud your less extreme and calm thinking stories. Notice the reasons you realized that the anxious thought is a normal thought with only limited importance and threat. Keep reminding yourself that it’s only a thought, and that something less threatening is more likely to happen. Allow five minutes for this step.

Return to focusing on your relaxing breathing for a couple of minutes.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 several times throughout the session.

Your mind will wander. Accept the distraction. Then gently bring your attention back to the anxious thought and your less extreme/calm thinking stories.

Use the following worksheet to write down your experience with this activity. (A downloadable version is available at http://www.newharbinger.com/48787.) Rate your anxiety at the beginning and at the end of the session on a 0 to 10 scale, where 0 = no anxiety, and 10 = intense, almost panicky anxiety.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.