What Is ANXIETY?
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Feeling
Feeling
Feeling
Feeling
nervous
uptight
uneasy
apprehensive
– Anxiety is also known as distress, worry, trepidation,
apprehension, dread, fear, concern, shyness, timidity,
nervousness, , cautiousness, scared, frightened …it can have
a lot of names.
– What these names all have in common is the fact that when
you feel them, it ‘s because you are expecting that something
bad is going to happen.
Anxiety
• Anxiety is a normal emotion.
• We all have it.
• It is not always bad.
– It is important to help us survive,
keep safe, and perform better.
Anxiety is often helpful!
• Top athletes/actors/singers/
musicians usually feel anxious
before they perform, anxiety helps
“rev them up” and do their best.
Good anxiety help give you
motivation, if you are a bit
nervous about doing well on an
examination you are more likely
to study for it.
Event: You are walking across the
street and a fast car is heading
towards you.
• There are three aspects to
anxiety
• 1. Physical
• 2. Cognitive (thinking)
• 3. Behavior (How you act)
Event: You are walking across the
street and a fast car is heading
towards you.
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Physical
Increase in heart rate
Adrenalin flows
Tightening of muscles
Twitching
Tremors or shakes
Event: You are walking across the
street and a fast car is heading
towards you.
• Cognitive (Thoughts)
• OMG THEY’RE GOING TO HIT
ME!!!! Something bad is going to
happen.
Event: You are walking across the
street and a fast car is heading
towards you.
• Behavior (how are you going to
behave?
– Flight – jump out of the way.
– The main behavior reaction to anxiety is the fight
or flight that is fight the perceived danger or run
away from it.
Event: You smell smoke
in your house.
• Cognitive (Thought)
• OMG I’M IN DANGER. THERE’S A
FIRE.
Event: You smell smoke
in your house.
• Physical:
• Heart beats fast.
• Muscles respond more quickly.
Event you smell smoke
in your house.
• Behavior How do you act?
• Fight – Try to put out the fore.
• Flight – Leave the house
When does anxiety
become a problem?
• When an event occurs but there
is no need to be fearful.
• You hear a noise outside and
think it a burglar but it was
really the next door neighbor’s
cat. Our body still reacts as
though it was in danger but
there wasn’t any.
What Are the Physical
Effects of Anxiety?
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Increase in heart rate
Sweating
Tightening up of muscles
Twitching
Tremors
What Are Signs of
Anxiety?
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“Butterflies” in stomach
Rapid heartbeat
Shaky voice
Muscle tension
Sweaty hands
Dry mouth
Difficulty holding hand steady
Difficulty concentrating
What Are the Most Common
Situation That Causes Anxiety With
Teenagers?
Is this a real danger or a imagined
danger?
How Do You Deal With
Situations That Cause You
Anxiety?
Eating
Smoking
Sleeping
Listening to music
Deep Breathing
Exercising
Mediating
Point to Ponder
• People deal with situation that
produce anxiety in various ways:
• Some people do nothing and just put
up with it.
• Some people avoid situations which
are difficult for them.
• Some people have their own ways of
dealing with these situations.
Techniques (Skills )for Coping
With Anxiety / Stress
• There are specific techniques for
dealing with the physical reaction to
real or perceived anxiety.
• Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Exercise
• Deep Breathing
• Focus Breathing
• Mental Rehearsal
Let’s Practice
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Into to muscle relaxation
muscle group arms
muscle group2 face
muscle group3 stomach
muscle group4 legs
mind relax
Techniques (Skills) for Coping
with Anxiety.
• If you learn to control you
thoughts you will go a long way
to reduce the stress in your life
Your involvement in any situation
will consist of the following
components
Event
Thought/ Belief
Emotional
Reaction
Mom is late
coming home
She is in a car
crash
Worry/ anxiety
Emotions are a direct
results of your
thoughts and beliefs
of an event.
Mom is late
coming home
She got caught up
in a meeting
Relief/ mild
annoyance
Your involvement in any situation
will consist of the following
components
Event
Thought/Belief
Emotional
Reaction
Breakup with
boyfriend/girlfriend
Never find anyone
like them again
Despair
I must be no good
Depression
This is the worst
Anger
No one else will
like/love me
Sad depressed
I never get married
Hopeless
I’ll never have
children
Loss or depression
Problematic Thinking
Styles
• All or Nothing Thinking
– “If your not perfect you’re a
failure.”
– The world is completely safe or
dangerous.
Problematic Thinking
Styles
• Overgeneralizations: you see a
single event as a never ending
pattern. You think without proof
it will happen again and again
and again.
– “ I am going to be victimized again”
– “ Bad thing keep happening to me
so I must be a bad person”
Problematic Thinking
Styles
• “Must” “Should” and “Never”
statements.
• These are unwritten rules on how you behave that a
based on myths rather than facts.
• They are rules you learned growing up that seem
that they can never change.
• They are rules you must live up to.
“ I should be able to handle this”
“ I should have know that something like this would
happen”
“ I will never feel better”
“ They should not tease me”
Problematic Thinking
Styles
• Overestimate of risk = This occurs
when you assess risk much greater
than the evidence supports.
• “I’m not going to take a walk because I might get
attacked again”
• “I can’t go into tall buildings because they may fall
down”
• “ I can’t go into the city because it a terrorist
target”
• “I can’t go on airplanes because they may crash”
• “I can’t go on roller coasters because I may fall off.
• “I can’t go driving because I might get into a car
accident”
Problematic Thinking
Styles
• Self Blame = a tendency to blame yourself for any
negative outcome. People who engage in self blame
are not able to accurately assess the responsibility
of others. They tend to attribute blame to
themselves
where
they
have
little
or
no
responsibility at all.
• “It’s my fault that this terrible event happened.”
• “My girlfriend/boyfriend is upset with me, so I must
be to blame.”
Problematic Thinking
Styles
• Catastrophizing= These thoughts come when you
focus on the most extreme negative consequence
and expect the worst to happen. These thoughts
make you very afraid and anxious. Many times they
are triggered by “what if” thoughts or statements.
This is the worst thing that ever happen to me!
What happens if she doesn’t go out with me. I’ll die!
Realistic Thinking
• 1. Identify the thought behind