1. Cope with Catastrophic Thoughts
Instead of trying to disprove catastrophic anxious thoughts, imagine the worst-case scenario and develop a concrete coping plan for it. This empowers you by building confidence in your ability to handle even the most extreme outcomes, significantly reducing anxiety.
2. Practice Assertive Self-Defense
For social anxiety, identify potential criticisms and prepare assertive verbal defenses. Practicing these defenses builds confidence in coping with criticism, shifting focus from fear of judgment to the critic’s own issues.
3. Test Your Negative Predictions
When depressed, you often mispredict how rewarding activities will be. Make a prediction about how you’ll feel doing an activity, then perform the activity and rate your actual mood, as people often enjoy things more than anticipated.
4. Implement the Five-Minute Rule
To overcome inertia or lack of motivation, commit to doing a task for just five minutes. You get full credit for completing five minutes, which often creates momentum to continue longer and provides a sense of accomplishment.
5. Challenge Negative Thoughts with Evidence
Use a ‘seven-column thought record’ to analyze negative thoughts by listing evidence that supports and doesn’t support them. Ask perspective-shifting questions to access information your brain filters out when depressed, fostering balanced thinking.
6. Focus on Increasing Coping Capacity
Understand anxiety as a ratio of perceived danger to coping abilities and resources. Instead of solely trying to reduce perceived danger (which is often uncontrollable), focus on strengthening your confidence in your ability to cope with potential threats.
7. Engage in Mindful Walking
Walking is a robust antidepressant; maximize its mood-boosting effects by incorporating personal values and interests (e.g., nature, social interaction) and avoiding distractions like phones. Morning sunlight can further enhance mood.
8. Prioritize Behavioral Activation for Depression
If experiencing severe depression, start with behavioral methods (like the five-minute rule or walking) to improve your mood slightly before attempting more cognitive tasks like challenging negative thoughts, as a better mood state makes flexible thinking easier.
9. Avoid Safety Behaviors During Exposure
When facing fears (exposure), be mindful of and avoid ‘safety behaviors’ (e.g., staying quiet at parties, obsessively checking weather). These behaviors prevent true learning that the situation isn’t dangerous or that you can cope, reinforcing the fear instead.
10. Identify and Apply Your Strengths
Actively identify your personal strengths, passions, and interests, and consciously consider how you can apply these existing capabilities to solve current problems or navigate life difficulties, which can accelerate progress and build resilience.
11. Set Measurable Therapy Goals
If seeking therapy, establish clear, measurable goals for what you want to achieve. Having specific signposts helps evaluate the effectiveness of treatment and ensures you and your therapist are working towards the same outcomes.
12. Catch and Question Mental Imagery
Recognize that thoughts aren’t just words; mental images (visual, auditory) can feel very real and influence your mood and beliefs. Learn to quickly catch these images and question their reality, just as you would with verbal thoughts.