Craig April - The Anxiety Getaway: How to Outsmart Your Brains False Fear Messages and Claim Your Calm Using CBT Techniques (Science-Based Approach)

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Copyright 2020 Craig April

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The Anxiety Getaway: How to Outsmart Your B rains False Fear Messages and Claim Your Calm Using CBT Techniques

LCCN: 2020933912

ISBNs: (p) 978-1-64250-057-8 (e) 978-1-64250-058-5

BIBSAC: SEL036000SELF-HELP / Anxieties & Phobias

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

The patients described in this book are composites of patients Ive had during the course of over twenty years in practice. They do not address individuals. In my work and the work of all psychologists, confidentiality is paramount. Therefore, Ive taken careful steps to ensure patient privacy, such as providing fictitious names and removing any other identifiable features. All patient cases have either been combined or altered to protect privacy. Any resemblance to any actual person is entirely coincidental.

Welcome to the first step toward your anxiety getaway! The fact that youre reading this suggests youd like to overcome the difficult, limiting, uncomfortable, and sometimes downright terrifying experience you call anxiety .

But are you sick and tired of it? I hope so. Why do I ask? Because that emotional state is a good catalyst for great change! How do you know if youre both sick and tired of anxiety? Well, you sort of know it when you feel it. But rather than risk being vague, Ive got an easy test for you to determine if youre there. If you answer yes to at least three of the questions below, you will be crowned as sick and tired of anxiety. Here it goes:

Do you dislike that your anxiety disrupts or interferes with your life?

Are you annoyed that anxiety inhibits you in some way?

Do you miss a time in the past when you didnt struggle with your current symptoms?

Do you feel like anxiety is your unwelcome companion, accompanying you to places or situations where it doesnt belong?

Do you envy those you believe do not have anxiety?

Do you dislike that you sometimes feel ashamed or embarrassed by your anxiety symptoms?

Are you troubled by a belief that anxiety reflects who you are?

Are you upset by the belief that people might see you as weak or incapable in some way?

Do you sometimes see yourself as weak or incapable for struggling with anxiety?

Answering yes to just three of these items means that youre ready to take on whats in these pages in order to claim your calm!

Now, this may or may not come as a surprise, but when you read on, youll soon learn you cant defeat anxiety without your lucky t-shirt. Wait! Scratch that. I meant without facing fear, of course. Hence, the subject of fear runs through the veins of this book (I was going to say arteries, but that didnt have the intensity I was looking for). To overcome your anxiety symptoms, it makes sense to see your anxiety as an expression of your fear. So on your journey youll move toward not only overcoming anxiety, but also that which you fear. More importantly, youll learn how to outsmart your brains false fear messages.

Im often asked by patients if Ive ever personally struggled with anxiety. I usually smile and say very few people can become experts in anything without firsthand experience. Frankly, Ive had just about every anxiety issue under the sun. There are few things in life that are quite profound. Defeating anxiety by facing and overcoming fear is one. Few experiences can simultaneously release, empower, enlighten, and inspire us like facing fear can.

Im proud to say that by practicing all that Ive included in these pages, Ive overcome fears in the triple digits over the years. I even overcame a few in the midst of writing this book! Ive faced fears both big and small. Many of them subjective, others more common, I suppose, in that a larger part of our population fears facing them, too. For example, Ive been skydiving and scuba diving, taken a flight in a glider, gone parasailing, had countless public speaking engagements, officiated a wedding, been on live news, and even allowed an animal expert to place a tarantula on my head. And yet, there are and will be other fears to face. Some Im familiar with and continue to work on, others are unknown and have yet to arrive. That is the nature of fear.

I believe that facing fear is one of lifes purposes. For, in order to evolve, change, and grow, one must face fear. You can learn a lot by this process. Lessons that can guide you throughout your life. Im not talking about facing fear from an ego standpointthats something else. And Im not talking about being an adrenaline junkie/thrill seeker, either. Thats also something else. Though, if you enjoy that, by all means! Facing fear is more about being on the journey to reach your potential and seek the truth.

I remember some years ago watching a reality show depicting climbers on their journey to reach the peak of Mount Everest. Many of them were climbing it for ego, it seemed. Still, a few others seemed to be in it for the journey and to reach their potential. Many were impeded by their physical condition. One person in particular, a firefighter, came very close, but had to stop. The biology of his body would not allow him to continue and struck him with altitude sickness. Though disappointed, his epiphany at that moment was he had reached his own personal Mount Everest. That was his peak. We all have our Everest. There are real struggles and limitations, and then there are those that are self-imposed that we allow to hinder us and our potential.

Anxiety isnt the enemy you believe it to be. In fact, your anxiety is communicating with you. Its most likely trying to tell you two things. First, that youve got something to learn. And second, that something needs to change.

In this book are the most successful techniques Ive used over the past twenty-plus years to help hundreds of patients achieve complete reduction in anxious suffering. The techniques Im referring to fall under the treatment classification of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (also known as CBT), which is different from most, if not all, other forms of anxiety treatment in that its been scientifically proven to be effective.

Thankfully, though science-based, these techniques are easy to put into place. Anyone can face fear and extinguish their anxiety symptoms. The hard part is stepping into what scares you. This is no cause for alarm, though. This book provides gradual, easy-to-understand steps to do so, no matter how afraid you are.

In the pages to follow, well specifically be discussing anxiety in the form of phobias, panic attacks and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Ive left out post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because, though common, this falls outside the realm of a typical persons anxiety struggles. Ive also refrained from discussing what my field calls generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), given that this diagnosis is a bit of a misnomer. Its symptoms are more stress-based and focused on real-life conflicts (e.g., financial woes, marital conflict, etc.), albeit ones that might be blown out of proportion, resulting in worry. That said, its symptom of worry is rooted in fear. Therefore, those with GAD can still benefit from the lessons in this book, especially those on imaginal exposure, false belief, and What If thoughts. So for you, GAD sufferers, feel free to read on. Youll receive plenty for your efforts, too.