The ABCS of Coping with Anxiety

Book excerpt: In The ABCS of Coping with Anxiety: Using CBT to Manage Stress and Anxiety, James Cowart offers a concise collection of tried-and-tested strategies from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and makes them accessible to people who are learning to cope with their anxiety on a day-to-day basis. Anxiety is a normal part of our human nature. For spurring you to make decisions or perform, it can actually be helpful. However, an unchecked pattern of intrusive negative thoughts can escalate the severity and persistence of the level of anxiety experienced over time. As this worsens, it is not uncommon to feel an increasing lack of control - ultimately leading to a chain of self-defeating behaviors that may negatively affect all aspects of your daily life. Yet, while it is not possible to directly control our emotions (or what others think or do), it is possible to learn and apply coping skills that can help you face feared situations - rather than escape or avoid them. James Cowart's aim in The ABCS of Coping with Anxiety is to share a toolbox of CBT techniques garnered over 40 years' clinical practice that will enable you to manage your anxiety on a sustainable path toward taking back some of that control. These self-help strategies focus on developing key coping skills designed to reduce fear and anxiety, and are complemented by a user-friendly, step-by-step program of practical exercises that can be personalized to meet each individual's unique needs. Informed by his extensive experience and therapeutic knowledge, and with real-life case studies to guide you along your own journey, James's easy-to-remember ABCS approach is as transformative as it is simple: A is for accepting the thoughts and feelings you can and can't control; B is for breathing slowly and naturally to relieve and relax muscle tension; C is for countering any unrealistic or catastrophic thoughts with truth and logic; and S is for staying with it so you can face your fears and anxieties until they are reduced. Each step is explored in detail in the first four chapters, and further discussion is also dedicated to using the ABCS with different types of anxiety (including social anxiety, specific phobias, panic attacks and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)) and coping with related depression, anger and impulsivity. Punctuated with research-informed insight and instruction throughout, The ABCS of Coping with Anxiety offers hope, relief and reassurance in helping you master your anxiety and work toward greater independence. Suitable for those living with anxiety and for the health professionals - including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and counsellors - working with them.