Anxiety
The goal with anxiety is not to feel no anxiety, because anxiety can be valuable. The goal is to work with your anxiety rather than to ‘be’ your anxiety. These resources will help you understand your anxiety, untwist your thinking, so your anxiety can work with you rather than overcome you.
What Is Anxiety Really? (video, 11m59s)
Emma McAdam LMFT explains the difference between anxiety, stress, and worry. Anxiety is essentially your bodies reaction to the perception of being in danger. Stress is the bodies’ physiological reaction and it’s instinctual and unconscious. Worry is the thinking part of anxiety, often revolves around future events or the unknown, and is rooted in the thinking part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex.
Rewiring Anxiety- The role of the amygdala in learning to be anxious (video, 19m02s)
Emma McAdam LMFT paints a picture of the cycle of anxiety, how it works in our brain, and how to rewire our brains
The Subtle Thing That Fuels Anxiety (video, 20m21s): Emma LcAdam LMFT explains how our nervous system works, and how we perpetuate our anxiety without realizing it.
Understanding Trauma, Anxiety and Burnout in your Nervous System (video, 15m25s): Emma McAdam LMFT deconstructs anxiety and how it leads to burnout
Cognitive Distortions & How to Untwist Your Thinking (worksheet)
9 Cognitive Distortions That Can Cause Anxiety and Depression (video, 5m30s): Cognitive distortions are unhelpful ways of thinking that easily build into a spiral. Learning how to think better can drastically change the landscape of your mind.
How to Cope With Anxiety (video, 15m15s): The TedTalk with Olivia Rimes explains how coping resources and skills have a big impact on how we handle our anxiety
How To Talk To The Worst Parts of Yourself (video, 14m31s): Karen Faith tells her story how she learned to talk to the ever-critical part of herself
The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts (book): A book geared towards existential anxiety, with discussion of purpose and meaning and “what is it all about”.
“Anything worth doing is worth doing badly the first time”
