No Worries: Defeat Anxiety in 7 Short Days!

By George Owen

Want to get free of anxiety for good? Ready for better quality sleep at last? Want better problem-solving skills? Looking to simply enjoy life more? Ready for more happiness? Ready for better personal performance?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then this is the book for you!
After taking a look at what anxiety really is, how it is held in place, as well as how anxiety functions as a process, we get to examine powerful, realistic strategies that you can apply now to defeat anxiety in just one short week!
That’s right! In just 7 short days you can get the skills to make anxiety history, for good! You can track your progress in your own; ‘Defeat Anxiety 7 Day Journal’, and this journal itself contains more simple tasks and guidance to help you take control and make the lasting changes you need. This book is dedicated to helping you take control and hold a solid direction, for good!
Today!
This book is structured in such a way that you are free to dip in from place to place to suit your inclination or need. It even has a brief (about 40 words) summary at the beginning of each chapter. You can click on the contents and visit the various parts. In fact, I’ve reduced the entire book to a single page toward the end! I did this because it sometimes helps to dip and scan, and perhaps get a sentence or two that helps you hold a good direction.
You might go straight to your “7 Day Journal” template and check some of the processes and techniques presented there. You might choose to look over the brief descriptions of a few of the various therapies available. They’re included here because, in my experience at least, these therapies deliver results in as brief a time frame as possible. It is true that all therapies are successful in some contexts and the quality of rapport in the client-therapist relationship is clearly not without significance.
An invitation
Whatever your inclination, I invite you to approach this book in a spirit of curiosity and openness to possibilities. You might just be very pleasantly surprised! Enjoy!

• Language: English
• Publisher: George Owen
• Release date: Nov 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370027095

George Owen

George is native of Ireland and has lived in Australia for almost 20 years.George is an experienced trainer and former lecturer in behavioural science, human resource management, industrial relations as well as consulting with organisations to support effective leadership and problem-solving. In Australia, he has been a training manager for one of Australia's largest not-for-profits.He's written numerous original training resources with practical application as well as a journal template to accompany his first e-book which supports people defeat anxiety, one day at a time.His current activities are as a therapist in Sydney's eastern suburbs (psychotherapy and clinical hypnosis). He lives happily with his darling Elizabeth in Sydney's Rose Bay.

Book preview

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including scanning, photocopying, or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder. Copyright. George Owen. 2016

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Preface

Want to get free of anxiety for good? Ready for better quality sleep at last? Want better problem-solving skills? Looking to simply enjoy life more? Ready for more happiness? Ready for better personal performance?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this is the book for you!

After taking a look at what anxiety really is, how it is held in place, as well as how anxiety functions as a process, we get to examine powerful, realistic strategies that you can apply now to defeat anxiety in just one short week!

That’s right! In just 7 short days you can get the skills to make anxiety history, for good! You can track your progress in your own; ‘Defeat Anxiety 7 Day Journal’, and this journal itself contains more simple tasks and guidance to help you take control and make the lasting changes you need. This book is dedicated to helping you take control and hold a solid direction, for good!

Today!

This book is structured in such a way that you are free to dip in from place to place to suit your inclination or need. It even has a brief (about 40 words) summary at the beginning of each chapter. You can click on the contents and visit the various parts. In fact, I’ve reduced the entire book to a single page toward the end! I did this because it sometimes helps to dip and scan, and perhaps get a sentence or two that helps you hold a good direction.

You might go straight to your 7 Day Journal template and check some of the processes and techniques presented there. You might choose to look over the brief descriptions of a few of the various therapies available. They’re included here because, in my experience at least, these therapies deliver results in as brief a timeframe as possible. It is true that all therapies are successful in some contexts and the quality of rapport in the client-therapist relationship is clearly not without significance.

An invitation

Whatever your inclination, I invite you to approach this book in a spirit of curiosity and openness to possibilities. You might just be very pleasantly surprised!

Enjoy!

Caution

Many people have been diagnosed with some form or mental health condition such as an anxiety disorder of some kind. Many people may be under the care of a physician and perhaps been prescribed medications to support them. Under no circumstances should you change your adherence to your physician’s instructions and prescriptions, without prior consultation with your physician, or other relevant healthcare professional. Any advice provided here is of a general nature only.

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: Welcome to anxiety

Chapter summary in about 40 words! Introduction. Nouns and verbs. Abstract nouns. I strongly believe. What is anxiety really? Doing stuff. Do different stuff, get different results. Doing it without pictures. Anxiety as process. Imagined experience is not real. Anxiety as hallucination. Familiar choking examples. Fear of heights. Threats. Phobias. No worries! Life without anxiety? When anxiety processes stop. What is anxiety not? Positive changes. Some useful questions.

Chapter 2: How we do what we do

Chapter summary in about 40 words. Doing stuff. Communication as result. Absence of control. Strategies. The role of perception. Our perception is our reality. Right strategy, wrong strategy, perfect results. Problem gambling case example. Coping or not coping. Changing strategies. Stimulus response. The music plays. Finer distinctions. Simple questions. Primary feelings. Changing the structure of experience.

Chapter 3: Anxiety and sleep

Chapter summary in about 40 words. Introduction. Insomnia strategy. Anxiety and sleep. Better sleep patterns. Reclaim your sleep. Sleep hygiene. Self-hypnosis for sleep sample script. Self-talk.

Chapter 4: Thinking styles

Chapter summary in about 40 words. Catastrophizing. Mind-reading. Globalising. All or nothing thinking. Justice-based thinking. All about me thinking. Negative filtering. Stable attribution style. Considering alternative thinking styles. Fixing cognitive distortions. A moment’s pause. Perfection is not perfect!

Chapter 5: The magic of structure

Chapter summary in about 40 words. The structure of panic attacks. Thoughts. Feelings. Actions. Protective behaviours. Panic attacks and anxiety. Panic attack symptoms. ‘Benefits’ of panic. When danger strikes. Simple tools. Panic does not hurt. Notice your breathing. Move differently. Insert some absurdity. Cope with coping mechanisms.

Chapter 6: Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

Chapter summary in about 40 words. An example. Sample process. Cause and effect. Thought-challenging and CBT. Spotting unhelpful thoughts. Elements of unhelpful thoughts. Identifying evidence for alternative thoughts. Examining unhelpful thoughts. An example. Simple does not always mean easy. Another example. Responding to disappointment. Powerful tools. Dealing with unhelpful thoughts. Self-care and maintenance. The ‘script’. Internal voice. Self-criticism. It sometimes happens. Fear of missing out (FOMO) and CBT.

Chapter 7: Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT)

Chapter summary in about 40 words. How DBT differs from CBT. What is the dialectic? Who can be helped? DBT and thinking. Self-image. Behaviour. Relationships. Structure of DBT. Skills training. Individual therapy. Phone support. Consultation for providers. Emotion regulation. Distress tolerance. Interpersonal effectiveness. Mindfulness. Outcomes of DBT.

Chapter 8: Acceptance and commitment therapy

Chapter summary in about 40 words. Mindfulness. ACT structure. Focus. Defusion. Acceptance. Values-based action.

Chapter 9: Online therapy and brief therapy

Chapter summary in about 40 words. How do we do online therapy? Hypnotherapy online? System crashes. Client benefits Text, email follow-ups. Not every client. Brief solution-oriented therapy. Why brief?

Chapter 10: The art of relaxation

Chapter summary in about 40 words. Effects of the relaxation response. Relaxation strategies. Deep breathing for stress relief. Progressive muscle relaxation. Rhythmic movement. Meditation for stress relief. Body scan meditation. Mindfulness meditation. Yoga. Hobbies. Taking classes. Aromatherapy. Healthy eating and exercise. Hypnotherapy as relaxation. Variability of results. Therapist competence. Client orientation. Therapeutic partnership. Doing anxiety. Doing something else! Present time reality. Some useful perspectives.

Chapter 11: Performance anxiety

Chapter summary in about 40 words. Addressing public speaking anxiety. Common fears. Public speaking anxiety triggers. Steps that just might help. Step one: identify triggers. Step two: exposure and preparation. Ecology of state management. Ecology checks are important whenever change-work is being considered. Step 1: Identify triggers. Step 2: Anchoring resourceful states. Step 3: Managing internal dialogue. Step 4: Consider the audience. Step 5: Learning from experience. Step 6: Acknowledge your efforts. Sexual performance anxiety. Sex strategy. Hope; a poor second to expectation. Unsuccessful intimacy strategy. Positive sex strategy. The structure of sexual joy. Medications. Useful complimentary behaviours.

Chapter 12: Diet, exercise and anxiety

Chapter summary in about 40 words. Food and mood. Habitual diet. Gut bacteria and mental health. Foods to avoid. Foods that cause hyperacidity. Foods to have more of. Don’t starve, eat something. Alcohol. Drinking too much is great, until it isn’t. Defying anxiety with exercise. Some evidence. Better than drugs? Suffering is optional. Start small. Importance of reward.

Chapter 13: Anxiety and identity

Chapter summary in about 40 words. Introduction. Identity. How connected are you to your identity? Identity and mental wellbeing. The many parts of you. Expansion of focus.

Chapter 14: Wider perspectives on anxiety

Chapter summary in about 40 words. Anxiety requires skill. Such creativity, such focus, such power. Alternative hallucinations. Widespread anxiety in our community. Bad news 24/7. The meaning of meanings. Our perception is our reality. Anxiety as contagion. Locus of control. Awareness is power. Protecting balance. Example of Eric. Simple does not always mean easy.

Chapter 15: Your defeat anxiety 7 day journal

Day 1: Elements of an anxiety experience. Questions about thoughts. Things to do today. My notes for day 1. Day 2: Model of meaning and action. The texture of experience. Targeting attention. Decisions are powerful. Things to do today. My notes for day 2. Day 3: Levitation for fun. Types of attention. Imagine. My notes for day 3. My health as I want it. People in my life as I want it. Places in my life as I want it. Things in my life as I want it. Day 4: Not so great expectations. Decisions have power. Coping with coping mechanisms. Things to do today. Life purpose. My notes for day 4. Day 5: What do you see? Movies or pictures. You are in control. The structure of happiness. My notes for day 5. Day 6: Feelings not always reliable guides to action! Emotions and feelings. Anxiety structure. But I still have to give the presentation. But I’m still broke. My notes for day 6. Day 7: Above and below the line thinking. Cause and effect. My notes for day 7. Congratulations.

Entire book in a single page

Acknowledgements

Caution

About the author

Links

Conclusion

Copyright

Introduction

It only took me 35 years to defeat anxiety in 7 days!

Hello, and thanks for visiting my short book on anxiety!

From fearful bed-wetting child, to fearful victim of bullying in schooldays, to fairly proficient adolescent and adult alcohol abuser, and, eventually, a fairly contented, successful and very happy, member of a species with so much success and even more potential. No! This is definitely not a memoir or autobiography! That’s for another day.

This little effort is intended to be like a tool kit, or skills upgrade. It reflects learnings I have found useful in addressing my own personal experiences usually labelled anxiety. It also reflects techniques that have proved useful with clients I support as an accredited therapist. I find the anxiety process operates at some level within most clients’ presenting issues.

If you’ve experienced anxiety to the extent that you cease to function with any real joy in life, then welcome to the club!

The title

I’ve named this little effort, No Worries, because, when I first came to Australia from my native Ireland, I seemed to hear that phrase several times a day. It seemed to me to have the same frequency of expression as the term; mate. It remains unusual for a day to pass without hearing someone use the phrase in its pure form or some of its many variants, like; no dramas, no strife and so on. It is both a term of reassurance to someone who is apologising for some mishap and a philosophical acceptance of the current situation:

G’day mate, while you were overseas on that business trip? I accidentally slept with your wife.

No worries mate! No dramas! Going to the cricket, Saturday?

OK, that’s a little off, and probably disgusting, but the phrase; no worries has endured for many decades of my experience here in Australia, and I guess was around for many decades before I showed up.

Reasons

I have a number of reasons for writing this book.

Partly, as mentioned earlier, anxiety is a very common element in presenting issues I have encountered as a therapist. It is also, or seems to be, a growing problem in the more developed parts of the world; the parts where people seem to have more stuff than in other parts. This does not suggest that there is no anxiety experience elsewhere. I’m simply placing the context of this little effort within the relatively more materially privileged areas of the world. Clearly, people fleeing impoverished, war-ravaged parts can reasonably be expected to be fearful but that is not anxiety.

As I have experienced it myself, supported clients in therapy, seen it in colleagues, and others closest to me, anxiety seems to be spreading and sapping life’s joys from so many people (I’ve a small piece on wider components of anxiety as possibly contagious included in this book also).

I really want to help fix that!

I’m also writing this in order to lay out what I’ve found to be a very efficient and effective way of replacing anxiety experiences fast. I’ve tested this many times (I don’t know how many times exactly, but think in hundreds of times, if not thousands). It is a simple, easy and fast, process to revise the very components of an anxiety experience ultimately making it redundant! To some, this may seem a bold statement.

Many people have been suffering for lengthy periods with a diagnosis of some form of anxiety disorder. Some may be on prescribed medications aimed at managing their experiences. Yet here I am, not even a doctor arguing for a drug free process that can help. And to do this in just 7 short days!

I make no particular claims to be original exactly. But I do align myself with therapists who have authentically contributed some fresh thinking about such lasting issues that place limits on our capacity to enjoy all that life has to offer.

Elevator pitch for each chapter!

I’ve placed an incredibly brief summary at the beginning of each chapter. This is to provide an opportunity for you to scan and see if it interests you. The summary is about 40 words. This is the number of words I can speak in 15 seconds. My 15 second elevator pitch!

Entire book in a page

I have massively reduced the content messages of this book into a single page. This is for times when you feel inclined to dip. Sometimes it can be useful just to scan across a page and get a little thought which might just be of help as you defeat anxiety.

Structure

This book is structured as a kind of chat. I want it to be fairly informal. While it contains proven, successful strategies, it is