Stop Calling It Anxiety: A New Perspective on Living with Worry

By Jennifer L Erickson

Are you ready to look at Anxiety in a different way?

If you are, this book might be just what you need. The word anxiety has become synonymous with everyday life stress. The word anxiety is no longer used for true moments of anxiousness. For this reason, rather than being able to identify specific emotions or thought, people are starting to strugg

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jennifer Erickson Arts
• Release date: Oct 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9780578300030

Jennifer L Erickson

Jennifer Erickson, Ph.D, is a Health Psychologist specializing in Anxiety and Panic Disorders. Jennifer uses a Solution-Focused approach to helping people create change in their life. One of the most important changes she helps with is building self-confidence. Over the years, Jennifer has encouraged people to try new experience so build their knowledge, aiding in the growth of self-confidence.

Book preview

Part 1 – New Information

What does this book help with?

Stop Calling It Anxiety is intended to help you grow, become more confident, and ultimately reduce your overall anxiety. While life will always have ups and downs, having the right tools to adjust and cope can greatly reduce your personal inner discomfort. So, this book offers ideas and techniques for developing coping skills, gaining emotional maturity, and moving through (and eventually accepting) the things in your life that cause you anxiety.

Thumbs up sign with solid fill       While this book does offer information and help for several different types of anxiety, it is geared towards high-functioning individuals who are not debilitated by their anxiety. Typically, high-functioning anxiety is still very overwhelming and difficult, but it doesn’t regularly keep you from working, engaging in social activities, or managing your responsibilities at home.

What isn’t included in this book?

No sign with solid fill This book does help with many types of anxiety, but it is not intended to resolve all scenarios or issues. A self-help book can offer a lot of information, but it’s not specific to any one individual and it is not meant to be a substitute for counseling or therapy. Stop Calling It Anxiety includes a myriad of information, and I hope that you’re able to use that information to create significant change in your life, but it may not help with everything you need.

In my private practice as a Licensed Professional Counselor and Health Psychologist, I regularly use the knowledge, techniques, and suggestions in this book. However, working directly with someone isn’t quite the same as writing a self-help book, because information and tools can be tailored to that individual’s specific anxiety and life struggles.

Additionally, self-help books do not offer professional, step-by-step support as you learn to implement new techniques. So, if you feel you’re emotionally healthy enough to tackle your anxiety and its challenges without the direct support of a therapist, I believe this book can help you.

Anxiety recovery is all about actively training your brain and reshaping your response systems, coping skills, and self-confidence, as well as your understanding of yourself, your identity, and the world around you. This means that, to reduce your anxiety, you will have to challenge yourself to practice new ideologies, new coping skills, and allow yourself to see new perspectives.

Lost with solid fill It’s work, and it can be difficult, which is why many people seek face-to-face counseling. Whether you see a therapist or not, please remember that to change, you must do the work. You have to practice, therapist or not. (Additionally, Stop Calling It Anxiety can be used in conjunction with professional therapy.)

While this book offers specific suggestions, they can’t cover all situations. The goal is to learn these techniques first so you can later adapt them to fit present situations. If you only read a chapter right when you need it, you won’t be able to DNA outline make permanent change because there would be no reinforcement of the skills. The doing is what restructures our personal lens of the world, and our lens determines our emotional and cognitive responses to our lives.

Medical with solid fill Brain in head with solid fill This book also cannot account for other diagnoses you may be struggling with. For example, if you’ve experienced significant trauma in your life, you may need more than a self-help book to alleviate symptoms and live more freely. If you have biochemical irregularities that cause disorders such as bipolar or schizoaffective disorder, this book won’t address everything you’re going through. If you struggle with a severe phobia, it may prohibit you from practicing new techniques, and therefore, keep you from experiencing the full benefit of them. This is a self-help book designed for people with mild to moderate anxiety. While I hope it will help you, I suggest seeking further help specifically for any other challenges you’re currently facing.

Why should you read this book?

There’s an adage that says, Knowledge is power. The reason I wrote Stop Calling It Anxiety is that, in the years I’ve been working with clients, I’ve found that to be true--what many people need to make lasting and effective change is information. The purpose of this book is to provide you with the knowledge you need to strengthen your self-confidence, your self-perception, your coping skills, your emotional resilience, and much more.

All that being said, if you understand what this book does and doesn’t offer and you’re ready to get started on the work it takes to help your anxiety, then let’s begin learning.

Chapter One – Gaining Knowledge

The goal for this book is to present you with new knowledge about the brain, personality, and the nuances to behavior change and then introduce you to some skills that can help build confidence, reduce excessive worry, and aid you in finding balance, with the ultimately goal of reducing anxiousness.

This book is designed to help guide people who are generally able to function, who have excessive worry, but can get to work, can participate in life, can be social from time to time.

This book is divided into two parts. Part one is informational; Part two is set up as a self-help workbook. Both parts intent to teach skills that raise self-awareness and self- confidence.

Additionally, the chapters teach life skills such as learning how to set boundaries, how to be mindful, how to understand distorted thinking, understand emotions, and even worldview. Part two also includes some basic information about nutrition, sleep, and the benefits of physical activity. And finally, chapter twelve in part two reviews how to invest in your life.

As you proceed into Part One, it is important to remember that this is a general self-help book. This book does not offer specific medical or mental health advice. It does assume you are in a place where self-help is what you need. Throughout the book, there will be reminders that if you need more than what the book can offer, to seek the advice of a medical or mental health (or other) professional. Information in this book is general and cannot be tailored to fit any one diagnosis or account for any one individual.

Finally, why is this book titled:

Stop Calling It Anxiety

Does it mean that I don’t believe anxiety exists? Not at all. Feeling anxious is a true and valid feeling. Anxiety, by definition, is the mind and body’s reaction to stressful, dangerous, or unfamiliar situations. Anxiety is the feeling of uneasiness, distress, fear, or dread before a major event.

After a decade of specializing in Anxiety Disorders, what I have found is that the word anxiety can become a person’s identity. What I mean by that is, if someone is upset by something a friend, partner, or family member says tend to respond with, that is just your anxiety. If a person is having a hard time at work, they might tell themself, That is just my anxiety. If a person is trying to make a change in their life, people might say to them, your anxiety is too much, you shouldn’t push yourself.

Many of these reasons, and more, are why anxiety is becoming a part of our identity.

My definition of anxiety is the physiological response to excessive worry

Now, if you don’t use the word anxiety, maybe this is what you might say to yourself if you have a difficult time at work.

Wow, my body is feeling the effects of the extra workload. I’m so tense and shaky.

Now, if you don’t use the word anxiety, maybe this is what you might say if you are trying to make a change in your life.

"I can feel the tension in my body, and I’ve noticed I’m breathing deeper, and my heart is racing. Maybe I am very nervous about starting this new job (or whatever your life change is).

Now, if you don’t use the word anxiety, maybe this is what you might say to your family, friend, or partner if they say you are upset just because of your anxiety.

Just because I am shaky, crying, nervous, or upset, that doesn’t mean what I am telling you is wrong or not valid. I would like you to pay attention to what I’m saying/asking, not how my body is responding.

Shape Description automatically generated Do you see what I am saying now? The word anxiety can become our identity, not just a state of mind or body when we use the word too much. That is why it is better to use a more specific vocabulary to describe what is bothering you and how your body is responding.

If I haven’t convinced you yet, how about this thought...

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Your body responds many times throughout the day. Your heart will race, your breathing will change, you may sweat or feel Dance with solid fill tense, your muscles may flex in all the following times:

Doing yard work

Aerobic exercise

Strength training

Running up a flight of stairs

Being in a stressful meeting at work

Cycling with solid fill Work itself

Walking your dog

Cooking or baking

And especially during SEX

Baseball with solid fill If during each of those events, your physiology is changing, and you are usually aware of it. Then why does your physiology changing during stressful moments bother you so much? I know, that can be a complicated answer, but ponder it a bit. Our body responds often during the day, each day. Don’t let its response during stress distract you from the change. And honestly that is what happens when we call it anxiety. We focus more on our body, than we do the stress or the change that needs to happen. And this is where the question of medication comes in. Because this is a very specific and personal question, I can’t tell you what to do. Therefore, you may need to speak to your psychologist, therapist, or medical doctor.

Tennis with solid fill What I can say, for anxiety, medication is used sometimes to help our body remain calm consistently. You need to understand if this is the help you need, talk to your doctor or psychiatrist. There are purposes for medication, there are times it is not needed. Weigh the pros and cons and seek advice from your therapist as well. If you are getting on medication and you don’t have a therapist, I highly recommend it. I would recommend that if you are seeking support from a psychologist or therapist ask if they have advanced