Coaching practices for Adrian Wells Attention Training

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Adrian Wells Attention Training, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

  • My attention feels welded to the inside of my own head
  • When I try to lock onto one thing, my attention slides off it within seconds and I have to keep dragging it back
  • I only ever try to wrangle my attention once I’m already spiraling, when it’s far too late to work
  • In the middle of a stressful moment I get hyper-aware of my own racing heart and how I’m coming across, and watching myself like that only cranks it higher
  • Once my mind latches onto a worry I genuinely cannot pry it loose

Practices that may help

  1. Attention Training Technique (ATT), Made Practical
    The Attention Training Technique (ATT), developed by Adrian Wells, is a structured auditory exercise that rebuilds voluntary control over where attention goes — directly countering the self-focused, threat-locked attention that sustains anxiety and health anxiety. Randomised trials support its effectiveness as a standalone and as part of Metacognitive Therapy.
  2. Attention training technique (ATT)
    Practice deliberately shifting attention across sounds — a drill that builds attention flexibility and reduces self-focus.
    Metacognitive Therapy, Made Practical
  3. Selective attention to individual sounds
    Deliberately focus on one distinct sound source among several and hold attention there.
    Attention Training Technique (ATT), Made Practical
  4. Daily 12-minute ATT practice
    Run the full three-phase ATT session every day as a skill, not a relaxation ritual.
    Attention Training Technique (ATT), Made Practical
  5. Redirect from self-focus to external attention
    When anxiety spikes, deliberately anchor attention to a specific external sound or object.
    Attention Training Technique (ATT), Made Practical
  6. Rapid attention shifting between sounds
    Switch attention between sound sources on cue, making each shift deliberate and immediate.
    Attention Training Technique (ATT), Made Practical
  7. Train attention to interrupt rumination and worry
    Rumination is attentional deployment gone wrong — building the skill of redirecting attention breaks the loop.
    Attentional Deployment, Made Practical
  8. Use improved attention to observe metacognitive beliefs
    Apply attentional control to notice — without engaging — the beliefs that drive overthinking.
    Attention Training Technique (ATT), Made Practical
  9. Divided attention — hold multiple sources at once
    Expand awareness to hold three or more sounds simultaneously without collapsing back to one.
    Attention Training Technique (ATT), Made Practical
  10. The Formula First-Session Task and Between-Session Noticing
    Assign between-session observation tasks that direct attention toward what’s already working.
    Solution-Focused Brief Therapy: Building On What Works

Related concerns

Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.

Practice this with IX Coach

Try this practice