Coaching practices for How Do I Deal with My Anxiety Disorder

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For How Do I Deal with My Anxiety Disorder, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

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

• Even once the worst of it passes, I can’t get back into the room
• I spend my days bracing for the next wave of it, scanning my body, dreading the moment it shows up
• The voice in my head when I’m anxious is brutal
• I only ever try a new way to handle this once I’m already deep in a full-blown wave, and by then I’m too far gone to think
• I’ve got all these little rules that keep me okay

Practices that may help

1. Engage with the present moment
   Once the edge comes off, redirect attention fully into an activity or your surroundings.
   The DARE Response to Anxiety, Made Practical
2. Run toward the feeling
   Actively invite more of the anxiety rather than waiting nervously for it to pass.
   The DARE Response to Anxiety, Made Practical
3. Balanced, compassionate self-talk
   Talk to yourself as you would to a friend — accurate and kind, not harsh or falsely cheery.
   The Anxiety Toolkit, Made Practical
4. Rehearse the response before you need it
   Learn and practice the four steps in low-stakes moments so they are available under pressure.
   The DARE Response to Anxiety, Made Practical
5. Drop the safety behaviors
   Let go of the small avoidances and crutches you use to feel "safe" from anxiety.
   The DARE Response to Anxiety, Made Practical
6. Build an avoidance hierarchy and work through it systematically
   List all the situations you avoid because of anxiety, from least to most frightening, then work up the list.
   Safety Behavior Fading, Made Practical
7. Reframe from "preventing catastrophe" to "coping with discomfort"
   Shift the goal of entering feared situations from preventing disaster to practicing tolerance.
   Safety Behavior Fading, Made Practical
8. The Anxiety Toolkit, Made Practical
   A practical anxiety toolkit pulls together a handful of evidence-informed skills — grounding, breathing, interoceptive awareness, behavioral experiments, and balanced self-talk — so you have the right tool for the moment instead of one move for every situation. Several of these rest on solid clinical and experimental support. They are self-help skills for everyday stress and anxiety; for severe or persistent anxiety, use them alongside professional care.
9. Strengthen the observing self
   Notice that there is a "you" watching your thoughts — that witness is stable even when thoughts are not.
   Defusion from Anxious Thoughts
10. Allow the sensations without resisting
    Let the physical feelings of anxiety be present instead of bracing against them.
    The DARE Response to Anxiety, Made Practical

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