Coaching practices for I Can Get Through the Scary Thing Now but Only with My Little Crutches Gripping My Phone Keeping a Friend Nearby Sitting by the Exit Over Rehearsing Every Word and Deep Down I Credit Those for Why Nothing Went Wrong So I Never Actually Find Out I'd Have Been Okay Without Them
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For I Can Get Through the Scary Thing Now but Only with My Little Crutches Gripping My Phone Keeping a Friend Nearby Sitting by the Exit Over Rehearsing Every Word and Deep Down I Credit Those for Why Nothing Went Wrong So I Never Actually Find Out I'd Have Been Okay Without Them, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I can get through the scary thing now, but only with my little crutches
- I only get through hard moments by clutching my little crutches
- I can only handle the scary situation if I’ve got my little crutch
- I get through the hard situations, but only with my little crutches
- I’ve got all these little rules that keep me okay
Practices that may help
- Eliminate safety behaviors
Identify and drop the subtle actions that reduce anxiety but prevent learning you don’t need them.
Exposure Therapy: Facing Fears to Shrink Them - Run exposures without safety behaviors
Do induction exercises while deliberately leaving out the coping props you normally rely on.
Interoceptive Exposure for Panic - Gradually drop safety behaviors
Safety behaviors (a phone, a companion, a pill) reduce distress in the moment but prevent the learning that exposure is meant to produce.
The Fear Ladder: Graded Exposure Made Practical - Dropping Safety Behaviors Within Experiments
Remove the subtle avoidance strategies (safety behaviors) that prevent experiments from genuinely testing the belief.
Behavioral Experiments: Testing Beliefs in the Real World - 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 - Fade reliance on a support person
Gradually enter feared situations with decreasing support from a person who has been a source of safety.
Safety Behavior Fading, Made Practical - Run a disconfirmation experiment without the safety behavior
Enter the feared situation without the safety behavior and observe what actually happens.
Safety Behavior Fading, Made Practical - Plan how to repair each worst case
If the worst case happened anyway, write how you’d get back to where you are now.
Fear-Setting, Made Practical - Create a brief cope ahead card to take into the situation
Write a pocket reminder of the scenario, the emotions, and the skill — so you have it when you need it.
Cope Ahead: DBT’s Method for Preparing for Difficult Situations - Run a post-discomfort review after each approach
After engaging with discomfort, explicitly confirm that you survived and what you learned.
Embracing Discomfort: Turning Resistance Into Growth
Related concerns
- When Safety Behavior Fading The Disconfirmation Test
Enter the feared situation without the safety behavior and observe what actually happens.
Run a disconfirmation experiment without the safety behavior
- When The Fear Ladder Drop Safety Behaviors
Safety behaviors (a phone, a companion, a pill) reduce distress in the moment but prevent the learning that exposure is meant to produce.
Gradually drop safety behaviors
- Fade Anxiety Crutches
Safety behaviors (a phone, a companion, a pill) reduce distress in the moment but prevent the learning that exposure is meant to produce.
- Safety Behavior Fading For My Teenager
Safety behaviors are actions people take to prevent feared outcomes during anxious situations — sitting to avoid fainting, avoiding eye contact to seem less socially threatening, checking repeatedly to prevent disaster. Paul Salkovskis identified them as a central maintenance mechanism: they prevent the person from learning that the feared outcome would not have happened anyway. Fading them — systematically reducing their use — is an evidence-supported component of CBT for anxiety disorders, with the strongest evidence in panic and social anxiety.
- When Interoceptive Exposure Drop Safety Behaviors Exposure
Do induction exercises while deliberately leaving out the coping props you normally rely on.
Run exposures without safety behaviors
- Agoraphobia Support Person
Gradually enter feared situations with decreasing support from a person who has been a source of safety.
Fade reliance on a support person
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.