Everybody would have a first-aid kit at home, which is meant for administering medical care until you reach a medical facility. Often, first aid is enough to reassure you and put you on your way to recovery. Similarly, if you were anxiety prone, it would make sense to have a self-help kit at your fingertips, which could help you manage your anxiety until you consult your doctor. This chapter will give you a few first aid techniques for anxiety, which could put you back on track every time anxiety threatens you.

Confront Negative Thinking

As we have amply seen, negative thinking is one of the major traits behind anxiety build-up and attacks. You need to stay alert and confront negative thinking at the very beginning because this process has a rapid snowballing effect, which is difficult to fight in later stages. Check your thinking patters carefully when you feel that you are slipping into negativity. Take the help of the format given below for this purpose; apply the questions listed there when you find yourself in the grip of any type of negative thinking. Take a print out of these questions, or write them down and answer them in writing. This is important because you need to see the “proof” before you can confront your negative thinking.

1. Am I overestimating the problem

2. Is there any evidence that sustains my line of thought Alternatively, what is the evidence that these thoughts are not justified

3. Am I mixing up facts with misplaced imagination or heresy

4. How would a friend of mine react to this line of thought Would he/ she join me in worrying or is it likely that he/ she would laugh it off

5. What would I say to a friend if he/ she would come to me with such a similar thought

6. Can I say I am one hundred percent sure that what I am thinking would happen

7. How many times have I personally seen such thoughts have been realized

8. If the thing I fear happens today, would it affect me 10 years from now

9. What is the worst possible scenario, in this case

10. What can I do to prevent it from happening

11. What can I do to cope with the matters, if the worst happens

12. Are my fears based on feelings rather than facts

13. Am I mixing up the ‘it is possible to happen’ with the ‘it is certain to happen’ In other words, even if the worst were possible, how likely is it to happen

14. Are these negative thoughts helping me achieve anything constructive

15. Can I stop thinking negatively and calm down

Once you have written the answers to all these questions, re-analyze the situation and your feelings. It is possible that now, after seeing the realty reflected in black-and-white, you will accept the fact that you may be over-reacting on some matter that you perceive as a certain disaster, while this is not so. Besides, the fact that this would help change your perspective, it will also occupy you enough to divert your mind from the worry and negative thoughts you entertained. In case you could contact someone from your support group and go over these questions together, the exercise would be ever more meaningful.