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TK TK Graded Exposure — A Powerful Tool to Overcome Your Anxiety
From a Trainee’s MHWP notebook: My Thoughts, questions and Fears
5 Areas Formulation: Thoughts, Sensations, Behaviour, Trigger and Situation
I will briefly explain why anxiety is an experience that we all have and we can’t eliminate it 100%.
All of us have anxiety.
It is a helpful emotion that helped our ancestors millions years ago. The evolutionary perspective has this mechanism in place, therefore it’s there for a reason.
Indeed, it should be activated at some point in life, as anxiety helps us to regulate adrenaline.
We fear certain situations, and challenges, dread nightmares or our own negative thoughts.
However, we are able to live with certain levels of anxiety that are part of our day. We have the skills and resources to cope with it. Most people suffer from anxiety because they don’t understand what it is and why they experience anxiety in particular cases.
When we see a patient with anxiety, we start with psychoeducation.
The first step is to draw a visual representation to show how thoughts, emotions, body changes and behaviour are connected.
For example, when you find yourself in a situation that scares you or makes you feel anxious, your body instantly responds. At the same time, you may feel emotions, such as feeling scared, numb, hopeless, and worried.
Through your mind hundreds of thoughts may be racing, telling you “I will die. It’s not safe here. You have to escape and find an exit”.
This perceived threat generates your anxiety.
You may notice, how one trigger — a situation, person, crowded place or closed place triggers this cycle.
When you understand what triggers your anxiety response and how thoughts are linked with emotions and symptoms, you…
