Most of us learn ABC as one of the first lessons in our lives. We then use this tool to construct knowledge and interact with the world around us.
Unfortunately, most of us are not given these tools for everyday life, especially to deal with and recognize anxiety, a normal human emotion that protects us from danger. When anxiety occurs, we cannot react positively because of lack of knowledge; we just haven’t learned our anxiety ABCs!
ABCtracker™, short for Alarm, Belief, Coping, helps users understand and monitor. causes anxiety. By using the ABCs of Anxiety, you can master your anxious feelings with the help of a doctor, psychologist, or other health professional.
Mastering your ABCs
Every master starts as a boss. Fortunately, the ABCs are easy to learn and apply.
A is for alarm
Alarms are an instinctive part of our makeup that alert us (and our ancestors) to potential dangers or stimuli. Just as a car alarm signals a threat, our bodies respond to imminent danger, whether real or perceived. Many of us who experience very uncomfortable anxiety are hypersensitive and react quickly to situations that are actually low risk. By recognizing how your body is alerting you, you can understand how your anxiety triggers.
B believes
The organism does not stop with signals; the brain creates beliefs that complement the awareness. When the alarm sounds, you immediately begin to assess the situation. Like a car owner, you assess the real danger of the situation that triggered your alarm in a split second.
Often, those with pervasive anxiety automatically process this information, forming a false sense of reality and causing anxiety. Thus, the beliefs actually encourage anxious thoughts for people with anxiety disorders, making it difficult to turn off the alarm and even encouraging false alarms. Because people are not always aware of these beliefs, anxiety about them can actually be alarming. By acknowledging your beliefs, you can evaluate their validity.
C to fight
After your body processes the alarm, there is often an accompanying action – a fighting strategy. A coping strategy is any mechanism by which we deal with a threatening situation. Everyone has these because the fight comes from the instinctive desire to feel safe. Some coping strategies are good, in which case they are called adaptive, while other strategies are ineffective and called maladaptive.
Many people who suffer from anxiety develop inappropriate coping strategies that maintain their anxiety or make it worse over time. A useful way to identify and track your coping strategies is to use ABCtracker™. It can serve as your first step to developing positive, rather than harmful, coping strategies.
