Coping Mechanisms That Can Help Battle Anxiety

Coping with anxiety can be difficult, more than you can even explain. Not only can anxiety affect you mentally, creating busyness in your head that evokes fear and panic, but it also has physical effects, which can leave some feeling helpless. Many who suffer from this condition can find it diffiuclt ot cope with the anxiety condition, and it can start to become debilitating and lead to those who can’t cope with the panic and fear struggling to leave their house and socialise with friends. This downward spiral can lead to worsening of the condition, as, especially with anxiety disorder, feeling isolated can worsen symptoms.

This overall suggests the importance of creating coping mechanisms that can help to relieve the symptoms of anxiety. Coping mechanisms are things or actions that someone can do which can help to relieve symptoms of a mental illness or disorder, such as grounding and deep breathing, which help in the short term. Pairing this with grounding and deep breathing, with long-term techniques such as CBT therapy, can help to improve confidence and let a person with them live a more fulfilling life. 

Immediate in-the-moment relief

3-3-3 or the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding techniques are great for those moments where panic and fear set in, and especially when you feel a panic attack coming on. Forcing your brain to be present by forcing your brain to look around your current environment and name things that you are seeing can help to ground you in reality. For the 3-3-3 technique, a person should name three things that they can see, three things they can hear and 3 things that they can smell. Alternatively, the 5-4-3-2-1 technique encourages people to name 5 things that you can see, 4 things that you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell and 1 thing that you can taste. 

Box breathing is another coping technique which helps to counter the fight-or-flight response by inhaling for 4 seconds, holding for 4 seconds and holding again for 4 seconds. This slow breathing helps to regulate the nervous system and makes you feel calm even when you're not.

Cognitive and mental strategies

Cognitive reframing is a form of coping which involves writing down your anxious thoughts in a notepad, then listing the factual evidence for and against it. For many, this kind of evidence-based and reasonable thinking technique can help to extinguish anxiety thoughts which are based on no rhyme or reason. The result should be an alternative and more realistic thought. 

Designated worry time is a way of segregating your worries into a specific part of the day rather than worrying about them throughout your whole day. This can be time on your own where you sit and listen to music or doodle on canvas prints. If a worry does pop up earlier, then write it down for later so you can think about it during your designated time.