Can You Heal Anxiety Through Positive Self-Talk?
Someone who has anxiety might struggle at times with “inner self-confidence”… and, as a result, they can be blocked from living a carefree life. If you’d like to find the self-confidence that comes from getting help with your anxiety symptoms, please read about what anxiety therapy can offer here.
In this article we’re going to discuss one of the biggest challenges people run into with anxiety: the fear of entering anxiety situations. You might be worried about managing the next anxiety attack but you can overcome this fear through positive “self-talk,” which is your inner voice. And you can comfort yourself during an anxiety attack with self-talk, too. You can’t always control your experience, but you can choose what you say to yourself about it.
Most anxious people would like to enter anxiety situations with ease. Like them, you might have one or two “negative programs” at work in your mind. And if you’re like I was before I got quality anxiety treatment, then you may have a lot of them. Fortunately, anxiety therapy can help you deprogram what’s happening and reprogram your experience of living to include new directions and new thinking that heals.
An Affirmation Heals By Setting An Intention
Someone with anxiety might believe they have no control over how they react. Also, they might think they have no control over what things mean. Someone like this might not realize your reactions are learned from your experiences—and they can be unlearned. Or that you make everything mean what you say it means—which is also learned and can be undone.
You can repeat affirmations to yourself if you want to cope with signs of anxiety attack. Later, you can build on the affirmations in anxiety therapy to become solid, healing intentions you set for your life. You can’t always control your experience, but you can choose what you say to yourself about it.
Let me also add:
You’re already doing this, in a sense, all day long in your thoughts. Everyone has an inner monologue, it’s just that you can take hold of it and redirect it. If you start to take a more active role with your inner voice this way, you might get to a place where you can react to things in any way you want. Maybe you’ll sense anxiety coming but you can say: “That means nothing.”
Or: “Actually, that means what I say it means, and I say it means…” followed by something positive for you. With practice, this is fantastic because it gives you back control, and remember—you’re already doing this.
Stay Present When You’re Doing What You Do
Part of being present is using self-talk positively. And part of it is realizing if you have this negative programming we’re talking about then the only person that can really choose to move towards healing is you. If you want to do something about negative thinking and self-talk, you can start within yourself. And what’s the best way to start within yourself?
I could offer a lot of techniques and ways we can work on this in therapy. But since we only have a little bit of time together in this article, here are 2 of my favorite affirmations from cognitive psychologist Aaron Beck:
How To Use Affirmations To Soothe Anxiety
1. “I’m strong enough to take this.”
One of the long-term goals we can work on in anxiety treatment is how to increase your tolerance for anxiety. As a matter of fact, most of the anxiety about anxiety goes away when your tolerance goes up.
When you think something like “I can’t do this,” you can learn how to tell yourself: “I’m strong enough to take this.” Nothing can replace the experience of eventually being able to feel anxiety come up, tolerating it, and encouraging yourself to get past it. So maybe try reminding yourself you’re strong enough. You could even build this up slowly over time. It’s a valuable one.
2. “This will pass.”
I know you might be having anxiety that can be overwhelming. At the same time, you might benefit from staying with the situation and reminding yourself it’ll pass. You could stay focused on what you’re doing while you know the whole time your anxiety level will go down. And, if you can keep to this without evaluating yourself, you might be able to tap into your deeper intention and purpose.
At first, it might be difficult to switch to looking for safety this way. You might feel something is missing when you switch from previous coping methods to new ones like affirmations. But no worries, it’s simple (remember what I said earlier… you’re already talking with your inner voice all day already, so the habit can work for you). The more you heal, the more you’ll want to heal, and the easier this work becomes.
Just Keep Healing A Little Bit At A Time!
If you do this, you’ll begin to rewire yourself and change your negative programming into positive programming. Of course, a great place to start is working with me in anxiety treatment. Together, we’ll pinpoint any negative thinking patterns that may be causing you challenges. Then, we’ll figure out how to rewire them into self-confidence and positive self-talk.
There is no perfect self-talk, but there are definitely healing insights you find along the way. If you’re ready to dissolve those old beliefs and install some new, positive beliefs that will help you manage any signs of anxiety, please reach out to me.
Find out more about Anxiety Treatment.
About The Author
John Younes, JD, MA, LPCC, NCC is a trained counselor who owns a private practice in Denver, CO. In general, he specializes in depression treatment and anxiety treatment using existential and cognitive therapy practices.
If you’re thinking about suicide and are in immediate danger, please call your local emergency number. For Denver, Colorado, call 1-844-493-8255 or text TALK to 38255. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.