I. What is Positive Self-Talk and what are other Cognitive Strategies to overcome anxiety?

Cognitive exercises are used to address the thinking and beliefs that lead to anxiety. We may have thoughts or triggers that lead us to worry about something without realizing why or how it happens. We are then in a state of panic before you know it and probably in a worse state than what you were worried about in the first place. That is where cognitive exercises can help. Often, our anxiety comes from distorted or changed thoughts in which we may focus strictly on the negatives: like putting the blame on others, or blowing a situation completely out of proportion without any reason. These exercises will become more obvious and effective once you can identify exactly where these negative thoughts come from and when they occur. You can then use the various cognitive techniques to test whether these thoughts are realistic and find out what influenced this anxious response. From there, you can come up with positive alternatives that can reduce anxiety.

Research has shown that cognitive exercises are effective in:

• reducing anxiety
• reducing negative mood
• improving the mental and physical health,
• bettering wellbeing
• enhancing the performance in situations and activities [9].

However, studies have also identified the harmful effects of negative self-talk and thoughts, which shows just how important it is to change your thinking in order to change how you feel about yourself in general, both mentally and physically.[9, 13].

Cognitive therapy techniques can be combined with other exercises and strategies to improve anxiety reduction. They are often combined with Behavioural Exercises so that the negative behaviour (e.g. isolation, compulsions) that stems from stressful thoughts can be lessened. Although many cognitive therapy techniques can be done on your own, social support from partners or therapists can be more effective in order to fine-tune the cognitive therapy process and to obtain feedback from the techniques you use.

There are a number of cognitive exercises or techniques that can be used in the treatment of anxiety. The exercises you will learn about in this lesson include:

• Thought Tracking:  Use a book to note down all your different thoughts and self-talk in order to find solutions to the problems you worry about and to judge whether your negative views are realistic or not.
• Positive Self Talk and self-talk rethinking:  Changing what you say to yourself in a positive way and encouraging the growth of your self-esteem, and self-confidence in order to reduce anxiety.
• Cognitive Techniques to Change Distorted Thinking, Negative Self-Talk, and Beliefs:  Strategies you can use to examine negative thoughts and self-talk to find alternatives for your anxiety.
• Cognitive Techniques for Core Beliefs about Self, World and Future:  Ways you can use cognitive strategies to re-think past experiences and core beliefs and turn them to your advantage to help with your life now.
• Metacognitive Therapy:  Information about a form of cognitive therapy designed to address worried beliefs with the help of a therapist.

Finding the cognitive tools you can use is based on your own personal experiences with stress and lifestyle preferences. You may find your best option by simply reading about the strategies and how to build them into your daily life or you may need to try some or all of them to find out which one works best for your level of anxiety. In the end, you have choices about how you want to free your life from anxiety and these cognitive strategies are some of them.