Occupational Therapy Anxiety Management

The information provided on these pages is intended for patients already under the care of the Local Mental Health Teams.

Parts or all of this information on this page may need to be printed.

 

Additional resources to reduce anxiety

These additional resources provide further strategies to reduce anxiety, including Worry Time, Worry Diary, The Court Case, The Poisoned Parrot and The Stress Bucket.

 

Behavioural activation

This is an approach which focuses on using behaviours to activate pleasant emotions. It works by identifying the activities that we may lack the motivation or interest to do when we are feeling low, or when we find we have little time for ourselves. These activities are then gradually reintroduced to incorporate structure, enjoyment, and a sense of achievement back into our daily lives. 

 

Challenging anxiety

This information will help you begin to recognise if you are thinking about things in an unhelpful way and discuss how you can start to make changes to this.  By doing so, you can learn to see things in a more realistic light which can help to reduce your anxiety levels.  You might have unhelpful thoughts about all kinds of things.

 

Graded exposure

People often get into the habit of avoiding situations that cause them difficulty. This coping strategy can unfortunately make the problem worse.  This is because the longer we avoid something, the more intimidating it becomes.  By avoiding situations, we also stop ourselves from proving that we can cope in them.  As a result, our anxiety continues, and our confidence remains low. 

 

How can I reduce anxiety

This information provides strategies to help manage and reduce anxiety.

 

Self soothing

If we can learn to relax and soothe ourselves, your body may feel better, it functions in a healthier state, your heartbeat slows down and your blood pressure may reduce. As a result, your brain functions in a healthier way, allowing you to think more clearly. Be experimental! Try lots of things! Especially things that make you smile.

 

What is anxiety

Anxiety is a normal experience, which although unpleasant, is harmless. When we are anxious, we can experience uncomfortable physical sensations. Anxiety affects us mentally too. We can worry for large periods of time, and our mind may jump from one worry to another. Anxiety also influences how we behave. It can make us avoid doing things that we want to because we are worried about how they will turn out.