Getting rid of anxiety: 6 strategies for immediate help

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Getting rid of anxiety: 6 strategies for immediate help

Update: 16.07.2024

Are you afraid of the dark or are you rather brave? Do you get queasy before big performances? Do you panic when a stranger shows up at your door? How nervous are you before stressful encounters or before a flight?
Every person has their own fears and individual level of anxiety. When you know how to get rid of these fears, you free yourself from the paralyzing thoughts. In the best case, you realize that the fear is unfounded.

With helpful tips, you can manage your anxiety and Panic attacks get rid of. Long-lasting tension or nervousness can also be relieved in a targeted manner. decelerate. The fearful thoughts lose their power and you gain more security. So you can think rationally and better assess the scary situation. Learn more about how to get rid of your fears in this article.

Getting rid of anxiety: 6 strategies to alleviate your symptoms

How can you get rid of anxiety? The tension in your body, the excitement of your thoughts - it all messes you up. Here are a few tips on how to relieve the symptoms of anxiety.

  1. Relaxation and breathing exercises:
    With targeted relaxation and breathing techniques, you can alleviate acute Anxiety and reduce the physical symptoms. Are you afraid of flying? Breathe evenly into your stomach in the check-in area to calm yourself down. A little meditation before exams can help, inner peace to find.
  2. Regular exercise:
    Physical activity can reduce feelings of anxiety in the long term and increase fitness. Depending on the type of anxiety, exercise can also help in the short term, as physical exertion weakens the anxiety response. However, caution is advised with panic attacks, as these could be intensified. In such cases, relaxing exercises are more suitable.
  3. Develop serenity:
    Calmness is essential to overcoming thoughts of anxiety, even if it cannot be achieved immediately. People with anxiety disorders often fear the anxiety itself, which intensifies their symptoms. Acceptance-oriented methods, such as meditation and Mindfulness exercisesteach us not to fight against fear, but to observe it without judgment, which leads to more serenity and freedom in the long term.
  4. Accept and embrace fears:
    The best way to get rid of fears is to accept and embrace them. Welcome the fear inside instead of fighting it. Mindfulness and relaxation exercises can help you develop calmness, making you braver and freer.
  5. Confronting fear:
    The most effective way out of fear is to go straight through it. Don't avoid the situations or objects that trigger fear, but confront them. This not only reduces anxiety, but also strengthens your self-confidence. Two approaches can help here: Distraction as an easier but less effective way or focusing fully on the anxiety, known as systematic desensitization.
  6. Questioning fears and worries:
    Catastrophizing thoughts put the body on alert. Question your fears in detail: What exactly are you afraid of? How realistic are these fears? What could happen as an alternative? Test these thoughts in reality or discuss them with others. The aim is to transform fear-inducing thoughts into calming self-instructions.

Get rid of fears through confrontation

Getting rid of fears through confrontation - this works especially well with specific fears. You are afraid of spiders: In a special therapy you learn how harmless these animals are. In this way, you concentrate on the feelings of fear without distracting yourself. Systematic desensitization with psychotherapeutic support helps you to increase the level of difficulty. Especially positive results can be achieved with multiple repetitions.

Examine your anxiety thoughts and evaluate the anxiety trigger. Dealing with the perceived triggers will also help you cope with anxiety. To this end, strengthen your ability to cope better with difficult situations. Other resources, such as help from friends and family, also give you more strength. In this way, you can overcome the hurdles well. and overcome your fears get rid of

What are thoughts of fear?

Fear is a warning mechanism. Primal fear protected our ancestors from being eaten and other dangers. For today's modern man, fear is also a sign of a threatening situation. There are no more saber-toothed tigers, but there are enough other risks.
For a more relaxed life you can get rid of your fear thoughts. This is important to get a clear head.

The immediate fear reaction causes your body to tense up. Maybe you tremble or feel paralyzed. Add to that the fearful thoughts circling around you. If something bad is about to happen! What are you going to do? You are in an acute state of alarm from which you cannot escape. Perhaps it is also creeping fear thoughts that make your life difficult. Fears of expectations and worries about your health or professional future turn you into a pessimist.

That's why it's so important to understand the origins of your fearful feelings and thoughts so you can get rid of your fears. One thing you should realize: Anxiety thoughts are ultimately just thoughts. Even if the world of thoughts seems real, it takes place exclusively in your head.

How do thoughts of fear arise?

Anxiety thoughts arise from an immediate threat or from stressful experiences. Sometimes the causes of overanxiety lie in childhood, in other cases physical or mental illnesses are the anxiety triggers. Many fears determine today's life. There is the worry about the family and one's own job, the fear of accidents, nervousness before exams and important conversations, fear of spiders, large gatherings of people ...

When you take a closer look, you realize that the thoughts of fear come from within yourself. There is no direct danger - you have an exam date, but you are well prepared. Maybe you are afraid of failing. But it is much more likely that you will pass.

get rid of anxiety and panic attacks

Get rid of fears - seek professional support,

Life crises or a serious illness can give rise to justified thoughts of fear. That you fear an aggravation in such a situation is logical. Here, the fear is justified: So it's no wonder that you feel cornered. But even in such a case, you can control your Fears get rid of it. You may need therapeutic support to cope with the anxiety.

When you understand where fear comes from, you can fight it. You want to get rid of your fear of diseases? Then strengthen your body. You want to get rid of social fears? Then jump over your shadow and learn to approach other people. Depending on the degree and nature of your fears, you may need professional help. A serious Anxiety disorder is not so easy to combat.

Where does normal fear end, where does pathological fear begin?

Even though very few situations are life-threatening, many people have fears. You want to get rid of your fears and stay more relaxed - for more self-confidence and a relaxed feeling. Basically, however, fear is not a bad thing as long as it remains in the moderate range. Various fear thoughts accompany you in your personal development and shape your character.

The normal fears relate to:

  • possible failure (exams, job interviews),
  • Embarrassments,
  • too much proximity or Loneliness,
  • Unknown people, places and situations
  • Conflicts.

Such fears can lead to self-doubt, but they also lead you to action. How do you deal with your fear? Thorough preparation helps against the fear of failure. To get rid of social anxiety, you usually just need to take one step forward - towards other people.

When anxiety gets out of hand, you need psychotherapeutic help. But where is the dividing line between normal and pathological anxiety? And how can you get rid of excessive anxiety? Use the following list to find out how much anxiety thoughts affect you:

  • Your fears rule your thoughts for at least half the day.
  • They affect your social contacts and job.
  • You are severely limited in what you can do.
  • In order not to perceive the fears, you regularly take medication, alcohol or drugs.
  • The anxiety makes you depressed - possibly to the point of suicidal thoughts.

Getting rid of anxiety - when anxious thoughts become a disease

When feelings of anxiety are very pronounced, experts speak of an anxiety disorder. Here, the fear exceeds the normal level and becomes overwhelming. Often, however, there is no real threat, so it is a matter of exaggerated thoughts of fear.

How can you get rid of this inner fear that is affecting your life? You can't miss the typical symptoms of anxiety: Your heart races, you sweat and shake, get short of breath until you feel dizzy. This can lead to nausea and collapse. Such a panic attack often lasts only a few minutes, but if it happens more often, you should do something about it. Other common anxiety disorders are:

  • Generalized anxiety disorder and worry that makes you nervous, tense, and internally restless over a long period of time,
  • specific phobias such as fear of confined spaces or wide places, spiders or Friday the 13th..,
  • social phobias, which usually result in a negative Self-esteem are justified.

If you want to get rid of excessive anxiety, psychotherapy is recommended. Some doctors prescribe anti-anxiety drugs. However, you can also get rid of anxiety without taking medication. With effective treatment, you learn to face the anxiety trigger. This is better than avoiding the supposedly dangerous situations. In this way you can recognize how exaggerated or even unfounded your first thoughts of fear are.

Whether you have a special Phobia or suffer from generalized anxiety disorder: You can get rid of your anxiety with targeted therapy. The non-drug treatment Helps you enjoy your life and overturn the self-imposed limitations.

What is fictitious fear?

Fear often arises from a real danger: Then it is justified and can even save lives. A car drives towards you without braking - the primal fear makes you jump to the side. In the dark, a threatening person approaches you, he has a weapon in his hand - and you run away or call for help. In such situations, legitimate fear gives you the energy you need to flee or even counterattack.

In everyday life, there are hardly any such threats. But a possible danger gives rise to fearful thoughts in your head, which you find difficult to combat. The cause of this fictitious fear is often an incorrect assessment. The way to the bus stop is poorly lit, but that doesn't mean that an evildoer is waiting there to knock you to the ground and steal your bag. The initially eagerly awaited application date turns into a threatening situation: You fear that you won't be successful.

When your fear thoughts have their origin in unfounded facts, it becomes especially difficult to get rid of them. That's what makes it so hard to fight the fictitious fears.

Typical examples of fictional fear:

  • You've grown bored with your job and are thinking about quitting. A vision of fear appears in your mind's eye: You're sitting in a hovel, impoverished and dilapidated.
  • You're planning an airplane trip. The night before departure, you can't sleep: you keep imagining plane crashes.
  • You are walking along the field, from a distance you recognize a large dog. You're afraid that he's about to run up to you and bite you - you're so scared that you can't see that he's on a leash.
get rid of fear thoughts

Reality check to get rid of fears

A terrible movie is playing in your head, but it has nothing to do with reality. That is exactly what fictitious fear is. If you want to get rid of your fears, you should therefore examine them carefully. This way you can find out if they are exaggerated or even completely unrealistic. With this reality check you can get rid of your inner fear. This works for various fearful thoughts. You fight the fear of failure with optimism: If you don't get the job, you try somewhere else. If you fail the exam, it's not the end of the world.

Defeat feels bad, but it is not a real danger. Fear of being alone is stressful for many people, but again, there is no threat to life. Only out of this fear you should not toxic relationship It's better to enjoy being alone for a while. What do others think about you? Are you afraid of that? You should get rid of these fictitious and senseless fears: They won't get you anywhere and may drive you to negative actions.

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