Quick Coping Skill for Anxiety: Locus of Control Find a Way #WithMe

Therapy in a Nutshell

Therapy in a Nutshell -Emma McAdam

Mental Health, Education, Health & Fitness:mental Health, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 658 Ratings

🗓️ 22 December 2020

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Here’s a quick activity that you can do to cope with anxiety and restore a sense of safety and calm, I do it all the time with my clients in session and you can feel a noticeable difference almost immediately. This activity is short and simple, but it can really help decrease anxiety or better cope with anxiety. A big part of anxiety and stress is trying to figure out what you should be doing about certain problems. I mean that’s what worry is, right, it’s thinking about a problem over and over to see if you can find another option or another solution. Coping with Anxiety is all about understanding your locus of control, but the important part is that you draw it- because that does something to help the brain clarify and calm down more than just thinking. Sign up for my newsletter: https://www.therapynutshell.com Thanks BetterHelp for sponsoring the video: BetterHelp- Professional, Affordable Online Counseling starting at around $65 a week https://www.betterhelp.com/therapyina... Learn more in one of my in-depth mental-health courses: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=12222020 Check out my favorite books for mental health: https://kit.co/TherapyinaNutshell/bes... Music licensed from www.Bensound.com or Artlist.io Images from Freepik.com (premium license), Pixabay, or Wikimedia commons Therapy in a Nutshell, and the information provided by Emma McAdam, is solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and is not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health. If you are in crisis please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ or 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or your local emergency services. Copyright Therapy in a Nutshell, LLC

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome to therapy in a nutshell. I'm Emma McAdam, a licensed marriage and family
0:06.7	therapist, and this is the podcast where I condense mental health skills into bite-sized
0:12.4	nuggets of health. I want to share with you a quick activity I do with my clients to help
0:19.1	decrease anxiety and to increase a sense of safety and calm.
0:23.6	I use this activity all the time in session with my clients and you can feel a noticeable difference almost immediately.
0:36.6	So this activity is short and simple, but it can really help decrease anxiety, because what it does
0:43.4	is help you clarify what you can and what you can't act on. Because, I mean, that's what worry is,
0:49.3	right? I mean, it's thinking about a problem over and over again to see if there's a different
0:53.9	solution or something you should be doing differently.
0:57.0	So this activity is all about understanding your locus of control and it's really simple but you can use it with lots of situations.
1:03.0	I use it in marriage therapy. You can use it with understanding problems with a co-worker or fears about the future.
1:11.6	But the important part is that you draw it out on paper because there's something about drawing that helps the brain clarify problems and clear up anxiety better than just thinking about problems.
1:23.6	So what you're going to do is you're going to start by drawing two intersecting circles on a piece of paper.
1:31.2	Like this.
1:34.5	Woo!
1:35.2	Those are great circles.
1:37.4	And write your problem or your question at the top of the page.
1:40.9	So in this situation, we're going to be using the example of parents who are upset that they
1:48.3	have an adult child living at home and that kid is not motivated. So then in this circle,
1:54.8	you're going to label what is in your control. And on the circle, you're going to label what's
2:00.2	out of your control. And this middle circle you're going to label what's out of your control.
2:02.1	And this middle section, this where the circles overlap, this is your realm of influence.
	...

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