Today’s guest, Dr. Martin Seif, is an expert in managing and treating anxiety. He struggled with his own anxiety issues in the past and now has his own thriving psychology practice helping others.

In the past, techniques for managing anxiety were basically just distractions which only worked in the short term. The way to truly manage anxiety is to adjust the attitudes.

During this pandemic anxiety has run the gamut. Being forced to stay in gave us both permission to avoid and a lot of uncertainty to deal with.

A couple of ways to shift your perspective about anxiety are:

Be aware of your thoughts. Observe yourself being anxious and step away a little.
Lean into the anxiety. If you know you’re going to be anxious about something and know that you’re overreacting, accept that you’re going to be anxious and do the thing anyway.
Stay connected to the present instead of “what if.”

The active therapeutic ingredient for overcoming any significant anxiety is exposure. The trick is to not traumatize the experience.

Dr. Seif and his colleague Dr. Sally Winston have written a number of self help books which can be found on Amazon.

For more tools and to connect with Dr. Seif, visit his website: https://drmartinseif.com/

Anxiety and Depression Association of America: adaa.org

International OCD Foundation: iocdf.org

Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapists: abct.org

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Music credit: Cafe Lounge by FASSounds

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