Getting beyond anxiety’s grip

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February 6, 2012 — Sometimes anxiety can keep us frozen. We can begin to ruminate and lose sleep, even over little things. Or we may become afraid to ask for what we really want — that raise, affection, or assistance with daily tasks. Our minds can get cluttered with questions like what if I mess up or something goes wrong? What if I make a fool of myself or they reject me? Anxiety can feel like even the smallest decisions are of great consequences. We all have anxious reactions from time to time, but sometimes the grip of anxiety is tight and gets the best of us.

Dr. Dan Gottlieb explores strategies for weathering, weakening and understanding anxious thoughts with Dr. Tamar Chansky, Ph.D. She says we can invite new perspectives into our lives to help us overcome worry. Chansky is a clinical psychologist and one of the nation’s leading experts on anxiety disorder. She is founder and director of The Children’s Center for OCD and Anxiety and creator of the educational website worrywisekids.org. http://www.worrywisekids.org/ Her new book is called Freeing Yourself from Anxiety: 4 Simple Steps to Overcome Worry and Create the Life You Want (Da Capo 2012).