People with anxiety often ask for reassurance about their safety from their loved ones. If given, the reassurance usually provides only temporary relief, especially for patients whose anxiety is part of an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

When people seek rapid relief of their anxiety through reassurance from others, they avoid learning how to diminish their anxiety through their own efforts, such as:

Positive Self-Talk can be used to reframe anxious thoughts. For instance, instead of thinking, “I’m afraid I’m going to become sick,” the thought can be restated as, “I want to remain healthy.”

The benefit of doing so is that the mind is directed to thinking about how to stay healthy, which can lead to undertaking healthy habits, rather than being paralyzed by the idea of becoming sick.

Achieving a calm state of mind can be an antidote to anxiety because anxiety and calmness activate opposing physiological, neurological, and emotional states. Ways to achieve calmness........

© Psychology Today