Anxiety and Acceptance
We all experience anxiety sometimes. It is partly how our brains respond to stress; almost like turning on an alarm system within us to help protect us, and even help us perform better. However, sometimes our brains can be like an overprotective caretaker, turning on our internal alarms when there is no threat.
Feelings of anxiety can be accompanied by all types of symptoms, including bodily sensations, behavioural changes, and unhelpful thoughts. These can include worries about a stressor or even unhelpful thoughts about what one is feeling in their bodies, or about life in general.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), thoughts, feelings and behaviours are all linked. Addressing the thinking and feeling part of anxiety can help reduce symptoms but how can this be done? By accepting it!
Notice how anxious thoughts and feelings are undesirable and people usually just want them to go away, but fighting these thoughts and feelings can exasperate symptoms even more; almost like fighting against quicksand. This concept highlights the importance of accepting the things you cannot change and changing what you can.
How to Accept Difficult Thoughts and Feelings
1. Acknowledge
Sometimes difficult thoughts and feelings can seem annoying, so we switch over to distracting behaviours hoping they go away. Acknowledging your thoughts, bodily sensations and feelings lets you see and observe how you are feeling without judgement. What’s happening in your body and mind? Observe and notice.
2. Allow
Allowing involves accepting that it is okay to have the thoughts and feelings you’re having. When you resist, you may be thinking “I should not feel this way”. Allowing can be compared to allowing your anxious thoughts and feelings into your house after they’ve been banging on your front door for hours.
3. Accommodate
This involves making changes in your environment, routines and activities that support what you really care about. Your values. If you do what you care about while accepting anxiety thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations, this gives you psychological flexibility and reduces anxiety’s control over the things you want to do.
References:
Harris, Russ. (2013). The Happiness Trap: Stop Struggling, Start Living. Exisle Publishing.