Anxiety – Caught in the cycle!

At CARE, when it comes to anxiety and panic, we keep you aware by frequently referring you back to the TFA (Think, Feel, Act) cycle. Think refers to the scary or negative thoughts you have about a given situation. Feel refers to the bodily symptoms you experience regarding the situation. Act refers to your reaction to the situation (For instance, fight or flight). The order of TFA is subject to change depending on which occurs first for you. The point is that each contribute to the other.

Confused? Here’s a scenario of the anxiety/panic cycle in action:

You were presented with a 40 page contract to sign for something pretty important. Even though most people are okay with being told the short version of what they are signing, you really want to read each page for yourself  But because you don’t have the patience to read all 40 pages in the perfect time you had allotted yourself, you become overwhelmed and most likely save the contract until later (Act). But then you are up all night worrying (Think) about the fact that the deadline to return the form is around the corner. Your heart palpitates (Feel). You just noticed that your heart is beating so fast and you start to wonder but because it happened so fast, you missed the trigger, rather you attribute the palpitations to a heart condition. You can’t sleep now because you must google the symptoms (Act) Then you are back to Think . . . Feel . . . Act . . . When the cycle goes on and on we refer to it as the cycle of destruction and you are stuck in it!

Whatever happened to the contract? Face it, you’ve got trust issues. The only person you trust is yourself and you’ve beaten the only person you trust to a pulp with worry. We will help you figure out how a simple contract ended with a fear of death! We’ll help you trust again.

We are featured in Psychology Today!