Tip for managing scary thoughts

[allyboo2]

A book I'm reading on Health Anxiety suggests this:

- Write down your scariest thought (i.e, "I'm dying of undiagnosed brain cancer.")
- Write down why you believe this ("I have a headache.  My leg feels weak.  I have a friend who had brain cancer.")
- Answer your reasons as you would answer a friend who had these worries.  Like this:
 
Worry:  "I have a headache." 
Answer:  "Headaches happen to people everyday. That doesn't mean brain cancer.  If I went in to the doctor and said that I have a headache, he wouldn't automatically think brain cancer so neither should I."

Worry:  "I had a friend that had brain cancer."
Answer:  "Yes and I have many healthy friends.  Just because someone else contracted a rare disease does not make me more liable to do so.  It's just making me think on it all the time which is causing anxiety and probably my headache."

Worry:  "My leg feels weak."
Answer: "Limb weakness is a symptom of anxiety.  I can still stand on it.  It's not really weak, it just feels that way from anxiety."

Look for these things:

All-or-Nothing/Overmagnification: "I have a headache THEREFORE it's brain cancer."
Fortune telling:  "I'm sure I'm going to get a deadly disease any day now."
Emotional reasoning: "I FEEL symptoms so therefore I'm sick."
Mind reading:  "My doctor didn't say I didn't have cancer so he must know it's something serious."
Should statements: "I shouldn't feel so anxious all the time.  I'm an idiot for having these thoughts."

Hope this helps someone.

[Chloe321]

Hi Can you share the name of the book and author??

[allyboo2]

It's "Stop Worrying About Your Health" by M.D., Psy.D. George D. Zgourides

[Cercy]

Okay so like... here I am feeding my baby and reading your post for the fiftieth time... and thinking "MAN my left breast hurts!" And then of course I think about how often it hurts, and what that leads to and...

Then I look down and realize she's got all her weight on it. And that she sleeps four plus hours a day laying flat on her tummy, on my chest. And THAT is probably why it hurts. Not Breast Cancer.

I think I'll try this method the next time I freak out. Thanks. :)

Though I'm not sure what to do with complex stuff like I felt upon waking up this morning. I just felt like I got hit by a truck...

[Kam07]

Cheers ally, I'm gonna pick this up after work today. I read a few pages on amazonreader on amazon.com.

Do you feel better reading this book and is it helping you understand how to control this crap we deal with?

[allyboo2]

Yes.  I've read several other books and gotten some great tips to help me.  Not quite 100% cured, but a LOT better! :)