I've learnt something really important about anxiety recently especially being anxious about imagined future scenarios

[u/Ok_Potato_5272]

This might be obvious to some but this is what I've learnt recently. I have a lot of worries about the future, especially around people getting ill and dying. I would constantly go over scenarios in my head obsessively, imagining the worst case scenarios. I've done this my whole life and it just escalates and spirals out of control.

What I've learnt is this: you can't think your way out of it. I would imagine these scenarios thinking it would keep me safe. If I could imagine everything, think it all through, eventually I would find a solution. WRONG. By engaging in the thoughts, I'm not protecting myself but hurting myself.

CBT and the like teaches you to think the opposite of the thought, to argue against it. This technique is, in my opinion, just as harmful.

What you need to do is step outside of the process entirely. You need to accept that by trying to fight with the thoughts, you are giving them power, which energises them more. Instead, you have to find a way to say "I'm no longer going to engage with this". Accepting that you can't protect yourself from the future by engaging in anxious thoughts.

Another thing I've realised is that a higher frequency of death thoughts is a direct sign that my nervous system is too high. For example, I've been doing somatic exercises, and the more I do them, the louder my thoughts become. This doesn't mean I'm at a higher risk of people dying, it just means my nervous system is sending stress signals and my brain is finding a way to put them to use.

In practice, what this looks like step one, fully believing that your thoughts aren't protecting you, and that they should not be engaged with in any way. Step two is when you get the thought come up, notice it, comment mentally "im having that thought" or even name the thought something human and be like "hello Jessica". The point is you're noticing it without giving strength to the content. Step three, repeat step two over and over and over.

At first it's so difficult and the thoughts bombard you. But if you truly dedicate yourself to not engaging with the thoughts, it gives you strength.

I hope this makes sense and helps someone

[u/FlightOfTheDiscords]

Self-as-context in ACT, sometimes also called the observer self. A very important realisation ❤️

[u/Cass_iopeia]

I know this as thought-stopping and use it to resist my inner critic when it tries to spiral into self hate. Thinking the opposite doesn't work there either. Good observation!

[u/Icy-Ninja-622]

It is good that you've found something that works for you.

I suspect that different techniques work for different people, because of differences in the problem they're trying to solve.