If you’re one of the 40 million American adultswho struggle with an anxiety disorder, you’re probably aware of how anxious thoughts can overwhelm you. People who have anxiety often find it difficult to make decisions and take actions to deal with whatever is bothering them.

Anxiety can also lead to overthinking, which causes you stress and leads to more overthinking. So, is there a way to get out of this vicious cycle? Well, repressing anxious thoughts certainly doesn’t work. They’ll just pop back up, sometimes with greater intensity.

However, there are certain effective ways of diffusing subconscious anxiety patterns. Here are four of them:

Try Cognitive Distancing

Instead of viewing your anxious thoughts as facts, view them as guesses. Your mind protects itself by predicting what can happen. However, just because there’s a possibility of something happening, it doesn’t mean it certainly will. Analyze the objective evidence: what’s the probability of the negative outcome actually happening. Is there anything good that may happen instead? And based on the information you have of the situation and past experiences, whatdo you think is the likeliest outcome?

Attempt Cognitive De-Fusion

Stop thinking that you’re fused with your thoughts. Your thoughts are not the objective truth about a situation—it just moving data that’s passing through your mind. Our brains are hardwired to be hypersensitive to danger and threat—this is what helpedour ancestors survive in the wild. Some of the thoughts you have are just automatic reactions from a brain that is designed to survive. Rather than just accepting them, you can choose whether you want to believe these thoughts or not.

Practice Mindfulness

Rather than reacting automatically to your thoughts, try observing them. Think of your thoughts as clouds that are floating by. It’s up to you to decide which ones you want to draw in and which ones you want to cast away. You’ll find that you can definitely untangle your thoughts and observe them, instead of just reacting to them. As an adult, you have a better ability to preempt, identify, or leave a bad situation than when you were a child or adolescent.

Stay in the Present

Does your mind constantly regurgitate the past? Well, just because something bad happened in the past doesn’t mean that it’s bound to happen again. Just clear your mind and ask yourself of the circumstances, your coping abilities and your knowledge have changed since the last time.

Our expert hypnotist, Rekha Shrivastava specializes in working with everything from anxiety and phobias to helping individuals connect with personal resources and improve self-confidence. Book a free consultation at our office in Pittsford. Rekha also offers Skype sessions for clients not residing in Rochester, NY.

Not ready to book an appointment? Learn how self-hypnosis can help you recover from PTSD and depression.