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8 skills that can help manage stress and reduce anxiety

Reduce stress and anxiety

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First published: 01.Oct.2024

Overview

Coping with stress and anxiety may seem difficult, but a group of researchers have developed a set of eight anxiety-coping skills to help you build resilience and manage the challenges and negative effects of daily life. They are simple and science backed skills that you can practice at any time, every day. From engaging in positive thoughts, savoring the moment, being self-compassionate and finding your inner strengths, these strategies are simple yet effective.
In the following sections we will explain each of the eight skills.

In this Article (Index)

Coping with Anxiety and Stress

Introduction

sign with a positive message
Positivity works wonders

We all face pressure, from our jobs, family issues, or external factors such as politics or climate change.
Stress is part of our daily lives and can't be eliminated, however science has some tips on how to manage it and be happier.

Dr. Judith T. Moskowitz, professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and her colleagues have developed a program called LEAF (Life Enhancing Activities for Family Caregivers) that was designed over twenty years aimed at people who are caring for a loved one with dementia. Its goal is to help boost mood, reduce anxiety, and help relieve stress.

The team led by Moskowitz has published several studies on the outcomes of LEAF trials and has refined the program. The studies show that the skills taught in the program help reduce depression and anxiety levels when compared to a control group.

The program can be summarized as follows:

Have positive emotions, they will help you weather the storms.
Positive feelings and give you an emotional buffer and resilience when stress and anxiety rise.

In the following section we describe these skills.

1. Positive events

When you are stressed, you tend to focus on the factors that cause your stress, fixating on the negative. Instead, try to recognize the positive events in your daily life. Paying attention to small pleasures refocuses your mind, creating a sense of calm.

It's easier said than done, though. Human beings have been molded by evolution to stay alert and track potential problems and threats. But we can also learn to experience good things.

Write down stuff that went well and why they felt good: a bird singing in the morning, the clear blue sky, a call from a friend, something nice you ate... many good things happen to you every day. Recognizing them is the first skill.(1)

2. Savoring

Now that you recognize positive events, take time to enjoy them, appreciate them, and savor them. Let the good moment last, take it in. Savoring is an emotion regulation process whereby individuals generate, maintain, or enhance positive emotions through mindful appreciation of different life experiences.

Thinking about a positive moment, remembering it, telling someone about it, or writing it down helps you re-experience it, and bring back the positive emotions it created, amplifying its effect. Looking at photos of your vacation, and posting about a positive event on social media can help relive the moment. (2)

3. Gratitude

Be thankful. Express gratitude. Studies have shown that feelings of gratefulness boost longevity in women. (3)

Write it down; you have many reasons to be grateful, many things, experiences, and events that bring joy to your life: family, friends, good health, and love.

Thankfulness promotes positive feelings. List all the small things that make your life worth living. (4)

4. Personal Strengths

You are strong; you have personal skills and strengths. Don't forget them when you are embroiled in difficult times. They will help you be strong in the midst of challenges. List them. Empathy, ability to listen, good at organizing things. The list can be long.

Note how you have used your strengths recently in your day-to-day life. (5)

5. Attainable goals

Once you know your strengths, you can set attainable goals to use them. Jot down your progress. Achieving a realistic goal causes positive emotions. Crossing off items in a list strengthens your sense of accomplishment.

Set an attainable goal each day and note your progress. Set one attainable goal related to personal strengths each day and strive to achieve it. Write about this experience at the end of the day. Research shows that progress towards a goal increases positive emotions. (6)

6. Positive reappraisal

This one sounds complicated but it is simple. It means taking something negative or stressful that happened to you and reframing it positively. This helps you see that things aren't as bad as they seem, that they could have been worse, that something good can come from something bad.

You can learn something from the nasty experience. Take a step back, don't get upset or mad, gain perspective.

For instance, instead of stressing out about a traffic jam, appreciate the fact that you can listen to music or the news and that you can't do anything about the traffic.

Positive reappraisal helps build resilience. (7)

7. Self-compassion

In the original LEAF version, this skill consisted of practicing small acts of kindness; doing something nice for someone else without expecting a reward. But, since most caregiving activities are in fact acts of kindness, the LEAF 2 version changed this to being kind with yourself.

Avoid negative self-talk; silence your inner critic (no harsh or punishing inner dialogue for example "Loser!"). Do things that make you feel good. Give your inner self a well-deserved hug. Self-compassion may reduce the effects of negative self-talk and act as a healing factor. (8), (9), (10)

8. Daily practice of mindfulness

Mindfulness means paying attention to the present moment in a deliberate and non-judgmental way. Be aware of your thoughts, feelings, experiences in real time, as they take place.

Deep breathing exercises can help you focus: choose a quiet spot and take slow breaths, expand your belly as you inhale, and exhale slowly. Be aware of how your belly rises and falls. Do this for 10 minutes each day. Another option is to live in the moment doing something you enjoy, doing it slowly and taking it in, in real time.

Closing Comments

These skills, in the words of Moskowitz, help build a buffer or reservoir of "positive energy" that will help you deal with challenges and stress. (11), (12), (13)

Studies show that the parts of the brain that become activated after people are trained in empathy and compassion can start to build new connections and that practicing compassion increases positive feelings, and reinforces neural networks linked to positive emotions.

Swapping negative feelings for positive ones, like awe and gratitude increase the likelyhood of experiencing positive feelings more often. (14), (15), (16)

References and Further Reading

(1) Eagleson C, Hayes S, Mathews A, Perman G, Hirsch CR. (2016). The power of positive thinking: Pathological worry is reduced by thought replacement in Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Behav Res Ther. 2016 Mar;78:13-8. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2015.12.017. Epub 2016 Jan 8. PMID: 26802793

(2) Klibert JJ, Sturz BR, LeLeux-LaBarge K, Hatton A, Smalley KB, Warren JC. (2022). Savoring Interventions Increase Positive Emotions After a Social-Evaluative Hassle. Front Psychol. 2022 Mar 21;13:791040. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.791040. PMID: 35386887

(3) Chen Y, Okereke OI, Kim ES, Tiemeier H, Kubzansky LD, VanderWeele TJ. (2024). Gratitude and Mortality Among Older US Female Nurses. JAMA Psychiatry. Published online July 03, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2024.1687

(4) Bohlmeijer, E.T., Kraiss, J.T., Watkins, P. et al. (2021). Promoting Gratitude as a Resource for Sustainable Mental Health: Results of a 3-Armed Randomized Controlled Trial up to 6 Months Follow-up. J Happiness Stud 22, 1011–1032 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-020-00261-5

(5) Duan W. (2016). The benefits of personal strengths in mental health of stressed students: A longitudinal investigation. Qual Life Res. 2016 Nov;25(11):2879-2888. doi: 10.1007/s11136-016-1320-8. Epub 2016 May 20. PMID: 27207590.

(6) Wang, W., Li, J., Sun, G. et al. (2017). Achievement goals and life satisfaction: the mediating role of perception of successful agency and the moderating role of emotion reappraisal.Psicol. Refl. Crít. 30, 25 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41155-017-0078-4

(7) Riepenhausen, A., Wackerhagen, C., Reppmann, Z.C., Deter, H.C., Kalisch, R., Veer, I.M., & Walter, H. (2022). Positive Cognitive Reappraisal in Stress Resilience, Mental Health, and Well-Being: A Comprehensive Systematic Review. Emotion Review, 14(4), 310-331. https://doi.org/10.1177/17540739221114642

(8) MacBeth, A., & Gumley, A. (2012). Exploring compassion: a meta-analysis of the association between self-compassion and psychopathology. Clinical Psychology Review, 32(6), 545–552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2012.06.003

(9) Muris, P., & Otgaar, H. (2023). Self-esteem and self-compassion: A narrative review and meta-analysis on their links to psychological problems and well-being. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 16, 2961–2975. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S402455

(10) Paranjothy, S.M., & Wade, T.D. (2024). A meta-analysis of disordered eating and its association with self-criticism and self-compassion. The International Journal of Eating Disorders, 10.1002/eat.24166. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.24166

(11) Dowling GA, Merrilees J, Mastick J, Chang VY, Hubbard E, Moskowitz JT. (2014). Life enhancing activities for family caregivers of people with frontotemporal dementia. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2014 Apr-Jun;28(2):175-81. doi: 10.1097/WAD.0b013e3182a6b905. PMID: 24113564

(12) Moskowitz, Judith T.; Cheung, Elaine O.; Snowberg, Karin E.; et al. (2019). Randomized controlled trial of a facilitated online positive emotional regulation intervention for dementia caregivers. Health Psychology, Vol 38(5), May 2019

(13) Leong, C.A., Summers, A., Grote, V. et al. (2024). Randomized controlled trial of a positive emotion regulation intervention to reduce stress in family caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease: protocol and design for the LEAF 2.0 study. BMC Geriatr 24, 289 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-024-04817-5

(14) von Dawans B, Trueg A, Voncken M, Dziobek I, Kirschbaum C, Domes G, Heinrichs M.. (2022). Empathy Modulates the Effects of Acute Stress on Anxious Appearance and Social Behavior in Social Anxiety Disorder. Front Psychiatry. 2022 Jul 13;13:875750. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.875750. PMID: 35911212

(15) Katharina Förster, Philipp Kanske. (2021). Exploiting the plasticity of compassion to improve psychotherapy. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Vol 39, 2021, pp 64-71, ISSN 2352-1546, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.01.0

(16) Monroy M, Keltner D.. (2023). Awe as a Pathway to Mental and Physical Health. Perspect Psychol Sci. 2023 Mar;18(2):309-320. doi: 10.1177/17456916221094856. Epub 2022 Aug 22. PMID: 35994778

About this Article

8 skills to manage stress and anxiety, A. Whittall

©2024 Fit-and-Well.com, 01 Oct. 2024. Update scheduled for 01 Oct. 2027. https://www.fit-and-well.com/wellness/8-skills-to-manage-stress.html

Tags: anxiety, depression, mindfulness, positivity

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