Tag: What-Ifs

Depression/Anxiety, Trauma

“What Ifs” (Part II) — “I trust in myself.”

Grace Chen, PhD. LMFT

(Curious about the Part I? Part I is here)

CBT control and anxietyClients will sometimes tell me the previous experiences of not thinking enough “what-ifs,” and the traumatic feelings came with the not preparing enough, not planning enough, or not listening to their gut instincts.

Sometimes, clients will share thier childhood trauma that connected to anxiety. For example, they were punished for something that a child can’t see it coming. Or, because of the abuse in the family, they were trained to be observant to cope with the abuse.

Sometimes, clients will tell me that they have never had any failed experiences in the past, and therefore, it is even more anxiety-provoking to have to maintain that record.

Continue reading ““What Ifs” (Part II) — “I trust in myself.”” →

Depression/Anxiety, Trauma

“What-Ifs” (Part I) — Control and Anxiety

Grace Chen, PhD. LMFT

The sense of “control” is often related to anxiety. I saw someone posted a picture on Instagram about anxiety. In this Instagram picture, a man is having an internal dialogue with his anxiety. It goes like this:Whatifs

 

Anxiety: “What if this happens?”
Me: “But it won’t.”
Anxiety: “But what if it does?”
Me: “You got me there.”

 

 

I replied to this post with the following statement:

“ Me: If it happens, I will trust myself to have the ability to weather anything that comes into my way. I don’t have to worry about what’s because I can trust myself.”

Continue reading ““What-Ifs” (Part I) — Control and Anxiety” →