Article by Jill Green

Those that suffer from anxiety disorders in all its forms can find much relief by learning to recognize negative self talk. Coping with anxiety by diffusing negative self talk is easy once you learn how. Today we’ll look at negative self talk and what to do about it.

,What is Negative Self Talk?

Our minds have an inner dialogue going on nearly all the time. Those of us with anxiety disorders (agoraphobia, GAD, social anxiety, panic disorder, OCD) usually have a lot of negative self talk running through our minds. Negative self talk can be very loud and overbearing when you are stressed about or in an anxiety triggering situation.

Some examples of negative self talk may include:,

Oh my God, here it comes again. I hate this. If the teacher calls on me, I’ll just die. If I stand in that line I’m going to be trapped. They’re going to notice me panicking, I’ll make a fool of myself.

Thoughts like these can run rampant in your mind, and left to their own devices, only serve to make you feel miserable on top of being anxious. This is self sabotage, and nothing useful can possibly come of it. So what can you do?

The first step in eliminating negative self talk is to recognize when you’re having it.

Erase and Replace

Erase and Replace is an anxiety relieving technique that’s been around a long time. Basically it means erasing the negative self talk by replacing it with positive self talk. The key to using erase and replace effectively is to replace the negatives with positives that are realistic and believable.

If you replaced Oh my God, here it comes again. I hate this. with Fantastic! Here it comes again. I love this! you probably wouldn’t buy it for a millisecond. I know I wouldn’t;)

It more realistic and believable to think: Ok, so I can feel a panic attack coming on. I can let it pass.

Here are realistic and believable responses to replace the negative self talk:

Erase: If the teacher calls on me, I’ll just die. Replace with: The teacher may or may not call on me. I may feel anxious, but I’ll be ok.

Erase: If I stand in that line I’m going to be trapped. Replace with: I can choose to stand in line. If I feel overwhelmed, I can excuse myself at any time.

Erase: They’re going to notice me panicking, I’ll make a fool of myself. Replace with: People are way more interested in themselves. They probably wont notice I’m scared and if they do, it’s no big deal. I’ll be alright.

Using Positive affirmations

Positive affirmations can be used in conjunction with Erase and Replace to diffuse negative self talk. Positive affirmations are wonderful things you tell yourself again and again, like a mantra, until they become the self talk. The power of positive affirmations is widely recognized, and they absolutely help lessen anxiety in all

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