Understanding Anxiety

If you are feeling anxious, know that you are not alone. Many college students encounter worries, fears and uncertainties, all of which can contribute to anxiety. Anxiety can impact our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and can leave us feeling stuck, restless, irritable or tired. Understanding anxiety may be an important first step in addressing it. To better understand what anxiety looks like, why it occurs, and how it operates, check out this guide or this video.

Strategy: Defusing from Anxious Thoughts

Having a better understanding of anxiety can help us recognize anxious thoughts in the moment, and with time and practice we can get better at de-fusing our anxious thoughts from other thoughts. Practice de-fusion with this video. Once we are able to recognize and label our anxious thoughts, the cycle of anxiety becomes evident. To learn more about the cycle of anxiety, and how to begin managing it, check out this guide or this video.

The Cycle of Anxiety

Do you ever feel overwhelmed or anxious about your anxiety? This struggle is natural with anxiety, and accepting that anxiety may be a part of our lives is an important step to let go of the struggle. To learn more about this struggle watch this video. Check out these worksheets, this activity, or this grounding exercise to pause the struggle, to stop judging your anxiety, and to accept anxiety when it shows up.

Bibliotherapy (i.e. self-help books) and mental health focused mobile apps are additional tools to learn about and manage your anxiety. Self-help books include The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris (or The Illustrated Happiness Trap for a more fun and easy to read version), and Retrain Your Brain: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in 7 Weeks by Seth Gillihan. Some free mobile apps for anxiety include Stop, Breathe, and Think, Wysa, Sanvello, and Calm.

There are several strategies to cope with anxiety, and different self-help mediums or strategies may work for different folks. So try out a few to find the right ones for you!

Here are the resources linked above

Understanding Anxiety:

https://www.calmclinic.com/anxiety-guide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv6HkipQcfA

Defusing from Anxious Thoughts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjKltKKSur8

The Cycle of Anxiety

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTuX_ShUrw0

https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/-/media/CCI/Mental-Health-Professionals/Panic/Panic---Information-Sheets/Panic-Information-Sheet---03---The-Vicious-Cycle-of-Anxiety.pdf

Accepting Anxiety

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuKQf5BtVgE</a

https://positivepsychology.com/act-worksheets/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDm2c5FDLNI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ao4xdDK9iE