• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

NICABM home pageNICABM

Better outcomes. More quickly.

  • Home
  • Courses
  • Experts
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Log In

[Infographic] A Four-Step Approach for Overcoming Anxiety

10 Comments

When a client suffers from anxiety, they’re often locked in worry about the future . . .

. . . which can prevent them from enjoying meaningful parts of life in the present.

But one way that clients can work through their anxiety is by building a values-based mindset.

So in the infographic below, we laid out a four-step process that can help shift a client’s focus away from their anxiety and motivate them to work toward their goals.

Have a look, and please share with your clients.

Click the image to enlarge

Title:

Shares607FacebookTweetLinkedInEmailPin
Click here for the text-only version of the infographic
Title: A 4-Step Approach For Overcoming Anxiety
In life, you’re constantly managing unknowns. But when anxiety takes hold, it can be difficult to face those unknowns and do the things you once enjoyed. So how can you overcome anxiety when it’s holding you back?One way to motivate yourself in the face of anxiety is to build a values-based mindset.

1. Identify the meaningful parts of life that the anxiety is blocking.

2. Shift the focus away from the anxiety itself toward the meaningful goal.

3. Create a list of positive messages that would motivate you toward that goal.

4. Be gentle with yourself – you’re not alone. Many of the people you meet may be working through something similar.

Think, for example, about a person who is afraid to drive on the highway. In order to shift the focus, their therapist might ask, “Why do you want to drive on the highway? What’s in it for you?”

That person might want to drive so they can go on a date, see a grandchild, get to a job, or buy a present for someone they love.

When anxiety threatens to keep you from people you love and activities you enjoy, these four steps can give you powerful motivation to do what is meaningful to you despite anxiety.

 

(If you’re sharing this infographic, please attribute it to NICABM. We put a lot of work into creating these resources for you. And if you’re sharing this digitally, please link back to this page in your attribution. Thanks!)

If you’d like to print a copy, you can use one of these links:

• Full color

• Printer Friendly

Now we’d like to hear from you in the comments below. Do you use values-based approaches with your clients? What else do you find helpful when working with anxiety? Please let us know.

If you found this helpful, here are a few more resources you might be interested in:

Working with the Body to Release Anxiety, with Pat Ogden, PhD

Working with Anxiety

[Infographic] Four Core Strategies for Managing Stress and Anxiety

 

Shares607FacebookTweetLinkedInEmailPin

Related Posts: Anxiety, Infographics

Please Leave A Comment Cancel reply

This is a learning community for practitioners. We can’t wait to hear what you’re going to use with your clients.
But please do NOT:

  • Share about or seek advice for personal problems
  • Ask for referrals
  • Post links or advertise a product

10 Comments

  1. rosemary whitehead, Other, Jackson, MI, USA says

    The goal, the reason I want to do something, is important. But if I am set in failure, I try to imagine a variety of possibilities that would keep me from reaching the goal. And make a plan for those possibilities. That is not worrying, it is preparing. And if something unanticipated happens, I have practiced solving other problems, and do not get so anxious. Perhaps that is positive thinking taken to another level?

    Reply
    • T J, Health Education, NC, USA says

      Not really sure how “un-anticipating” something you don’t expect and this would leave you with no anxious fear of being not prepared for the events to happen anyway.

      Reply
    • Carla Holt, Nursing, CA says

      Plan for the worst….hope for the best!

      Reply
  2. Steve Orwin, Social Work, GB says

    No problem with this model thanks, but any advice about how to manage anxious memories that surface whilst anticipating the event, or during its execution please?

    Reply
    • Virginia Gordon, Marriage/Family Therapy, Highland Park, IL, USA says

      Might be useful as has been to me personally and as a clinician
      and not a format but very fluid as going-with-the-flow, a therapeutic stream of consciousness.

      -Name it as “these devastating, working its way down to, annoying, memories are hurting me “ codifies their existence and makes them addressable.
      -Use personification for a dialogue with what pops-up in your mind as might be “what are you doing here?”
      memory “ I don’t want you to forget me”
      You “I don’t want you entering my life here but can we talk later”
      memory “ok when?” Or whatever one comes up with as the dialogue flows and may be interrupted along the way as emotions need addressing and so on.

      Reply
  3. Linda Ch, Teacher, CA says

    I am very grateful to have received this message and found it helpful reminder as I have so many others.

    Reply
  4. Connie O., Herndon, VA, USA says

    Thank you NICABM for providing these infographics. I have found them to be very helpful in psychoeducation. Sometimes they hit the nail on the head and other times they are a starting point for a good discussion, but always helpful.

    Reply
  5. Alistaire Moore, Student, Chevy Chase, MD, USA says

    Picture books! Thank you.

    Reply
    • Connie O., Herndon, VA, USA says

      Love picture books 🙂

      Reply
  6. Peter s, Counseling, GB says

    Thanks, I find this very helpful – reminding that anxiety is related to fear and the need to present in the moment.

    Reply

Recent Posts

  • Two Telltale Signs of Gaslighting and Manipulation (and How to Address it Clinically)
  • Two Cognitive Restructuring Strategies to Help Disrupt Grief-Fueled Rumination
  • A Gentle Yet Targeted Approach to Help Clients Who Feel Empty Inside
  • A Four-Step Process for Working with a Client’s Shadow Side – with Chris Irons, PhD
  • Reporting In – Giving Back in 2024

Categories

  • Antiracism
  • Anxiety
  • Attachment
  • Body-Oriented Therapy
  • Brain
  • Charity
  • Chronic Pain
  • Compassion
  • COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Depression
  • Emptiness
  • Exercise and Mental Health
  • Fear
  • Gaslighting and Manipulation
  • Grief
  • Healing Trauma
  • Infographics
  • Mindfulness
  • Nervous System
  • Neuroplasticity
  • Perfectionism
  • PTSD
  • Relationships
  • Resentment
  • Shadow Side
  • Shame
  • Spirituality
  • Trauma
  • Trauma Therapy
  • Uncategorized
  • Unworthiness

40 Wilbur Cross Way Suite 102
Storrs, CT 06268
(860) 477-1450

NICABM Logo

About Us
FAQs
Contact Us
Courses
Claim CE/CMEs
Accreditation
ADA Accommodation
Hiring
SITEMAP PRIVACY POLICY TERMS OF USE

CONNECT WITH US

Facebook Logo YouTube Logo Instagram Logo

40 Wilbur Cross Way, Suite 102
Storrs, CT 06268
Phone: (860) 477-1450
respond@nicabm.com
Copyright © 2025

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!