Managing Anxiety with Distraction

Hi all,

In today’s post, we’re continuing the conversation on different ways to manage your anxiety, and today we’re talking about distraction. If you’ve seen the other videos, we talked about Deep Breathing and Guided Imagery, so today’s video will focus on distraction, both passive and active as a way to manage your anxiety!

Managing Anxiety with Distraction Technique

It might seem almost like a “duh” moment, but distraction is a great way to manage your anxiety and in the video below, I go into detail and provide examples on how to do it.

Distraction in particular is a great tool to use when you have to get through something for a specific amount of time, that is stressful to you, but that is necessary. For example, if you’re flying somewhere to see family but you don’t like flying, or if you need to get a vaccine and don’t like needles.

Distraction at its core is about creating a new experience to.. you guessed it, distract you from the stressful experience. By doing this, your brain and mind focus on something else and not on the stressful activity.

There are two different types of distraction: Active and passive. Active refers to distraction in which you’re actively participating in. For example, having a conversation with someone, doing exercise, playing a game, etc. While passive refers mostly to you absorbing information as a way to get distracted, like watching TV and listening to music.

Check out the video for more information and do let me know in the comments if you have any questions or concerns!

Thank you for watching & reading!

Dr. C

DISCLAIMER: Information being provided on this page is general in nature and is not intended to replace or serve as therapy. Should you be experiencing emotional distress or difficulties at school, work, or with relationships, it is encouraged that you contact your insurance health provider to locate a mental health professional in your area. Seek immediate help if you are experiencing thoughts of harming yourself or others at your nearest emergency room.