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Traveling in Circles
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David Carbonell, Ph.D.
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Apr 05, 2006 17:15 PDT
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THE ANXIETY COACH®
Helping People Thrive in an Anxious World
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Volume 7, Issue 3
IN THIS ISSUE
Dr. Carbonell writes about a man whose struggle with anxious
sweating just kept the problem coming.
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INDEX
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1. Dave's Note
2. Traveling in Circles
3. About The Anxiety Coach®
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Dave's Note
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April 4, 2006
Dear Reader,
For those of you in the Chicago area who want help with a
fear of flying, I'm starting another class in mid April.
If you're interested in attending, please contact me, either
by e-mail to dire-@anxietycoach.com, or at 847.605.0453.
For professional therapists who want training in the treatment
of panic disorder (and CEU's), here is the spring/summer
schedule for my day-long workshop, "Breaking the Panic Cycle".
May 4: Nashville, TN
May 5: Memphis, TN
June 14: Eau Claire, WI
June 15: Minneapolis, MN
June 16: Bloomington, MN
July 19: Charlotte, NC
July 20: Winston-Salem, NC
July 21: Raleigh, NC
For information and registration, visit this link:
http://www.pesihealthcare.com
and search amongst the mental health workshops,listed by
state.
And if you're looking for my "Panic Attacks Workbook", you
can purchase it at: http://www.anxietycoach.com/book.htm
See you next month!
Dave Carbonell
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Traveling in Circles
by
David A. Carbonell, Ph.D.
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Recently I began working with a young man who's very
preoccupied with sweating. He has a history of periodically
sweating excessively in certain social situations, and it
has come to be a constant source of anxiety for him.
Over time, this has become his major life focus. It's
constantly on his mind to try to avoid sweating in social
situations. He tells himself "don't sweat"; rinses his face
before meetings; minimizes his water intake; and avoids
situations where he thinks it might occur.
He has a lot of fearsome ideas about what the sweating might
do to him. He fears that it would lead people to think he
is dishonest, or unreliable, or weak. So far as he can
tell, none of that has happened, but he's afraid it might.
So the topic of sweating is constantly on the top of his
mental agenda. It's as if he's decided that his major goal
in life doesn't involve personal or professional
satisfactions or achievements. Instead, his goal is to
avoid sweating. The fear of sweating has hijacked his life.
Unfortunately, his direct pursuit of that goal hasn't worked.
It can't. Sweating, like many other physiological responses,
is involuntary, and you can't really control it directly.
I frequently see clients who are really bothered by some
involuntary response, like blushing or trembling, who get
into such a struggle with it that their efforts to prevent
the problem just make it stronger. That's what's happening
with this man. By continually focusing on sweating, he
keeps the problem alive, rather than solves it.
When I first suggested to him that it might be a better
path to accept the sweating and focus instead on his true
goals and aspirations, he said "But I've been marching
down this road a long time, I don't want to turn back now".
We sat there and thought about that for a few moments. Then
he said "I guess it's actually a cul-de-sac, isn't it?"
I thought that was a brilliant observation. A cul-de-sac
is a little neighborhood street that simply forms a closed
loop. It's French for "blind alley". You can drive on a
cul-de-sac for minutes, hours, or years, and never get
away from where you started.
Anxiety is like that. If you fight it, you keep traveling
in circles, never really getting anywhere. It's only when
you stop going down that same path that you have the chance
to go somewhere different.
People often simply assume, when they don't get the recovery
they seek despite a lot of struggle, that they need to
struggle even harder. That often means continuing to drive
through the same cul-de-sac, again and again.
Maybe you don't know what you'll do if you stop driving
around the cul-de-sac. You might have to figure that out
afterwards. The first step, though, is to stop going in
circles.
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THE ANXIETY COACH®
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The Anxiety Coach® is a publication of the Anxiety
Treatment Center, Ltd. The Center is a small group of
clinical psychologists who specialize in the treatment of
anxiety problems. The Center has offices in Chicago and
several nearby suburbs.
Dr. Carbonell, a licensed psychologist, is the founder and
director of the Anxiety Treatment Center.
The information contained in this publication is not a
substitute for consultation with healthcare professionals.
Each individual's health concerns should be evaluated by a
qualified professional.
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SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If you received this copy from a friend or colleague and
want your own (free) subscription, you can subscribe at
http://www.anxietycoach.com/newsletter.htm.
If you would like to see past issues of our newsletter,
you will find them in the archive at:
http://www.topica.com/lists/anxietycoach/read.
To unsubscribe, follow the link at the very end of this
newsletter.
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CONTACT INFORMATION
++++++++++++++++++++++
David A. Carbonell, Ph.D.
Anxiety Treatment Center, Ltd.
E-mail: dire-@anxietycoach.com
Web: http://www.anxietycoach.com
1340 Remington Road, Suite D
Schaumburg, IL 60173
847.605.0453
© 2006, Anxiety Treatment Center, Ltd.
All rights reserved.
Anxiety Coach® is a registered mark of Anxiety Treatment
Center, Ltd.
Distribution Rights: The above material is copyrighted,
but you may retransmit or distribute it to whomever you
wish as long as not a single word is changed, added or
deleted, including the contact information. However, you
may not copy it to a web site without prior permission.
Reprint permission will be freely granted, upon request,
to periodicals and non-profit educational and service
organizations.
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