You ask an important question that many members have. How do you do exposure work for thoughts? Check out some of the answers in the Ask the Expert section. There is one with the specific topic of CBT that you will find helpful as well as some of the other questions. Here Dr. Farvolden explains cognitive exposure.
Let us know any information you found to be helpful.
You are doing the classic mistake with exposure. Exposure isn't a cure it is a test of the cure.
First you build coping skills to deal with the cause of the anxiety then you use exposure to test how well you have built these coping skills. Extending your period of exposure to anxiety slowly to reinforce your coping skills till the point where you do it without conscious thought. And yes this does happen. This is all part of replacing unwanted thoughts (negatives) with wanted ones (positives).
I was just wondering how im supposed to go about doing the exposure work when i have hypochondria? i understand going to places that tend to give you moderate anxiety and staying there until your anxiety subsides. also i understand when you avoid certain places because your afraid of having a panic attack. i do sometimes get a little more anxiety, going place just for that reason"out of your comfort zone". with what i have, the fear is there weather i go anywhere or not. i always have a fear that i have or im going to get cancer. i usually dont have the basic symptom panic attack. its always finding my self feeling my throat, checking for bumps or trying to see if my glands are swollen. if its not my throat, there is always someplace else on me that im doing the exact same thing. sometimes this all will lead to a panic attack, but without the panic attack, my level of anxiety is pretty intense. i deal with a moderate level of anxiety most of the day and most all days, it seems. i will have a couple of days here and there that my anxiety is pretty low. those are really nice days. sorry about all that. my question is how do i go about doing the exposure work with what i have?
