Getting professional help for managing anxiety disorders is becoming increasingly difficult, so we are left with searching for self-help options. The good news is, the journey to overcoming anxiety is mostly up to us anyway, so it’s just about finding the right resources for us.
1. Books
This is the most popular route for self-help and there’s a whole section of self-help books in the bookshop. It’s a popular industry as people are continually trying to better themselves. Because of this, there is usually something for everyone.
When it comes to anxiety, there are books that explain how anxiety works which can be a good guide for helping understand your struggles better. There are books that are more motivational in the sense of changing your perception, which can help reducing anxiety.
In terms of books offering practical tips, they aren’t that easy to find. There are certain books that assist with controlling stress or relaxation methods and those would be books to consider when looking for anxiety self-help.
It’s one of the reasons I wrote my own short ebook guides. I wasn’t able to find something that offered helpful tips for dealing with anxiety that was easy to get to.
You can find the guides here: https://www.zortex.co.uk/bookshop
Self-Help Book Pros:
Value for money
Informative
Motivational
Self-Help Book Cons:
Often a lot of waffle
Not many practical tips
Can be hard to understand
2. Courses
Something that’s growing in popularity are online courses for dealing with anxiety. It offers a more interactive approach to self-help as there are usually communities to engage with or contacts of the course that you can communicate with.
Courses help guide you through finding your way to overcoming anxiety by helping you build strong foundations. There are progress points to motivate you and also not overwhelm you, as some other books can do.
There are also online self-help resources that fall into this category in my opinion. It’s something you have to pay for, but once you have access, you are able to view different types of resources and usually, there is some kind of course integrated with that where you go from step 1 to step 2, etc.
Anxiety Course Pros:
Interactive
Multiple types of resources
Engaging
Anxiety Course Cons:
Usually expensive
Quality is varied, meaning some aren’t useful
Sometimes come with restrictions
3. Blog Posts
With the growth of people online interacting around the world, a lot of people take to sharing their experiences online, often through blog posts. You can find so much free information as well as connecting with people who are going through similar experiences to you.
Blog posts are often informal and can make quite an interesting read. The best part is they don’t take long to read. Pretty quickly, you can deduce whether it’s something that will prove useful to you or not. Once you find an author you like, you can continue reading their new posts.
Sadly, it's quite difficult to find blog posts as there are so many blogs on the internet and it can be tiring sifting through it all to find what you like. Blog posts usually aren’t written by certified professionals which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but as we’ve all seen with the internet, certain suggestions can be harmful rather than helpful so it’s important to be wary when trying things out.
Anxiety Blog Pros:
Free
Finding a community experiencing similar things
Finding practical tips
Anxiety Blog Cons:
Might not be helpful
Hard to find
Might not be consistent help
4. Videos
Similarly to people sharing things through blog posts, there are also a huge number of videos available online to support those suffering with anxiety. I have posted many videos to my YouTube channel to offer advice in a quick and helpful way (which you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeTenBtwMEHrclb7nVG-6qw ) as do many others.
The best part about videos is that it feels like it’s a one-to-one conversation. It’s the easiest media to take in information and it feels as though you have someone to guide you through it.
Some videos are to be bought, and there’s a risk with that as you don’t know what content you’re getting but there are plenty of videos online.
Again, it can be hard to find the right videos for you. There will be videos talking about anxiety, tips to deal with certain symptoms, or people’s personal experiences. It takes time to find what is good for you but once you do, again, you can find more similar videos.
Anxiety Video Pros:
A huge amount of videos available
Free (usually)
The easiest way to take on information/feels like a one-to-one
Anxiety Video Cons:
Hard to find the ones for you
Not professional advice
Can’t use that self-help anywhere
5. Worksheets
This type of self-help does feel like homework, but in this circumstance, it might be exactly what you need. Worksheets provide structure. Anxiety can cause chaos. Having something that will guide your thoughts and you work through them in a written way, you can focus your mind and find ways to move forward. It gives you a chance to process everything that has happened whereas when anxious, everything feels like a blur, which can be overwhelming.
Worksheets aren’t that easy to find unless they are CBT-related, which can pose a bit of a challenge. It’s time-consuming to look for the right ones as well as filling them out. They also don’t help that much in a practical sense; they focus more on your mindset and helping you find a way to overcome the anxiety.
Anxiety Worksheet Pros:
Provides structure
Helps work on your mindset
Available online
Anxiety Worksheet Cons:
Can be hard to find
Time-consuming
Doesn't offer a lot of practical advice
Thankfully we live in a world where there are a lot of self-help options. If we take the time, we can find something that is perfectly suited to our needs. If you go to: www.zortex.co.uk/anxiety-support you have a lot of these self-help resources available in one place: ebooks, leaflets, videos, worksheets, etc. so please check it out when you get the chance. If you have any questions or suggestions, please email: alexandra@zortex.co.uk