Avoidance
What is avoidance?
An attempt to escape or reduce discomfort, anxiety, or distress in the short term.
Name the 3 parts of the CBT triangle
Thoughts, feelings, behaviours
What is a coping skill?
Something you use to help manage through a difficult emotion rather than avoid.
What is distress tolerance?
The ability to get through intense emotions without doing something that makes things worse (i.e. yelling, arguing etc).
What is mindfulness?
Paying attention to the present-moment on purpose, without judgment
Why does avoidance often increase anxiety in the long run instead of reducing it?
It prevents learning that we can cope and reinforces fear.
What does CBT stand for?
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
What CBT skill helps you break a problem into small, manageable steps and generate solutions?
Problem Solving
Name 1 distress tolerance skill that calms the nervous system quickly?
Temperature change, paced breathing, intense exercise, PMR
Name 2 ways we can practice mindfulness?
Anything can be done mindfully- it's about bringing our focus/attention and being non-judgmental in our observations.
Name one common example of avoidance
Not going to something that scares you, reassurance seeking, procrastinating etc.
What is a thinking trap?
A biased, or inaccurate way of thinking that increases distress/anxiety/sadness etc
What is a safety behaviour?
Things we do to reduce emotional distress- e.g. rehearsing conversations/orders before making them, carrying or wearing certain items for reassurance
What is the Dive Reflex?
An automatic, involuntary physical response to facial submersion in cold water, designed to trigger slowed heart rate, reduced blood flow to limbs. This reflex enables longer breath-holding and acts as a survival mechanism in mammals.
What are the 3 states of mind?
Emotion, wise, reasonable/rational
What CBT strategy helps reduce avoidance by gradually facing fears instead of escaping them?
Exposure/Gradual Exposure/Behaviour Experiments
What CBT tool helps clients examine evidence for and against a thought?
Challenging negative thinking using questions (cognitive restructuring, evidence for and against etc)
Why is it important for parents to be mindful of their own experience of anxiety when coaching their children?
So their worries/fears don't influence their child.
What is the purpose of distraction as a distress tolerance skill?
To temporarily shift focus away from intense emotions so they can settle
Name a task done in rational mind?
Making a grocery list (or other similar responses)
What is the difference between healthy coping and avoidance-based coping?
Healthy coping helps tolerate distress while moving toward goals; avoidance reduces distress short-term but keeps fears alive.
According to CBT, why is changing behavior sometimes easier than changing thoughts first?
Behavior change can directly shift mood and provide new evidence that changes thinking.
What is habituation and why is it important for anxiety treatment?
The natural decrease in anxiety over time when we stay in a feared situation without escaping or avoiding, helping the brain learn that the situation is safe.
When emotions feel unbearable and unchangeable in the moment, what distress tolerance skill helps reduce suffering by letting go of the struggle?
Radical acceptance
What is wise Mind, and why is it important?
The balanced of Emotion Mind and Reasonable Mind, helping us make healthier, more effective choices.