This 1 Therapist-Backed Trick Can Stop An Anxiety Spiral In Its Tracks

MTStock Studio via Getty Images "I find sometimes just talking about it can desensitize people," psychotherapist Rene Gonzalez says. “Your mind is going to the worst-case scenario, and in the process you’re getting really, really anxious,” psychotherapist Rene Gonzalez recently told us, Raj Punjabi and Noah Michelson, the co-hosts of HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast. “What I tend to do with clients when they’re in session with me is ask them, ‘What is the worst-case scenario in your mind?’ I find sometimes just talking about it can desensitize people, but usually I’ll then ask, ‘What is actually the most likely thing to happen here? Is that worst-case scenario actually the thing that’s going to happen?’ Most of the time it’s not.” Gonzalez also instructs his clients to imagine that the thing they’re afraid of happening actually does happen. Or even a year?’ The vast majority of the time we get to a year and they say, ‘I won’t even be thinking about it at that point.’ I think it helps people understand this is something they’re going to pass through and that they’re going to survive, and that can deescalate people.” This is just one of the many approaches to mitigating anxiety that we discussed with Gonzalez.