Show Your Anxiety Who's Boss: A Three-Step CBT Program to Help You Reduce Anxious Thoughts and Worry

by Joel Minden PhD, Seth J. Gillihan PhD (Foreword by)

Overview

Stand up to anxiety and take back control

Is anxiety running your life? Does it dictate where you go, what you do, or who you spend time with? Does it keep you trapped in a bubble of fear and panic? Anxiety can happen anytime, anywhere—that’s why you need simple, in-the-moment skills to stay grounded when worry takes hold. This user-friendly guide will help you gain the upper hand on anxiety, and stop avoiding the people, places, and things that make you anxious—and start living the life you were meant to live.
 
In Show Your Anxiety Who’s Boss, you’ll find a practical and direct three-step approach grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help you respond to anxious thoughts, respond effectively to future challenges, and make peace with uncertainty. If you’re ready to live a full and vital life without anxiety constantly getting in the way, this straightforward guide will show you how to get back on track.
 
With this powerful book, you’ll learn how to:

• Make useful predictions, instead of anxious fictions
• Take action and overcome avoidance
• Accept and redirect anxious or negative thoughts

“A wonderful resource for anyone struggling with anxiety.”
—David F. Tolin, PhD, ABPP, author of Face Your Fears
 
“Joel Minden has taken wisdom from decades of anxiety treatment research and distilled it into an accessible, compelling book.”
—Kathryn H. Gordon, PhD, psychologist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684034055
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	03/01/2020
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	397,579
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Joel Minden, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for anxiety. He is a diplomate of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy; adjunct professor in the department of psychology at California State University, Chico; and author of the blog, CBT and Me, on www.psychologytoday.com.

Foreword writer Seth J. Gillihan, PhD, is coauthor of Overcoming OCD, and author of Retrain Your Brain—a workbook for managing depression and anxiety. Gillihan has a clinical practice in Haverford, PA, where he specializes in CBT and mindfulness-based interventions for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety, depression, and related conditions.

Table of Contents

Foreword v

Introduction: What to Expect from This Book 1

1 What Is Anxiety and Who's the Boss? 8

Section 1 Useful Predictions, Not Anxious Fictions

2 The Anxious Mind: Friend or Foe? 26

3 Identifying Anxious Fictions 38

4 Truth or Fiction: Evaluate for Accuracy 60

5 Making Useful Predictions 70

Section 2 Take Action, Demand Satisfaction

6 The Satisfying Life 86

7 How Do You Avoid? 93

8 Antianxiety Mantra: Do It Anyway 109

Section 3 Accept and Redirect

9 A Mind You Can't Control 130

10 What to Do with Your STUF 143

11 Your Questions Answered 159

12 Become the Boss: Your Plan in Action 178

Resources 193

Interviews

Minden resides in Chico, CA. 
 

Editorial Reviews

Show Your Anxiety Who’s Boss is essential reading for anyone looking to stand up to anxiety and take back control. What makes this book a game changer is its emphasis on responding flexibly to anxiety with multiple evidence-based strategies. Throughout the book, Joel Minden offers helpful examples and exercises to guide the reader through his three-step approach with relatable humor and warmth. Whether you struggle with worry, uncertainty, panic, or avoidance, this book will help you create a personalized plan for changing your relationship to anxiety, so you can get back to prioritizing what you value most.”
—Ashli J. Sheidow, PhD, senior research scientist at the Oregon Social Learning Center (OSLC)

Ashli J. Sheidow

Show Your Anxiety Who’s Boss empowers those who are challenged by unrealistic worries that get in the way of living a full life. The three-pronged CBT approach relying on cognitive, behavioral, and acceptance strategies is grounded in a strong evidence base. This is an engaging and user-friendly guide.”
—Mary K. Alvord, PhD, psychologist, and coauthor of Conquer Negative Thinking for Teens and Resilience Builder Program for Children and Adolescents

Mary K. Alvord

In Show Your Anxiety Who’s Boss, author Joel Minden has created a wonderful resource for anyone struggling with anxiety. In this very accessible book, Minden walks the reader through scientifically grounded principles of anxiety management, including learning to think more rationally, accepting uncertainty, and facing fears. If you suffer from anxiety that is getting in the way of your life, this book can be the light at the end of the tunnel.”
—David F. Tolin, PhD, ABPP, director of the Anxiety Disorders Center at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital, and author of Face Your Fears

David F. Tolin

Show Your Anxiety Who’s Boss is the practical guide for managing worry that so many texts aspire to be, yet rarely are. This program may change your life.”
—Alexander J. Williams, PhD, program director of psychology, director of psychological clinic, and assistant teaching professor at the University of Kansas (Edwards Campus)

Alexander J. Williams

While many books provide tools for managing anxiety, Show Your Anxiety Who’s Boss teaches readers how to uproot two of anxiety’s most powerful lifelines: inflexibility and avoidance. Using warmth and humor, Joel Minden invites us to examine the rigid thought patterns that keep us stuck, to use values rather than emotions to guide our actions, and to ‘drop the rope’ in the relentless tug-of-war that anxiety plays with our minds, bodies, and spirits. This book offers so much more than a comprehensive program for the successful management of anxiety. It delivers a call to courage and bestows an opportunity to build a road map to a braver, fuller, more meaningful life.”
—Kristin Bianchi, PhD, licensed psychologist at the Center for Anxiety and Behavioral Change

Kristin Bianchi

Show Your Anxiety Who’s Boss is an excellent resource for anyone struggling with procrastination, avoidance, or other unhelpful coping strategies related to anxiety. Drawing on his extensive clinical training and experience, Joel Minden translates principles and strategies from CBT and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) into clear, easy-to-follow language that speaks directly to the reader. Helpful worksheets, exercises, and examples throughout give the reader the tools and encouragement they need to challenge their own ‘anxious fictions,’ reduce procrastination and avoidance, and make decisions that are guided by values rather than fears.”
—Lauren S. Hallion, PhD, assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh

Lauren S. Hallion

Using his clinical expertise, Joel Minden has taken wisdom from decades of anxiety treatment research and distilled it into an accessible, compelling book. Show Your Anxiety Who’s Boss guides readers through practical steps for accepting and coping with emotions, so that they can pursue meaningful lives that are unhindered by anxiety. Through relatable examples and engaging explanations, Minden has provided an outstanding resource for people seeking effective strategies for managing their mental health. As a therapist, I can’t wait to share these tools with my clients so they can take charge of their anxiety and experience greater joy!”
—Kathryn H. Gordon, PhD, licensed psychologist and adjunct research scientist

Kathryn H. Gordon

In Show Your Anxiety Who’s Boss, Joel Minden presents a cogent yet practical account of how to manage anxiety and its various manifestations. Minden does a phenomenal job extrapolating the science and practice of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and presents these concepts in terms that are easy to understand for any consumer. Many books of this nature fail to provide terms that are appealing to the reader, in addition to providing step-by-step instructions for managing anxiety. Minden accomplishes this task by ‘calling out’ anxiety and its various forms while providing practical strategies for managing anxiety. A must-read!”
—Kevin Chapman, PhD, licensed psychologist, and founder and director of the Kentucky Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders (KY-CARDS)

Kevin Chapman