Using your mind to change your relationship with anxiety, stress, and trauma.
– Daniel W. Minerva
Anxiety is a natural part of the human condition that we are going to experience from time to time. We can reduce or prevent some anxiety from occurring — other anxiety will occur no matter what we do. The anxiety problem that we can reduce and prevent has to do with our misinterpretations about the potential threats that we perceive and the way we treat them.
Let’s turn to Dr. Peter G. Ossorio’s thought experiment that will illuminate the above anxiety problem. We are sitting in an auditorium by ourselves discussing world events and lo and behold a lion walks in and begins to creep towards us. We appraise (determine) that we are in imminent danger, we experience fear, and we escape the danger from lion harming us by running out the door and closing it immediately.
My point is that our focus needs to be on escaping danger rather than escaping our fear if we do not want to be eaten by the lion. We never have to do anything with our feelings except experience them at the moment. If we focus on fear instead of escaping the danger, it is highly likely that bad things will happen to us. This vignette shows the importance of accurate appraisals, experiencing feelings without doing anything with them, and engaging in appropriate behavior based on your accurate appraisals.
For starters, you will learn from our work together to appraise your circumstances accurately, e.g., (distinguishing real threats from nonthreats), experience what you feel, and act accordingly based on your accurate appraisals. I offer effective treatment to accept what you can’t change, and to eliminate and to manage, moderate to severe anxiety, stress, and trauma. Your treatment will be based on Descriptive Psychology, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness Training, and my clinical practice, studies, research, and other training over the past four decades.
Clients with alcohol and other drug abuse issues receive anxiety training included in their drug abuse treatment. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Panic Attacks, Agoraphobia, and other complex anxiety disorders require a comprehensive evaluation and customized treatment plan. I look forward to you naturally relaxing and letting anxiety come and go, as you take care of important matters, achieve positive health, and enjoy life with little anxiety, stress, and trauma.
Daniel W. Minerva
Daniel W. Minerva, Ph.D., MBA
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Alcohol Treatment Specialist
