How to retrain your anxious brain to think positively
The anxious brain can be retrained to respond to everyday situations in a less threatening way to reduce anxiety levels, according to a new study published by researchers at the University of Western Australia and the University of Virginia.
Commentary
The study, published in Behavior Research and Therapy, reports on the initial feasibility and effectiveness of a free online intervention program for anxiety, and announces that it has been successful in reducing anxiety in highly anxious individuals.
The online program is based on research that hypothesizes that anxious individuals can reduce their anxiety if they are able to change their obsessive interpretations of situations that tend to be "threatening" to them. explains that six sessions of the intervention program showed that it could successfully modify the habits of anxious people to expect the worst.
And people reported less anxiety over time.
The study involved 807 anxious participants, who were randomly assigned to three groups. The 807 anxious participants in the study were randomly assigned to one of three groups: "positive training interpretation," "balanced positive and negative interpretation," or "no training control.
The results of the study showed that positive training was found to be the most effective in reducing negative interpretations, increasing positive interpretations, and reducing anxiety throughout the training period.
