Managing Our Anxiety To Live Better and Be More Creative
We can experience many flavors of insecurity, worry and anxiety from just being human and managing our complex lives, especially as creative or highly sensitive people.
Is it always best to “overcome” these feelings? Maybe not totally.
Writer, producer, director Steven Spielberg said, “I still have pretty much the same fears I had as a kid. I’m not sure I’d want to give them up; a lot of these insecurities fuel the movies I make.”
From my article Gifted, Talented, Creative, Anxious.
But therapist and creativity coach Eric Maisel warns, “Only a small percentage of creative people work as often or as deeply as, by all rights, they might be expected to work.
“What stops them? Anxiety or some face of anxiety like doubt, worry, or fear… anxiety is the great silencer of the creative person.”
From article Eric Maisel on anxiety and developing creativity.
Seeking help when anxiety is “too much” to allow you to lead the life you want can be invaluable.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can help. What is it?
An article by Ben Martin, Psy.D. on the psychology resources site Psych Central notes the approach is “a short-term, goal-oriented psychotherapy treatment that takes a hands-on, practical approach to problem-solving.
“Its goal is to change patterns of thinking or behavior that are behind people’s difficulties, and so change the way they feel.
“It is used to help treat a wide range of issues in a person’s life, from sleeping difficulties or relationship problems, to drug and alcohol abuse or anxiety and depression.”
He explains, “CBT works by changing people’s attitudes and their behavior by focusing on the thoughts, images, beliefs and attitudes that are held (a person’s cognitive processes) and how these processes relate to the way a person behaves, as a way of dealing with emotional problems.”
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The image at top is from an article by Heidi Hanna, PhD, Executive Director of the American Institute of Stress, an integrative neuroscience researcher and “former stressaholic” who provides many resources on understanding and mastering stress.
She explains, “If stress is energy, anxiety is what happens when that energy gets stuck in the body.
“Anxiety can linger well after the stress is gone and can be triggered when no real stress is around, but we worry that it might come back again.”
Seeing a psychotherapist in person can be the best choice for many people. But an alternative that can be helpful is working with a counselor or therapist online.
Mental health professionals trained in various therapy approaches are available through a number of online therapy services.
Learn about some of them below, and also in post How Online Therapy Helps With Emotional Health, Stress Relief and Personal Growth.
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As Dr. Hanna notes, worry can drive anxiety, and may be based on distorted thinking – such as “I’ll never get over this.”
Does counseling, such as psychotherapy, help artists be more fully creative?
“Acting is telling a story, and you’re part of telling that story. In some ways therapy helps more than acting class. You realize why you operate in certain ways.” – Actor Heather Graham
Psychotherapist Mihaela Ivan Holtz works with creative people in TV/Film, performing and fine arts.
She uses a variety of approaches with her clients, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and says:
“Psychotherapy is a powerful transformative journey that can take you from feeling unhappy and stuck to living with emotional freedom as a fulfilled creative or performer.“
See more in article: How can psychotherapy benefit actors and other artists?
Related book: Mind Over Mood: Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You Think by Dennis Greenberger, Christine A. Padesky.
“This life-changing book has already helped more than 1,100,000 readers use cognitive-behavioral therapy — one of today’s most effective forms of psychotherapy — to conquer depression, anxiety, panic attacks, anger, guilt, shame, low self-esteem, eating disorders, substance abuse, and relationship problems.” [Amazon summary]
The Mind Over Mood site by the authors gives examples of distorted thinking that can be changed with CBT:
“Here are some examples of common thoughts we have during certain moods:
DEPRESSION: My life’s a mess. It’s all my fault. It will never get any better.
Even though these thoughts are extremely negative, they seem accurate to us when we are depressed. This depressed thinking makes it difficult to see any positives in situations and relationships, makes us feel self-critical and hopeless, makes problem solving difficult and makes it hard to function.ANXIETY: But What IF…
When anxious, we worry that things will get out of control, that bad things will happen. We have a lot of “What if” thoughts. We avoid things or else try to do them perfectly. Unfortunately, the more we avoid or strive for perfection, the more anxious we become. We procrastinate, we worry, and frequently we withdraw.”
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Learn more and see videos about two online therapy services in article Managing Anxiety and Worry To Live More Fully and Be More Creative.
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