Reducing Anxiety 2: Distraction

In the Brain that Changes itself Norman Doige describes how the brain can be ‘trained’ to rewire itself. One method he suggested was accepting the negative thoughts but not succumbing to the checking…researching. Instead start a gratifying activity. exercise, craft, writing, painting. Try to become absorbed in it. The thoughts might not go away but try to change your behavior when you have these thoughts. Developing these blog posts and the hypochondria resource center I have been distracting myself and the time I would wile away reading about diseases on the Internet is now spent doing work on the Internet. It is a very similar process, only researching about health leaves me feeling scared and drained.