Anxiety Files

Simple and powerful techniques for coping with anxiety and worry.

Robert L. Leahy, Ph.D., is the author of Anxiety Free and The Worry Cure. He is Clinical Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at Weill-Cornell Medical School and Director of the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy. See full bio

October 3, 2008

How to Handle a Financial Panic Attack

Like many of you I have been watching the financial news with great interest. But I have also found that my knowledge of Cognitive Therapy has been immensely helpful. It may be that our anxieties right now are being fed by selective biases in our thinking---biases shared by millions of us who are watching the news. How can we be more rational? How can we cure our financial panic attack? Read More

September 30, 2008

Financial Anxiety and the Luckiest Man

You are watching your 401k shrink in value and you are wondering how you will be able to pay your bills when-and if---you retire. Everything in your life right now seems to hinge on the money that seems to be disappearing right before your eyes. What can you do? Read More

September 29, 2008

Anxiety, Investing and Time Perspective

Anxiety, Investing and Time Perspective: You are having a financial panic attack as you watch banks collapse, stocks drop and volatility takes over. But what is your time perspective? Read More

September 19, 2008

Anxious Financial Markets: How Fear Drives Investments

"You are watching the market go up and down, all the news today seems bad, and you are feeling more and more anxious. How do anxious investors think about investment and how can their thinking be so distorted that they leave others to pick up bargains?" Read More

September 19, 2008

Second Week: Accepting Uncertainty to End Your Worries

Your second week in ending your worries involves accepting your limitations. One limitation that you will need to accept is that you will never get absolute certainty. You have been worrying to get certainty, it's failed. Now it's time to practice "uncertainty training". Read More

September 8, 2008

Eight-weeks to being worry-free - Reviewing your first week: Setting Aside Your Worries

You've been following the Eight-Weeks Program in this blog. Your first week is almost over. Have you been able to identify your worries, set them aside, use worry-time effectively, and develop a practical TO DO LIST? Read on.
Read More

September 5, 2008

First Week: Ending Your Worries

You seem to be worried almost all the time, at any time and everywhere. You feel controlled by your worries. What can you do? Read on and learn some simple techniques that you can start using right now. Read More

August 28, 2008

Eight Weeks to End Your Worries

You've been a worrier for a long time. Now is your chance to join our blog for eight weeks and practice the tools that can free you from the tyranny of your own mind. Are you willing to take the challenge and actually do something about your worries? Read More

June 6, 2008

Taking the Blinders Off: Knowing What You Should Really Worry About

Why do smart people underestimate risks that they take but worry about highly improbable events? Why are we blind to what is right in front of us, but think that we can see things that never happen? Read More

May 29, 2008

Why Is Terrorism so Terrifying?

We are in continual fear of terrorism ---and we spend billions of dollars to prevent it. But so many other preventable causes of death are treated with relative indifference. Why is terrorism so terrifying? Read More

Books by Robert L. Leahy, Ph.D.

Anxiety Free: Unravel Your Fears Before They Unravel You

The Worry Cure: Seven Steps to Stop Worry from Stopping You

Anxiety Basics

From normal butterflies-in-the-stomach to clinically diagnosable conditions such as Panic Disorder, anxiety motivates some people but paralyzes others.

Go to the Anxiety Basics page for more on Anxiety including:

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Books by Robert L. Leahy, Ph.D.

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