I published the workbook, Write Your Fears Away, to help my clients manage stress and anxiety. Research on effective therapy for anxiety disorders clearly demonstrates the power of exposure as a method for reducing anxiety. It seems counter-intuitive that facing fears, exactly what we try to avoid, actually helps us recover. Writing our anxiety triggers; even writing narratives about what we fear provides a controlled way of getting the exposure we need to help us face our fears directly.

The workbook, Write Your Fears Away, helps people write directly about the events or situations they fear the most. Typically, the workbook user starts with situations, thoughts, and events that elicit a moderate amount of fear. Then, they work toward their worst-case scenarios writing a narrative as if they are telling the event in real time.

As a therapist, I’ve always thought most workbooks dealing with phobias and anxiety reduction were way too large. They seem to be more like textbooks covering everything the writer learned in graduate school plus a workbook. This little book is just a basic workbook. There are references that can get you started on the research if you have a high level of interest in why this works. Read more about exposure by clicking on the Blog link at the top of this page.

David