1. Make your own Fear Ladder
Think of a situation that you’re most frightened of. Rate this 10 out of 10 for being the most frightening situation, so this is item 10. Put this at the top of your ladder.
Break this fear down into 9 smaller steps, that are similar to this fear and still scary but not quite as bad. Rate each step out of 10 for how scary it is.
Now start at the bottom of the ladder. Put the least scariest step on the bottom of the ladder, this is item 1.
Then put the next least scariest item on the next step, and keep doing this for each step so you’ve ordered your steps from the least scariest to the most scariest at the top of the ladder.
Think back to the spider example that we looked at earlier in the session
- Are you happy with your ladder?
- Does it feel right?
- Are there any situations that need to be moved about?
- Take some time thinking about this. It’s important to try and make this ladder right for you.
2. Practise the Anxiety Beating skills and find out what works for you
Click here for a reminder of how to do the Anxiety Beating Skills
Have a go at combining the breathing and muscle relaxation skills:
- Think about a situation that scares you, and once each day between now and next session lie on your bed, or sit in a chair, and tense and relax each muscle group in turn starting with those in your face and working down to your feet.
- Try this whilst breathing in for 3 counts slowly and then exhaling slowly for 5. Combine these techniques with the positive imagery or positive association exercises.
- Did you find the skill worked?
- What was good about it?
- What was difficult/went wrong?
- What would you do it differently next time you use it?
3. Have a go at Testing The Water
Remember the hints and tips we talked about in this session, and don’t forget to ask for help from a friend if you don’t want to do it alone.
Look at your fear ladder above. Pick the item that appears at the bottom of your ladder (item 1 – the least fearful). During the next week try to get used to this situation until you feel you’ve got your anxiety under control.
Don’t worry if you can’t quite make it – just try. Even if you get part way to getting used to it in the next week, you’ll have made a big step towards overcoming your fears. We’ll spend some time at the beginning of next session discussing your experiences during the fear testing and how it went.
Thanks for taking part in today’s session. Please do try to take the time to complete the activities – this is a particularly important one, and it’s also the last activity in Face IT.
