When Anxiety Won't Switch Off: 5 CBT Strategies That Actually Help

Anxiety is exhausting, especially when it follows you to bed, sits beside you at work and narrates your worst-case scenarios on loop. The good news is that anxiety responds well to CBT techniques practised consistently. Five strategies worth trying: notice your thoughts without immediately believing them, thoughts are not facts. Schedule a daily "worry window" to contain anxious thinking rather than letting it spread. Use grounding techniques when your nervous system spikes: the five senses exercise works quickly. Gently examine the evidence for your worst-case predictions; they're usually less probable than they feel. And build small, deliberate moments of calm into each day before anxiety builds momentum. These tools won't dissolve anxiety overnight, but practised regularly and ideally explored with a counsellor, they meaningfully shift the way your mind engages with fear.