4 tips to cope with anxiety and fear

Anxiety is something most of us feel from time to time, but when it starts preventing you from being productive, there are some great steps you can take to help regain control. Be sure to talk to your doctor if your symptoms are very severe.

Dr. Melisa Robichaud, a psychologist at the Anxiety Disorders Clinic at Vancouver's University of British Columbia (UBC) Hospital, says everyone has worry, stress and anxiety.

• It's when the symptoms start to interfere with your normal daily activities that it becomes an anxiety disorder.
• To bring anxiety down to a more manageable level, Dr. Robichaud suggests using self-talk. Usually, there is something that makes you feel threatened, she says, whether it's a meeting at work or a nerve-wracking date. "You might be thinking 'What if I say something stupid?'"
• Challenge those thoughts by asking yourself how likely it is that what you fear will actually happen. Then come up with a way to cope if it did.

If you are anxious around dogs, start by looking at pictures of the animals "and tolerating the anxious feelings," suggests Dr. Robichaud. "After that, you might try being near a small, friendly dog, and continue in this vein."

• Similarly, if you're stressing about a job interview, practice a simulated interview with a friend, family member or therapist.
• When the role play becomes easier, you can move on to the real thing.

Pinocchio learned well: no good can come from lying. Not to mention that it increases levels of stress hormones that, over time, can cause lasting harm.

• Don't believe us? That's how polygraph tests work. By picking up on your body's response to stress, such as increased blood pressure, heart rate and breathing rate.
• The stress response is so strong that researchers are developing a "sniffer test" to measure stress hormone levels on your breath.

You know how when you're anxious, your heart beats like a locomotive, and try as you might you can't seem to get enough oxygen in your lungs? Forget the old breathe-in-a-paper-bag trick.

Instead, try this the next time you feel the beginnings of that anxious feeling, says Michael Crabtree, PhD, a professor of psychology at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, and a licensed clinical psychologist.

• Lie on the floor and place your hand on your chest and try and reduce the amount of movement, while continuing to breathe normally. You need to breathe for five minutes and allow your hand to feel the breathing. But you don't want your chest to move, you want the other parts of your body to take over the breathing — using your diaphragm, instead of the inhale/exhale with your chest.
• Make yourself aware of your breathing in non-stress situations, such as reading or watching television.
• Try to employ the breathing you experience in non-stress situations in more stressful situations — such as traffic jams or conflicts with the kids. "Use the power of getting yourself more focused and relaxed," says Crabtree.
• Develop this non-stress type of breathing as your sustained way of life. "Make it your normal way of breathing," he says.
• Be aware that chest breathing still has a purpose, but only as a point of context. It should only be used in periods of extreme emotional arousal — like running away or fighting.