Overcoming Attention Biases 55
to pay more attention to certain types of emotionally threatening
stimuli) maintain your anxiety over time. This might entail think-
ing nonjudgmentally about how you are often on “high alert,” either
for a specific threat or for many types of threats, or even for threats
that aren’t actually present or fully real yet. To help you with this
exercise, consider the following three interrelated questions:
- What threats in your environment do you detect more
quickly and pay greater attention to? For example, if you
tend to worry about never achieving your ambitions, per-
haps you pay greater attention to threats of failure or threats
to your personal sense of self- worth. - What threats, once you notice them, are harder to stop
thinking about when compared to others? Do some threats
activate your anxiety more than others, such as thinking
that a physical symptom means impending doom or that
you have a terrible disease? - What threats do you purposefully avoid thinking about?
Perhaps losing a parent or a child is one of your biggest
fears, so you actively avoid thinking about any threats to
your family’s safety and well- being.
Now, take a moment to consider the ways in which these
threats might distract you from everyday moments at home, work,
or school.
Attentional Bias Toward Interoceptive
AwarenessYou tend to know whenever you are anxious, based on
clues from your thoughts and emotions. Your body is also a
source of information about your level of anxiety. People