Description
Stop avoiding and start living!
Do you cope with anxiety by avoiding people, places, and situations that make you feel anxious? Do you deal with depression by isolating yourself from the people and activities that used to bring you joy? Do you avoid talking or thinking about the events that caused your post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? If so, you’re not alone. Changing behavior in an attempt to avoid thinking or confronting things that are uncomfortable is a common symptom of anxiety, depression, PTSD, and related conditions.
With this guide, you’ll develop skills based in transdiagnostic behavior therapy (TBT), an evidence-based protocol designed to help you identify and overcome the avoidance and isolation issues associated with depression, anxiety, and PTSD. You’ll also learn how to safely and gradually implement therapeutic techniques that will result in reduced symptoms and improved confidence.
If you’re tired of hiding from difficult thoughts, emotions, and situations, this book will help you break the avoidance cycle at the heart of your disorder. It’s time to stop running from the life you want and start developing the effective coping skills you need to face life’s challenges with courage and confidence.
This book has and is changing my life. I didn’t even realize I was avoiding life – positive emotional avoidance. The activities have truly replaced therapy sessions for me. I love this workbook, I usually don’t finish – but on my way to finishing! I’ve done more things and enjoy being around people more now.
Overcoming Avoidance Workbook by Daniel F. Gros is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in early January.
This book gives tasks to work on over the course of 7-8 days to assess, prepare, enact, then review and evaluate actions being taken, instead of being avoided out of, perhaps, convenience or fear of relapse. They help to push past negativity, acknowledge that what feels more comfortable or easier is ultimately a bind/trap, seeing the reasons of how and why a change would benefit you, identifying the problems that stood either predictably or surprisingly in your way by using exposure therapy, incorporating positive and satisfying life choices to balance out your schedule otherwise filled with activities that you’d otherwise avoid, then preparing another week to do it all again. Looking back, I think it did well to link my fear of boarding airplanes to a possible exposure therapy exercise of boarding a local passenger train.
This is a great tool for clients to work on avoidance that is maintaining their symptoms. It starts with very simplistic explanations that anyone could understand and builds from there. I love that it has examples about how anxiety can manifest in the body. Also, the way the Dr. Gros wrote it is very encouraging to the reader. I have been able to pull from this book as needed to explain how avoidance is working against my client’s progress towards their long term goals.Excellent!
This self-help workbook is an excellent tool for busy clinicians and patients alike! As a busy clinician, I rely on evidence-based treatments to ensure that my patients have access to high-quality care. Dr. Gros has developed a concise and easy-to-follow workbook that patients can use on their own or with the help of their therapists. Our lives have changed since the onset of COVID-19 and many people find themselves struggling with mood and anxiety disorders; this text will help you to “stop avoiding and start living”!
I highly recommend the Overcoming Avoidance Workbook for anyone looking to decrease negative emotions and increase positive emotions. This step-by-step guide was informative, effective, and most importantly grounded in evidence-based principles. The client examples and analogies used throughout made the workbook relatable and easy-to-understand.