Cognitive & Behavioural Coping Checklist
This checklist describes common cognitive and behavioural responses to anxiety, or ways of trying to cope. Sometimes these responses are more conscious and deliberate and sometimes they may feel more compulsive or automatic, e.g., you may want to rate how much control you have over them (0-100%) if you were asked to try to prevent yourself from doing them. They may be helpful or unhelpful ways to respond. Often the things people do to try to help themselves cope with anxiety in the immediate moment or short-term backfire in the longer-term. In the column headed “frequency” please rate 0-100% the percentage of occasions when faced with your main anxiety that you exhibit this response, e.g., if someone has social anxiety they might try to escape situations as early as possible on every occasion (100%) and try to prepare themselves excessively in advance half the time (50%). In the final column just place a tick if you believe that the strategy is helpful in actually overcoming your problem in the long-term.
Checklist of Cognitive & Behavioural Responses to Anxiety
| Behaviour | Frequency (%) | Helpful? (Y/N) |
| Try to physically relax muscles | ||
| Try to relax by controlling breathing | ||
| Leave (“escape”) from situations | ||
| Take prescribed medication for anxiety | ||
| Seek reassurance from other people (friends, spouse, etc.) | ||
| Engage in compulsive, repeated checking | ||
| Engage in compulsive ritual (counting, washing, etc.) | ||
| Get into an argument with someone else | ||
| Use alcohol or drugs to cope | ||
| Engage in distracting activities | ||
| Try to speed up or rush things | ||
| Become quiet and withdrawn from others | ||
| Seek information (from books or internet, etc.) | ||
| Lie down, rest, or take a nap | ||
| Try to find a solution to the problem causing the anxiety | ||
| Eat comforting food | ||
| Seek out a person who makes me feel safe | ||
| Seek out a place that makes me feel safe | ||
| Listen to music (relaxing, pleasant, or distracting) | ||
| Watch television or listen to the radio | ||
| Complain or “moan” about problem to other people | ||
| Smoke a cigarette | ||
| Avert gaze (“look away”) or avoid eye-contact with others | ||
| Tense muscles or grip something tightly | ||
| Try to suppress distressing feelings | ||
| Try to suppress distressing thoughts or images | ||
| Try to distract yourself from thoughts or feelings | ||
| Try to reassure yourself that things will be okay | ||
| Criticise yourself | ||
| Worry or try to prepare for the worst-case scenario | ||
| Try to think positively or think of pleasant things | ||
| Hold your breath or stop breathing for a moment | ||
| Fidget, wring your hands, play with your hair, etc. | ||
| Ruminate or ask yourself “Why?” questions (“Why is this happening to me?”) | ||
| Plan “escape routes” from an uncomfortable situation | ||
| Apologise to other people unnecessarily | ||
| Prepare excessively in advance for the feared situation | ||
| Other (specify): |
Many people’s biggest fear of hypnosis is of being in someone else’s ‘control’. In fact most people associate hypnosis with some form of magic trick rather than with the achievement of a heightened state of physical and mental comfort and relaxation.