Maybe this question is a little too broad but to put it simply, there are so many things that I know I should be doing; things I actually plan and intend to do; and in the end I just don’t. I feel like I’m failing all the time because I continue to fail at the little things.

The aim of this column is to discuss psychological questions that are relevant to our community members. This can be achieved in two ways. One, personal questions written in from the readership of this paper or two, the discussion of questions and topics that come up in the course of my practice as a psychologist.

It’s probably safe to say that anxiety is the most “popular” mental illness of the day. We know this to be true from the myriad of lectures in our local communities, the preponderance and popularity of books such as Jonathan Haidt’s  “The Anxious Generation,” and the introduction of the new character “Anxiety” into Disney’s Inside Out 2.

CBT is viewed as the gold-standard treatment for anxiety disorders. In fact, research shows this modality is up to 74% effective for people with anxiety. Evidence suggests that it’s possible to see lower levels of anxiety after just 8 sessions of CBT.

Concepts such as trigger identification, cognitive restructuring, and behavior modification help individuals simultaneously talk and work through feelings of unease in a measurable way. This article breaks these aspects of CBT down so you can understand how they can be used to manage symptoms of anxiety.