<p>Now, a Northwestern Medicine psychologist Mark Reinecke’s book Little Ways to Keep Calm and Carry On: Twenty Lessons for Managing Worry, Anxiety and Fear, offers an easy to understand strategy, based on recent psychological research and cognitive behavioural therapy, to reduce anxiety and live a happier, less fretful life.<br /><br />“We live in an age of anxiety, whether it is economic worries or potential terrorist threats, or how you are going to care for your aging mother,” said Reinecke.<br /><br />“There are a whole range of things that come at us as a society that make us feel more anxious than at any time in our recent history,” he added.<br /><br />One chapter in his book discusses the realistic assessment of whether a bad thing will happen. <br /><br />“You should prepare for the most likely scenario, not the worst case, because it is statistically very unlikely,” advised Reinecke.<br /><br />“You should ask what is the probability of a bad event happening, how will you cope, are you able to protect yourself?” He suggests whitewater rafting as a metaphor for effective coping.<br /><br />“When you are thrown from the boat, you cover your head, protect what is important and go with the flow. You let the current take you to a calm eddy on the side of the river,” Reinecke said.<br /><br />We tend to overestimate the likelihood of bad things happening and underestimate our ability to cope.</p>
<p>Now, a Northwestern Medicine psychologist Mark Reinecke’s book Little Ways to Keep Calm and Carry On: Twenty Lessons for Managing Worry, Anxiety and Fear, offers an easy to understand strategy, based on recent psychological research and cognitive behavioural therapy, to reduce anxiety and live a happier, less fretful life.<br /><br />“We live in an age of anxiety, whether it is economic worries or potential terrorist threats, or how you are going to care for your aging mother,” said Reinecke.<br /><br />“There are a whole range of things that come at us as a society that make us feel more anxious than at any time in our recent history,” he added.<br /><br />One chapter in his book discusses the realistic assessment of whether a bad thing will happen. <br /><br />“You should prepare for the most likely scenario, not the worst case, because it is statistically very unlikely,” advised Reinecke.<br /><br />“You should ask what is the probability of a bad event happening, how will you cope, are you able to protect yourself?” He suggests whitewater rafting as a metaphor for effective coping.<br /><br />“When you are thrown from the boat, you cover your head, protect what is important and go with the flow. You let the current take you to a calm eddy on the side of the river,” Reinecke said.<br /><br />We tend to overestimate the likelihood of bad things happening and underestimate our ability to cope.</p>