In Chapter 3 you’ll read about the anxious mind—the cognitive view of anxiety. Then, in Chapter 4, you will learn about how cognitive therapy works and what types of exercises you’ll be doing to address your anxiety using this book. In Chapter 5 you’ll create your own anxiety profile, which will be packed with information that you’ll use throughout the book’s exercises so that you really target your unique problems and identify your strengths. You should complete the exercises and worksheets as you read through Chapters 1–5 of the workbook.

In Chapters 6 and 7 you’ll learn the techniques that will help you lessen anxietyand its hold on you. We suggest you read those two chapters without doing the exercises and then follow the instructions in Chapter 8 for putting together the cognitive and behavioral techniques into an Anxiety Work Plan that you can use to systematically carry out your cognitive therapy program. Then start implementing the work plan by doing the exercises and worksheets you’ve selected from Chapters 6 and 7.