
The Anxiety Equation in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: A simple tool for breaking down your fears
The ‘Anxiety Equation’ is an idea used in cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) to help a person understand their anxiety by breaking it down into smaller conceptual parts. By doing this, therapists hope to help clients to feel less overwhelmed by their anxiety, to understand it better, and then also to begin to get to grips with it, one part at a time. The central idea in classic CBT is that our emotions are influenced by our cognitions (thoughts, memories, mental imagery, sym