Patient was instructed upon practicing symbolic imagery technique for anxiety management as follows:
- Select a comfortable place, as you need some isolation, so as to practice the technique of associating your anxiety with an annoying stimulus in your environment.
- Make yourself comfortable by either sitting down or lying flat.
- Start doing slow and deep breathing and focus on the rise of chest and abdomen during the inspiratory phase of the breathing.
- Hold the breath for 3 seconds at the end of inspiration.
- Perform slow and prolonged expiration and focus on the fall of chest and abdomen during the expiratory phase of the breathing.
- Continue to practice slow and deep breathing, while practicing the technique of symbolic imagery.
- Identify an annoying stimulus in your environment, whose intensity you would be able to control, such as loud sound of an alarm or phone ring or bright painful light.
- Mindfully try associating your anxiety with the irritating and annoying stimulus.
- After you successfully associate your anxiety with this irritating sensation, try reducing the intensity of this sensation, by reducing the volume on the alarm or by dimming the bright light.
- This mindful association of anxiety with the annoying sensation and willful diminishing of the intensity of the sensation, will help associate your mind with diminished anxiety and experience relief with distress, thus helping with anxiety management.
- Since mindful association of anxiety with the annoying stimulus could be difficult when the anxiety level is high, start practicing the technique of symbolic imagery when the anxiety level is manageable or none and gradually move on to practicing it with high anxiety levels, as you gain more control on practicing the technique.
