Patient was instructed today upon practicing altered focus technique for anxiety management as follows:
- Select a comfortable place, as you need some isolation with calm and quiet environment, so as to practice the technique.
- 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 altered focus.
- Train your mind to produce pleasant, altered sensation in some part of the body, such as, generation of warmth or the feeling of receiving a warm massage to the body part.
- Relaxing into the altered sensation produced, will help you concentrate more on the pleasant altered sensation.
- This mindful shift in focus from the source of anxiety to the altered sensation, makes the altered sensation to be the predominant sensation and helps with anxiety management.
- Since mindful visualization and generation of altered sensations could be difficult when the anxiety level is high, start practicing the technique of altered focus 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.
