Chant out negativity: Put down feelings of anxiety, insecurity and all things negatives with positive affirmations

Rachana Ramesh

Nervous before an exam at school or over that meeting you set up with a new acquaintance in order to turn the title of the relationship to friends? Does your stomach churn before an interview or in precision, prior to the important presentation you had at work? Experiencing occasional anxiety is a normal part of life.

But for some people, anxiety is a paralysing mental health issue that involves worry, stress, nervousness, and fear. It can be so overwhelming and disruptive that it becomes difficult to lead a regular life. Living with anxiety can prove to be a challenge, for both – people with the condition and their loved ones. Although there are therapies and medications to help, affirmations for anxiety are another option. Affirmations are positive, self-help statements that may help change an individual’s mindset and encourage positive behaviour. Some individuals may find that affirmations help reduce worry and increase self-esteem.

“My therapist sent a few resources for how to manage a panic attack, which I printed and stuck on my wall so that I don’t need to dig it out of my email when I need it,” says Drishti pointing to the wall in her room behind her bed. The wall is filled with colourful sticky notes and important prints. Among these are also neatly arranged polaroids of her younger twin brothers and her many dogs. “During an anxiety or panic attack, the affirmations are very much helpful,” she says and remembers to do them every time she looks at her wall.

There is little delving done in the field of positive affirmation. A 2016 study, shows that after a month of positive affirmations, the participants benefited, showing decreased levels of anxiety and worry. Researchers had asked selected individuals with generalised anxiety disorder to replace their worries with positive pictures or words depicting potential good outcomes. This shows that when worries are replaced with positive ideas, there is a benefit even when the ideas are unrelated to the concern.

Affirmations help restore feelings of self-competence and self-worth. Here is a list of positive affirmations one can try saying out loud to feel better: I am strong and brave, I feel in control, I stay calm in new situations, there is no obstacle that I cannot overcome and I am confident and relaxed.

“The 54321 senses thing works for me during anxiety too, or I just sit and try to breathe as normally as I can and wait for it to pass. During a panic attack, it gets really difficult to breathe which aggravates it even more. This is why I keep an inhaler with me,” she adds. The 54321 technique is a grounding method also used for anxiety, where one needs to look for five things they can see, become aware of four things they can touch, acknowledge three things they can hear, notice two things you can smell, and beware of one thing they can taste. “The affirmations kind of come in after all of this, it helps to say some things out loud to yourself. Writing it down works even better for me,” says she. While many people choose to say affirmations out loud to themselves, many also prefer writing them down in a notebook or journal.

It is possible that affirmations might result in the worsening of anxiety for a portion of the population. Even though many people find that positive affirmations are a powerful tool to battle with anxiety, there exist others that may find the opposite. However, research here too lacks.

An older 2009 study found that a person’s level of self-esteem affects their response to the activity of affirming. The researchers asked participants to repeat the positive statement – I am a lovable person. It was observed that individuals with high self-esteem felt marginally better when they performed the said activity, however, when individuals with low self-esteem did the same, they seemed to experience the downside. It seems that affirmations only work unless the individual has already attained a certain level of satisfaction of themselves.

This study did not particularly focus on individuals diagnosed with anxiety, nevertheless, it brings about the negative effects one can experience due to affirmations. People who wish may bring this issue to the notice of a therapist, who will further help identify the cause of the negative thoughts and discuss other potentially viable coping strategies.