Guest: David A. Carbonell PhD author of The Worry Trick: How Your Brain Tricks You into Expecting the Worst and What You Can Do About It

Relationships 2.0 With Dr. Michelle Skeen

This week on Relationships 2.0 I'm replaying a previous episode with David A. Carbonell, PhD author of The Worry Trick: How Your Brain Tricks You into Expecting the Worst and What You Can Do About It About the book: Are you truly in danger or has your brain simply “tricked” you into thinking you are? In The Worry Trick, psychologist and anxiety expert David Carbonell shows how anxiety hijacks the brain and offers effective techniques to help you break the cycle of worry, once and for all. Anxiety is a powerful force. It makes us question ourselves and our decisions, causes us to worry about the future, and fills our days with dread and emotional turbulence. Based in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), this book is designed to help you break the cycle of worry. Worry convinces us there’s danger, and then tricks us into getting into fight, flight, or freeze mode—even when there is no danger. The techniques in this book, rather than encouraging you to avoid or try to resist anxiety, shows you how to see the trick that underlies your anxious thoughts, and how avoidance can backfire and make anxiety worse. If you’re ready to start observing your anxious feelings with distance and clarity—rather than getting tricked once again—this book will show you how. About the author: David Carbonell, Ph.D., is a Clinical Psychologist who specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders. He is the founder and director of the Anxiety Treatment Center, Ltd., a small group of psychologists which offers treatment of all manner of fears and phobias at several locations in and around Chicago, and the “coach” at www.anxietycoach.com, a self help web site for people troubled by fears and phobias. Dr. Carbonell is a recognized expert in this field, and has conducted training and seminars for a variety of professional groups, including the Anxiety Disorders Association of America; the International Association of Cognitive Psychotherapy; the United Airlines Employee Assistance Program; the Rockland County and Suffolk County Psychological Associations in New York; the Illinois Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Professional Certification Association; the Illinois Employee Assistance Professionals Association; the Illinois Psychological Association, the New York Psychological Association; and Northwestern University Medical School, among others. He regularly offers a day-long workshop for professional therapists on the treatment of anxiety disorders at locations around the country, sponsored by Pesi Healthcare, Inc. Dr. Carbonell is the author of Panic Attacks Workbook (Ulysses Press, 2004) and The Worry Trick (New Harbinger, 2016). He is a member of the American Psychological Association; the Anxiety Disorders Association of America; the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies; the Association for Contextual and Behavioral Science; the International Association for Cognitive Psychotherapy; the Illinois Psychological Association; and the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation. He is licensed as a clinical psychologist by the States of Illinois and New York.