Keep a clear anxiety coping prompt within reach for moments when worry starts to take over. These illustrated anxiety cards offer practical CBT-informed strategies for teenagers and adults who want manageable ways to respond to anxious thoughts, body sensations, avoidance and repeated checking.
The “Name It as Anxiety” card provides a simple grounding statement that separates the uncomfortable feeling of anxiety from actual danger. Other cards focus on slowing the breath, relaxing tense muscles, putting both feet on the floor and noticing the immediate surroundings when anxiety feels overwhelming.
Thought-based anxiety exercises help users catch catastrophising, question “what if?” worries and separate feelings from facts. Prompts encourage people to ask what they are predicting, consider other realistic outcomes and identify the evidence for what is happening now, rather than treating every feared possibility as certain.
Several cards address anxiety-maintaining habits, including avoidance, reassurance seeking, body scanning and repeatedly monitoring whether anxiety has reduced. Practical suggestions include delaying reassurance for 15 minutes, leaving one harmless item unchecked, moving attention outside the body and taking one small, manageable step towards an avoided situation.
Printed individually or kept together as a coping-skills card pack, the 32 anxiety management cards can support one-to-one counselling, school pastoral work, therapy sessions or personal use at home. They are most suited to teens, young people and adults able to reflect on their thoughts and behaviours, including people working on general worry, health anxiety, panic sensations or avoidance.
