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Anxiety is having too much fear and worry. Some people have what's called generalized anxiety disorder. They feel worried and stressed about many things. Often they worry about even small things. Some people also may have panic attacks. A panic attack is a sudden feeling of extreme anxiety.

People who have social anxiety disorder worry that they will do or say the wrong thing and embarrass themselves around others.

Anxiety can cause physical symptoms like a fast heartbeat and sweaty hands. It can make you limit your activities and can make it hard to enjoy your life.

Positive thinking can help you prevent or control anxiety.

Key points

-Negative thoughts can increase your worry or fear.
-Cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT, is a type of therapy that can help you replace negative thoughts with positive ones.
-Changing your thinking will take some time. You need to practice healthy thinking every day. After a while, positive thinking will come naturally to you.
-Positive thinking may not be enough to help some people who have worry and anxiety. Call your doctor or therapist if you think you need more help.

Positive thinking, or healthy thinking, is a way to help you stay well by changing how you think. It’s based on research that shows that you can change how you think. And how you think affects how you feel.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy, also called CBT, is a type of therapy that is often used to help people think in a healthy way. CBT can help you learn to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. These negative thoughts are sometimes called irrational or automatic thoughts.

Working on your own or with a counselor, you can practice these three steps:

-Stop. When you notice a negative thought, stop it in its tracks and write it down.
-Ask. Look at that thought and ask yourself whether it is helpful or unhelpful right now.
-Choose. Choose a new, helpful thought to replace a negative one.

The goal is to have positive thoughts come naturally. It may take some time to change the way you think. So you will need to practice positive thinking every day.

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