9 Strategies for Addressing Abandonment Anxiety Quickstart Guide
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In these content segments, Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes provides valuable tips for relieving abandonment anxiety. She explains that abandonment anxiety can occur when someone we love and trust rejects us, and it can happen at any time. To address this anxiety, Dr. Snipes emphasizes the importance of developing secure attachments. This includes developing a secure attachment with ourselves by being consistent, mindful, and responsive to our own thoughts, wants, and needs. It is also important to be loving, give ourselves positive reinforcement, and do kind and compassionate things for ourselves. Additionally, we should validate and accept ourselves, encourage ourselves, and support and forgive ourselves, even when we fail. Having a supportive home base is essential for developing secure attachments.
Dr. Snipes suggests journal prompts to explore patterns in relationships that have gone badly and how to avoid or address these pitfalls in the future. She also encourages accepting that anxiety is a natural experience when being vulnerable to another person and that anxiety itself is not a bad thing. It is important to eliminate mind reading, catastrophic thinking, and all-or-nothing thinking. Instead, it is important to look at the facts and probability of the situation.
In addition to these tips, Dr. Snipes provides further advice for addressing abandonment anxiety. She emphasizes the importance of effective communication, expressing our wants, needs, and feelings directly to others. It is crucial not to expect others to read our minds. Differentiating between rejecting behaviors and rejecting a person is also essential. Constructive feedback about a behavior does not equate to rejection of our entire being. It is important to continuously evaluate the accuracy of our thoughts and consider other possible reasons for someone's behavior rather than automatically assuming abandonment. Identifying and addressing abandonment triggers is crucial, as is understanding what a safe relationship looks like and exploring our needs in a relationship. Creating and maintaining healthy boundaries with reciprocal adjustments is crucial for building trust and vulnerability in relationships. Dr. Snipes suggests journaling prompts to further explore trust, safety in relationships, and the impact of low self-esteem on valuing oneself.
In these content segments, Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes provides valuable tips for relieving abandonment an