Outsmart Your Anxious Brain: Ten Simple Ways to Beat the Worry Trick

by David A. Carbonell

It’s time to outsmart your worry and anxiety. Drawing on the same cutting-edge psychology presented in author David Carbonell’s The Worry Trick, this irreverent, on-the-go guide offers ten powerful "counter-intuitive" strategies to help you put worry in its place—anytime, anywhere.

Anxiety is a powerful force. It makes us question our decisions and ourselves, worry about the future, and it fills our days with dread and emotional turbulence. But what if we understood that anxiety is merely a trick of the mind, trying to convince us we’re in danger? Anxiety is like a magician behind the curtain, playing subtle tricks on us to convince us that we're in danger when we’re not. When we understand this, we can observe our anxious feelings with some distance.

Based on the author’s popular book, The Worry Trick, this helpful and humorous guide identifies the “trick” of chronic anxiety, and provides the ten most powerful techniques based in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help you respond differently to panic, anxiety, worry, and phobias. Once you learn to respond differently to the worry trick, you’ll be able to break the cycle of chronic anxiety for good.

Instead of trying to “manage” your anxiety or push anxious thoughts away—techniques that you’ve probably already discovered don’t work—the ten powerful strategies outlined in this guide will empower you to actually change how you respond to worry and anxiety, so you can get your life back!

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Psychology, Health, Audiobook, Mental Health

224 pages, Paperback

Published February 2, 2020

About the author

David Carbonell, Ph.D. is a Clinical Psychologist who specializes in treating anxiety. He is the author of four self-help books: Panic Attacks Workbook, The Worry Trick, Fear of Flying Workbook, and Outsmart Your Anxious Brain. He is also the “coach” of the popular self-help site, anxietycoach, and his books are all available for purchase there. In his spare time, he is the founding member of The Therapy Players, an improvisational comedy troupe of professional psychotherapists in the Chicago area.

Reviews

[Antonella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book!!! It resonates with me. I underlined it and now I need to dive more into it.
Short and on point - just how it should be. Easy to understand and apply exercises.
Definitely recommend it!!!

Thanks to publisher and Netgalley for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is new stuff!!! As a therapist, I am always reading about tools like taking a deep breath and practicing mindfulness when I read about overcoming anxious feelings. This book goes out of the box with some really good strategies! I don't mean creative, I mean smart. This book is SMART in outsmarting anxiety. The tools will speak to most people, and the easy to read chapters can be read in an hour. But this is the type of book where you fold over corners, highlight sentences, and then put the ideas to work. A book you will reference until you are managing your anxiety and feeling better. I have already made suggestions to people based on Mr. Carbonell's ideas!

[Sharon Naylor Toris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Offers plenty of tips and stories for readers chasing relief from anxiety issues. I wouldn't call it a 'worry trick,' but I am glad the author included worry, doubt, insecurity, fear and other life-affecting thought issues. Readers who have lived with the disorder likely have read dozens of books on the subject, each looking for the one elusive key to let them stomp down the disorder and live freely. There's plenty to turn over in your mind from this book, lots to discuss with a worry-minded friend or therapist. Bring a journal with you through this book. You'll find some nice gems of inspiration.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded down.
This book offered some valuable tips, and I took some notes; however, overall, it felt underwhelming. Also, the audiobook narrator’s voice sounded like he was from an infomercial, so I kept feeling like he was trying to sell me something. Haha.

[Carolyn Lamont]

My thoughts on this are more complicated than I expected, and I'm not sure how to express them. No matter what it is a self-help book, and cannot replace speaking to a professional in person. And I'm not a professional, so my review thoughts won't be amazing.

This book is more geared towards very concrete anxieties, like being anxious of flying or speaking in public, and you are definitely told--multiple times--this is not for people with anxieties based on trauma (which, Hi! That's me!).
I liked how he explained how your brain functions during panic, and why you can't just "logic" yourself out of it, even though you understand things are fine. I liked the belly breathing and other ways to relax versus escalate the anxiety, and how to work with your brain instead of against it. However, the last quarter was impossible not to notice that this was written by an older, wealthier man

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a reasonable short summary of concepts from legitimate science like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. I think the author does a good job of clarifying some concepts that often confuse people, like confidence comes from competence--not the other way around. The specific bits of advice stem from the concept of exposure to what you fear and then gradually undoing the unproductive connections between emotions/thoughts/actions.
This is not new, but this format might resonate well with some people.
Whether the specific examples will be helpful to readers depends. I found some of the examples distractingly bizarre, like the woman who has her husband drive behind her car to go to work. I think it would have been helpful to have some more detail in his patients' words of how the process worked to help them beat worrying about common anxieties like flying in planes for instance.

[Monte Brogdon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great book to read if you are an anxious worrier or know someone like this. Being both an anxious person with generalized anxiety disorder and someone studying psychology and entering into the field, I found it very informative and helpful. The tips that Carbonell gives are very good and he gives examples that are helpful for readers to practice in their own lives.

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

[Johanny Monsanto · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you would like to read about different ways to accept your anxious feelings and how work through them not fight against them, this is a wonderful book. This book helped me with my anxious feelings and thoughts. 10/10 would recommend and read again 🥹

[Quan Truong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple, actionable methods to help you stay calm during covid lockdown

[Luci Bellinor · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of helpful ideas and a quick read!

[Cathy Stapleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite what I was thinking this was about. I quess I should have typed in search how to make the brain stop thinking. The subtle art of how to drool. That was more of what I was looking for. I will however use to help others.

[Syrim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This author focuses most on chronic worry over specific situations and uses lots of phobia examples, so it's not super helpful for general or social anxiety. There are several tidbits useful for panic disorder though, like pointing out that letting a breath out actually relaxes you body more than fighting to take a big breath in.

The main shortcoming of this book is its lack of nuance. For example, it talks about social anxiety but only in the most stereotypical form: blushing, stuttering and/or sweating when confronted with crowds, public speaking, and performing. That applies to this author's handling of pretty much every form of anxiety.

On the flip side, just because the book uses lots on unnuanced examples, that doesn't mean the general information isn't more widely applicable. For example, the book has provides a simple set of facts on how the fear center of our brain works that can be used to address less clear-cut causes of anxiety. Also, the book is an easy read, and short, so if you're unsure that the content will be helpful to you it won't take until you're 3/4 of the way through to figure that out.

TL;DR: Unnuanced but has good content, especially for people dealing with chronic fear of concrete things.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is pretty concise (only a little over 200 pages), but boy is it helpful and effective! I have been diagnosed with two different anxiety disorders and struggled with them for most of my life. Any time I have tried different meds, they typically stop working, if they work at all, and I get loads of side effects. Therefore, I'm always on the hunt for natural ways to alleviate my anxiety and calm my brain down. The author provides seemingly simple ways to help, yet ways I really hadn't been able to put into practice well prior to reading this book. The only downside is that the book focuses more on specific phobias than more generalized ones, and I fall into the latter, so it took some application on some of them, but well worth the time and practice! I found the section on how dangerous rituals in anxiety can be very informative from an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder perspective. Security people and items as well. The perspective change and learning how to not try and control the fear is key. This book is definitley worth the read if you struggle from an anxiety disorder!

[Mamasteg · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author gives clear and actionable ways to deal with present, immediate anxiety. If your fears and anxieties are localized mostly just to you — for example a fear of heights, or giving a presentation - these steps should help. He offers breathing techniques to deal with anxiety attacks.

For my current purposes, it didn’t do the trick. My worry and anxiety, since 2020, has been focused on big picture survival (democracy/environment/world conflict). It’s anxiety that is always present, but not causing difficulties in breathing or action.

The book deals with getting yourself through clear and present danger (imagined or actual), not so much “the world is ending and I feel hopeless”. Overall a good book with actionable suggestions for dealing with worry and anxiety in your everyday life.

[Anca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book while waiting for some biopsy results. Having very small children, my mind was filled with what-if thoughts. After reading about humoring them, I did just that. And it worked! It helped calm my anxious brain!
The explanations in the book are easy to follow. I enjoyed the metaphors the author used, it made the advice easier to understand and remember. This book is to be read not only by people suffering from chronic anxiety but also by those who have relatives or friends with such disorders.
Thank you to Net Galley and New Harbinger Publications for providing me with an e-book copy in exchange for my honest review!

[Mckinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Danger or discomfort?
Rule of opposites, breathing - exhale - exercise, Aware (accept, watch, act, repeat, end)

Worry is about feeling nervous and not about future failure - "what if" thoughts, if worry exists outside thoughts - is there any thing I can do to change?, repeat 25 times outloud, translate into foreign language, make a poem or song, respond "yes, and ..."

[Jen Tidman · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's some helpful advice here I guess if you've never read a self-help book on anxiety, but there wasn't anything new here for me, and I felt like the information could have formed a Buzzfeed style listicle rather than being a full book.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good practical tips that you can use to calm down your anxiety.
This book could have been condensed down to a blog article or a youtube video but not really a book format.
Personally I don't suffer from major panic attacks, but I do feel the stress and panic sometimes. The heart flutters, the shortness of breath, the chest tightness. It's important to learn how to self sooth in life and this book delivers.
A key point is not to defend yourself from a panic "attack." It should be seen as approaching with caution and dealing with it instead of raising the defenses or running from it which makes it worse. Panic is not your enemy, it's not the best feeling but it should be seen as a red flag or something that is left unfinished.
Another thing is stop thinking about the "what if's" to a certain extent. Sometimes it's good to think of the possible what ifs but not alllll the time where it takes over your livelihood and you're constantly paranoid.
Exposure to your fears will help you realize that it's not so bad.
Instead of focusing so much on inhaling to calm yourself, breathe outwards as much as possible.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trying to start writing reviews of books I read to have a deeper reading experience and have something to look back on fondly (or not fondly if the book is shit).

This book argues the importance of leaning into things that cause anxiety, instead of using avoidance coping methods. The author explains that ‘What if’ trains of thought and worry patterns can be dealt with if we choose to focus on them and use a thoughtful reasoning strategy to decrease the anxiety that they produce. Our brain treats these negative thoughts as dangers to our safety and survival but with higher thinking skills to dissect these fears, we are able to realize that they are not as life threatening as they appear to the survival part of our brain. He introduced the technique of deep belly breathing as the alternative to the normal, ‘take a deep breath’ tactic and I def want to try using it to decrease stress and anxiety in the future. Overall, it was interesting to read about the variety of coping mechanisms that people use to cope with anxiety and fears and I enjoyed being introduced to a perspective that addressed the scientific side a little more and how to change habits based on that.

[Elisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book very much. It is very instructional and provides many good strategies for coping with worry, stress and anxiety. I particularly liked learning how to belly-breathe (I’ve never been able to successfully do that before, thank you!).

In my opinion, this book can be useful for everyone. The author has the knack of translating scientific jargon to simple, everyday language, making it really easy to understand. The explanations behind the brain’s responses to worry, stress and anxiety are also well-reasoned and readers will benefit even without any science background. Personally, I learnt a lot from this book (based on the amount of Kindle highlights in there) and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

#OutsmartYourAnxiousBrain #NetGalley

Just to let you know, I received a free review copy of this book and was not obligated to write a review for it. However, I am very happy to do so and this book will always have a place in my Kindle shelf, in case I need it.

[Hannelore Cheney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and New Harbinger Publications for the eARC.
I have suffered from panic disorder for years, still going through therapy and on medication most of that time.
This was a good manual with excellent tips. The belly breathing is very helpful as is the acceptance of the horrible fear and riding through it. Riding through it is difficult and I do need more practice. That said, it's heartening to know so many others are out there, it makes one feel less alone and every tip to help us through the experience helps. I'm grateful there are authors like David Carbonell who take the time and effort to try and alleviate the suffering of so many of us. My goal is to get off the medication and. I'm hopeful, and thankful for books such as these that make me see an end in sight. Thank you! Highly recommended.

[Jazzlin Escovar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice read. It’s written in a very personable tone and offers practical, immediate advice. The first several chapters had some really good methods to put into practice quickly, regardless as to the type of anxiety a person is experiencing.

Towards the middle of the book, I felt like the information was starting to get repetitive. The various examples of peoples’ hypothetical experiences were getting tiresome. Generally, I would rather have references to stats and studies to lay out numbers and percentages — not merely the author telling me “I know this is true because I’ve been doing this for a long time and noticed it helps people.”

Regardless, the advice was practical and generally helpful. The last two chapters drew me in again and I went back to feeling like the book was of value.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given a free copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Outsmart Your Anxious Brain is a self-help book that gives you 10 tips on how to deal with your anxiety. It is exactly what the title claims it is.

What I really liked about this book was the simplicity of it. It wasn't loaded down with unnecessary jargon that made it boring and hard to read. It was straight to the point; here's the problem, here's what you're doing wrong and here's what you can do to fix it. Yes it will suck in the beginning but it'll be worth it.

I would recommend this for those who struggle with anxiety. I found there were a few tips in here that I was able to relate to my real life experiences and will definitely be using them to better control my own anxiety.

[Karma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some books come to you at the right time. This was one of them.

Anxiety has been a big problem for me. I have been taking medication and therapy but something's always been missing. This book provided that missing link.

I have been greatly impacted by the ideas of the book. I know this is a book that I will come back to again and again.

I will also read the author's first book, The Worry Trick.

When reading this book, the idea that most helped me was that of 'safety behaviours'. I haven't read about it in the same way ever before and that made all the difference.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me a free copy of the book.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book by David Carbonell. I have rated him for years. As a chronic worrier/reassurance seeker/“what if” thinker but also an ex psychology student, I know that understanding why our brains work the way they do combined with the latest therapeutic approaches is key to relief. I never much rated the old methods of thought stopping and distraction, and this book explains why that was. I practise daily mindfulness and meditation and this book was further encouragement that it really is the best road to breaking that worry cycle, combined with some of the other techniques mentioned in this book.

[Cait · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice quick (listen, audiobook) for me! Despite most of the advice being directed towards more general phobia-type anxieties (spontaneous medical issues, claustrophobia, airplane travel) and not specific, more tangible/realistic dangers that present in life, I still wrote down a few good reminders. Thinking through: is this danger or discomfort? The rule of opposites, belly breathing, not arguing or distracting yourself out of your worry (face it head on, basically through exposure), and lastly that behavior often precedes feelings: you need to take actions BEFORE you feel confident in order to make positive changes.

[Lindsay L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not sure this book addresses a set of issues common to post-pandemic millennials- legitimate concerns that are realistic over which you only have low levels of control. Only portions of chapter 5-6 get at realistic but distracting worry that isn’t say a clinical fear of flying. I think it would be great for someone with specific and crippling symptoms surrounding something that is likely not to happen. I had wished this took a more risk-oriented approach to managing a wider range of stressors that impact quality of life.

[Aron Reina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is very technical, and likely a good intro for collegiate classwork, or clinicians, or as a resource for logic-minded folks. I found it.....interesting.

Straight up, I don't fully believe in the rational-actor mentality. This approach somewhat relies upon logic for self-work. That's why I believe this is better for teaching practitioners, rather than influencing your own mindset. However, if you're not deep into anxiety, you may benefit from these skills.

[Leslie Weber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book! I like how it tackled various types of anxiety and offered different techniques to try to overcome them. I actually hadn't heard of some of the techniques and I like how he explained the distinction in exposure therapy and how some therapists really need to understand this distinction- that the element of fear is necessary but it is not about becoming so afraid that the person is traumatized. The book has inspired me to try driving with less of a death grip 😜