When solving a problem becomes a diagnosis

Abstract

This article deals with various methods of anxiety control that people inadvertently use to study their anxieties, or create new problems in their attempts to control them. To explain dysfunctional ways of anxiety control, I draw on the MRI model (Mental Research Institute, Watzlawick et al.), and traditional anxiety models in cognitive behavioural therapy. An example of panic disorder is used to show first order changes representing ways of panic spell control, which sustain or enhance the disorder. Second order changes that redefine the problem break the vicious circle of panic spells. I close the article by listing a few therapeutic principles and interventions that help people abandon ineffective ways of anxiety control.