Researchers asked 88 people who were afraid of spiders to approach a captive tarantula. They were then shown a different spider, and instructed to either verbalize their negative emotions, describe the spider neutrally, talk about something else entirely, or say nothing at all. Then they were asked to approach the tarantula again. The results: “People who verbalized their emotions showed decreases in their physical fear response one week later,” says study author Katharina Kircanski, PhD, now a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University. Those who talked about how scared they were had a more significant reduction in “skin conductance response”—hand sweat—than the others.  More From Prevention.com: How To Stop Anxiety From Draining Your Brain Why? “When people get better at identifying what they are experiencing—positive or negative—it gives them mental space to process their emotions rather than be controlled by them,” explains anxiety expert Doug Mennin, PhD, associate professor of psychology at Hunter College in New York City.  Ready to tame your anxiety? Here’s how to help put your fears in their place. 

  1. Be present. “Anxiety pulls you into an uncertain future,” Mennin says. The more aware you are of your senses and emotions in this moment, the less power that anxiety will have. (See simple tips on how to learn to be present with Being There.)   
  2. Understand that knowledge is not destiny. “Knowing what you feel is important, but doesn’t mean that those feelings are truth,” says Mennin. Having a complete picture of your emotions at any time simply gives you more power to act appropriately, he says.
  3. Give your fears a voice. By simply naming your emotions, you create space to feel them, and remove the immediate impulse to act, says Mennin. 
  4. Put a face on it. Create characters to personalize and externalize your emotions—such as a yellow monster for anxiety. “By giving your emotions form and externalizing them, you can more easily confront them without being overwhelmed,” Mennin explains.  More from Prevention.com: 13 Little Ways To Calm Down