Can a Wrist Band Help You Control Your Anxiety? (2024)

FAQs

Can a Wrist Band Help You Control Your Anxiety? ›

Anxiety wrist bands are a popular “anxiety treatment” promoted on many alternative health sites. Wrist bands that “treat anxiety” (such as those with magnets or ions) have no effect and cannot treat the condition. However, the wrist bands themselves can be used as part of a behavioral treatment for anxiety.

The Rubberband Distraction Technique (aka Rubberband Snap) is an effective way to break out of a negative thought loop and focus on positive and helpful thoughts. This tutorial explains WHEN and WHY and HOW to use this technique to relieve anxiety caused by negative intrusive thoughts.

They recommend this simple aversion-therapy trick: "Place a rubber band on your wrist, and every time that you start feeling stressed, lightly snap it. The idea is that your brain will subconsciously start avoiding the stimulus (in this case, stress) to prevent the unpleasant snapping of the rubber band."

The great abyss pressure point is on your wrist just past your hand, on the side your thumb is on. You'll know you've found the right spot when you find a slight indent. Applying pressure to this point by massaging it in a circular motion can help reduce anxiety symptoms.

They claim to help with anxiety but ultimately do nothing. At best, they temporarily relieve your through the placebo effect.

Just place one on a finger, and when you feel anxiety, concentrate on rolling the beads or twisting the band. “Anything that you do that distracts you from thinking about what makes you anxious can help,” notes Dr. Childs. “It's a type of grounding technique, where you can redirect your thoughts.”

Snapping a rubber band

The rubber band trick is kind of old school, and has mostly fallen out of favor in the OCD treatment community. The idea: by snapping a rubber band on your wrist whenever you notice yourself obsessing you can bring yourself back into the moment and respond to the thought differently.

It may sound too simplistic, but it turns out that tapping certain parts of your face, hands and body can help relieve stress and anxiety. It even has a formal name: emotional freedom technique, or EFT. “Like acupuncture, EFT stimulates the major energy points on the body.

Rubber band therapy is a common technique used to help individuals cope with anxiety, stress, or other negative emotions. The idea behind this therapy is to use a physical sensation, such as snapping a rubber band on the wrist, as a distraction from negative thoughts or feelings.

What is the 3-3-3 rule for anxiety? ›

The 333 anxiety rule involves observing three things you can see, three things you can hear, and three things you can move or touch. It is a grounding technique — a coping skill to manage intense emotions by steering the mind away from anxiety and toward the present moment.

Each of the fingers in our hand represents a different kind of emotion or feeling: The Thumb helps fend off emotions like worry and anxiety. The Index finger helps you fight your fears.

Gently massage the spot, using small circular motions. Between the thumb and index finger. The webbing between thumb and index finger contains a stress-relieving pressure point. Gently pinch the spot between your opposite thumb and forefinger, holding the position.

The idea is that the ring will help redirect your focus and calm your nerves when you're feeling anxious. Some ring wearers swear that the distraction helps relieve some of the symptoms of anxiety, such as racing thoughts, sweating, fidgeting, and heart palpitations.

So do anxiety rings actually help with anxiety? Anxiety rings and other coping mechanisms can help us manage the symptoms of anxiety, but they can't treat our anxiety. Like self-care, grounding techniques and coping mechanisms serve to help us manage our symptoms but they don't address the root cause.

Summary. Aversion therapy is a form of behavioral therapy which creates an aversion or negative stimulus to an undesired behavior or habit. It is used most often in the case of addiction. The effectiveness of this type of therapy is inconclusive, and negative side effects, like shame, anxiety, and even PTSD, can occur.