How to treat your anxiety like a boggart

When was the last time you got stuck in a negative thought pattern or memory?

For me, this happens most often when I’m out walking. I’ll meander through my neighborhood, intent on connecting with nature, but instead find myself lost in a memory or what feels like a tornado of unpleasant imaginings based on a past experience.

These kinds of moments are referred to as intrusive or brooding ruminations.

Image Credit: Sandstone Care

Luckily, there are some pretty wonderful techniques we can use during these moments – here’s one of my favorites:

Boggart Banishing

In the Harry Potter universe, there's a curious creature called a boggart.

It's a supernatural shapeshifter that takes the form of whatever the person in front of it finds scariest. For example, Ron Weasley is terrified of spiders so the boggart transforms into a giant spider; Dean Thomas is afraid of a loose hand (think The Addams Family) so it transforms into that.

If you read the books, do you remember how you defeat a boggart?

You raise your wand, imagine something less scary and more amusing, and shout “riddikulus!” The boggart then combines the scary form with the humorous form (in Ron’s case, the spider puts on roller skates) and, in response to laughter and not being taken seriously, it disappears.

The Boggart-Banishing Spell is a pretty great tool for overcoming the anxieties of our negative thoughts and memories.

When we find ourselves in one of these loops or stuck feelings, transforming our negative rumination into laughter (or even just a silent half-smirk) strips our memory or thought pattern of its power. Just like a boggart, the thought itself doesn’t get destroyed, but it does go away for a bit. (The psychological term for this is cognitive defusion.)

And this allows us space to choicefully decide when and how we want to engage with it again.