Never mind swine flu — you’re far more likely to be afflicted by another modern malaise, of which the panic surrounding the H1N1 outbreak could be just a symptom. According to a recent World Mental Health Survey, generalised anxiety disorder, or Gad (that is, constant worrying about all the things that might go wrong), has become the most prevalent mental-health problem in the world — creating an “anxiety epidemic” that has been blamed on everything from the recession to the advance of technology and the buyer’s remorse we have christened “affluenza”. And the message from the self-help industry is that we must develop an inner strength in order to overcome our fears. A strong sense of self-worth is increasingly being recognised as the key to an anxiety-free life. Love and trust yourself, or so the theory goes, and you’re less likely to fall foul of the negative messages from the outside world.

Anxiety Free, by Robert L Leahy, a leading cognitive therapist, is the latest in a slew of self-help manuals aimed at helping us break free from the tyranny of anxiety. In it, Leahy recommends practising “constructive discomfort” — doing things we find frightening or uncomfortable in the service of achieving our longer-term goals — as a way of “building the mental muscle we need to face our fears”, and thus, in turn, developing a sense of legitimate self-esteem. Earlier this year, an Australian psychiatrist, Julian Short, published A Model for Living, in association with the modelling agencies Premier and Storm. “Self-liking is the foundation for happiness,” he asserts, “just as a poor self-opinion underlies most emotional problems.”

Meanwhile, in The Optimist, Laurence Shorter interviews some of the world’s leading optimists in his “search for the brighter side of life”. He says that one of the key traits of the most grounded optimists he met was that they were realists, “expert witnesses of their own negativity, fully present to the ups and downs of their emotions”. And, as Short attests, one of the marks of high self-esteem is “being able to own up to feeling rubbish. People will like you more for it, too, because you’re being honest, in turn strengthening your relationships — which is also key to combating anxiety”.

In Anxiety Free, Leahy offers a toolkit for overcoming Gad, in which he stresses the importance of stepping outside your “worried thinking” and having the strength to question the veracity of your fears. He encourages us to ask: “What advice would I give a friend in this situation?” — reinforcing once again that in the face of adversity, it first makes sense to make friends with yourself.

HOW TO DEVELOP SELF-ESTEEM

The optimist

Laurence Shorter, author, The Optimist “Anxiety is a feature of the modern world, brought on by the vertigo of freedom. It’s finally hitting home because of the recession, and I welcome this opportunity to look within. Researching my book, I discovered that the most grounded optimists were realists and expert critics of their own negativity. They all had in common an extraordinary acceptance of the outside world and themselves, and not labelling any of their emotions, good or bad. We are hard-wired by evolution to catastrophise, but the first step is to question our own thoughts: ‘Is it really the end of the world?’ A nice practice I came across is about cultivating appreciation. Every day, think of three things that you feel went well and focus on them before you go to bed. It’s about giving credit to your positive, as well as your negative, thoughts, and helps to rewire the brain away from the focus on danger and anxiety.”

The models' guru

Sarah Doukas, founder, Storm Models, and contributor to A Model for Living “Modelling is a funny old industry. You’re constantly rejected because your ‘look’ isn’t right, and you question it — what does that mean? A lot of girls are made to feel insecure about their weight, and often you’ll find your peers are earning a lot more than you. All of these issues can knock a girl’s self-esteem, and aren’t exclusive to models. For me, it’s about developing a quiet but unwavering confidence, and about being sure of your motives and objectives. I think it helps if you have integrity. It’s important to remain positive with your choices, and to have faith in yourself to choose what’s right for you. Experience is one of the best ways to develop self-esteem — it’s one of the good things about getting older — and it’s important to accept that, with the best will in the world, nothing in life is ever perfect. Realising that can help with your perception of yourself and your strengths.”

The coach

Stephanie Holland, personal coach and mother of the fashion designer Henry Holland “Confidence is something we can put on, and is subject to other people’s view of us. Self-esteem is more about self-worth, the picture we have of ourselves, but the joy of self-esteem is that it’s under your control. Every day of your life, you can choose behaviour, thought processes and emotional states that support you. Working on developing self-esteem is what I call the Pilates of the mind. Reminding yourself that you can be thoughtful, capable and resourceful in the face of adversity, and accepting there are areas in your life that can be improved, will help give you the core stability to keep you safe from depression, upset, anxiety and panic. It’s not about being big-headed, more about developing a quiet sense of ‘I know who I am, and I’m happy with that’. I also encourage people to look at their ‘self-talk’, the way you talk yourself through the thoughts in your head, as this is where we create our happiness or unhappiness. Listen to yourself, and ask yourself, would you talk to a friend that way? Write yourself an e-mail every week setting out your goals and encouraging the positive changes you are making in your life.”

The Samaritans

Joe Ferns, deputy director of services. “It’s almost a cliché, but worrying about worrying is what makes people ill — anxiety tends to have a spiral effect. Actually, though, times of national crisis can create a sense of connectedness that wasn’t there before, and it becomes more acceptable to talk about your problems because we’re all in the same boat. There is an opportunity now for people to reassess what’s important, and the message about tapping into your inner strength is incredibly positive. The more anxious somebody is, the more rigid their ways of thinking become — we encourage callers to think about what else could happen. It’s called ‘cognitive flexibility’, the idea that nothing is black and white, and can generate other, potentially positive, outcomes. If somebody reaches their own solution to a problem, it’s far more sustainable. Self-efficacy — the belief that you can get things done, which stems from self-esteem — is incredibly important in overcoming anxiety.” 

Read The Sunday Times Style e-paper - exactly as it appears in print