Barry McDonagh opens with a counterintuitive but well-supported principle: directly fighting or resisting anxiety symptoms in the moment typically intensifies them, while acceptance-based approaches reduce their intensity.

Why fighting anxiety backfires:

• Actively resisting or fighting anxious sensations paradoxically increases physiological arousal, intensifying the very symptoms you're trying to suppress
• This creates a frustrating cycle where fighting anxiety produces more anxiety about the anxiety itself
• Acceptance-based approaches, though counterintuitive, break this escalating cycle by removing the added resistance-generated arousal

This opening establishes the book's core counterintuitive principle, directly informing its central practical technique introduced in the next chapter.