.png){kind=small}
Medication may be used to treat anxiety disorders in some situations. However, the best course of treatment for many is therapy, either by itself or in conjunction with medicine. The rationale is that, in contrast to medicine, therapy equips you with the skills necessary to control your anxiety both now and in the future. From psychoanalytic methods to the most recent cognitive behavioral therapies, various therapeutic approaches have been developed over time to address anxiety.
Understanding Anxiety Disorders
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) estimates that 31% of adolescents aged 13 to 18 and 19% of adults in the United States suffer with anxiety annually. Therapeutic techniques can be used to treat a number of major types of anxiety disorders, such as panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), phobias, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), Social anxiety disorder (SAD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The fundamental mechanisms that underlie each condition frequently exhibit a similar pattern, regardless of the particular disorder. Anxious people often react more strongly to negative ideas, emotions, and circumstances, and they may attempt to control these reactions by avoiding triggers. Unfortunately, avoiding situations like these simply makes worries and fears worse. To assist you control your anxiety, the majority of contemporary therapy focuses on avoidance and negative thinking.
Types of Anxiety Therapy
Understanding your triggers, why you feel the way you do, and how you could alter your response to them are the objectives of all therapeutic modalities. Certain forms of treatment may provide useful skills to help you modify your negative thoughts and habits. Therapy is based on your individual symptoms and diagnosis because anxiety disorders vary widely. It might take place in a group, family, relationship, or individual setting. Your unique symptoms and diagnosis will determine how frequently and for how long you see your therapist.
A variety of anxiety therapy approaches are employed by psychologists, psychiatrists, and other mental health specialists. Your diagnosis and the intensity of your symptoms will also influence the therapy you choose.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
For anxiety disorders, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most popular treatment. According to research, it works well for a variety of illnesses, including panic disorders, phobias, GAD, and SAD. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is based on the idea that your thoughts, not your circumstances, influence your feelings and behavior. Identifying and comprehending your negative thought patterns and unproductive behavior patterns, then replacing them with more practical ideas, productive behaviors, and coping strategies, is the aim of cognitive behavioral therapy. Your therapist serves as a coach for you during this process, offering you useful techniques. For instance, you may think in "black-and-white" terms a lot, assuming that everything is either good or evil.
The more realistic view that there are numerous shades of grey in between would take the place of those ideas. Using these tactics requires practice. The coping mechanisms taught in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can be used to control anxiety, panic, and concern after you begin to identify your anxiety and its triggers.
Exposure Therapy
Exposure therapy is one of the most common CBT methods used to treat a variety of anxiety disorders, including specific phobias, SAD, and PTSD. The basic premise behind exposure therapy is that if you're afraid of something, the best way to conquer it is head-on.
During exposure therapy, your therapist will slowly introduce you to anxiety-producing objects or situations. This is often done using a technique known as "systematic desensitization," which involves three steps:
Relax: Your therapist will teach you relaxation training to help combat your anxiety. Examples of relaxation training include progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, meditation, and guided imagery.
List: Create a list of your anxiety-provoking triggers, ranking them in intensity.
Expose: In this last phase, you will progressively eliminate the items or circumstances that you have identified as causing anxiety, employing relaxing methods as needed.
Your psychologist may expose you to anxiety-inducing stimuli in a number of ways. These are the most typical ones:
Imaginal exposure: This kind of exposure involves being told to vividly visualize the thing or circumstance that is causing your worry.
In vivo exposure: Using this technique, you will actually encounter the thing or circumstance that makes you anxious. A person with social anxiety may therefore be asked to speak in front of an audience as part of this kind of exposure.
Exposure to virtual reality: When in vivo exposure is not feasible, virtual reality may be utilized. Virtual reality therapy combines aspects of imaginal and in vivo exposure through technology. This approach has been particularly beneficial for PTSD sufferers, including veterans.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
One very successful kind of cognitive behavioral treatment is dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). DBT was first used to treat borderline personality disorder (BPD), but it is currently utilized to treat anxiety as well as other illnesses.4 The main goals of DBT are to assist you in embracing change, acceptance, and what appears to be a "dialectical" (opposite) outlook. While actively trying to alter your anxiety, DBT treatment will teach you to accept it. It is comparable to the idea of accepting oneself as you are while continuing to work on improving yourself.
DBT treatment imparts four potent abilities:
Being mindful: focusing on the here and now and observing fleeting thoughts (such as anxiousness) without letting them control you
Tolerance for stress: Controlling your nervousness in challenging situations
Effectiveness in interpersonal relationships: Being able to refuse requests or ask for what you need
Regulating emotions: Controlling anxiety before it becomes unmanageable
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Another type of treatment that has been proven successful for a range of anxiety disorders is acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). ACT entails determining your life's values and living according to them. There are two primary parts to ACT:
Realizing that it's not always necessary to manage one's thoughts and emotions
Taking steps to help someone live their life in accordance with their principles.
ACT teaches people to embrace their nervous, uncomfortable emotions. They acquire emotional coping mechanisms to help them with discomfort rather than attempting to repress or alter these emotions.
Art Therapy
Art therapy is an experience-based, nonverbal form of treatment. It entails employing visual art (such as painting, sketching, or sculpture) to either process and express emotions or to engage in mindfulness and relaxation exercises. While it can be offered as a stand-alone therapy, it is frequently combined with other therapeutic approaches like cognitive behavioral therapy. Since it's a more recent therapy, more studies are required to verify its efficacy in lowering anxiety symptoms.
Psychoanalytic Therapy
This Freudian concept states that unconscious tensions are reflected in anxiety symptoms. Psychoanalytic therapy aims to address these issues. In order to better understand how you see yourself and to lessen your anxiety, you and your therapist explore your ideas, wants, and concerns during psychoanalysis. Finding patterns in your thought process might take years, making this one of the most intense types of treatment. Although "psychodynamic therapy" and "psychoanalysis" are frequently used interchangeably, psychoanalysis is a subset of psychodynamic therapy.
Interpersonal Therapy
The focus of interpersonal therapy (IPT) is on relationships and social roles. During IPT, you and your therapist will try to identify any interpersonal issues you may be experiencing, including unresolved grief, disputes with friends or family, changes in your social or professional roles, and troubles with other people. After that, you'll discover constructive methods to communicate with people and healthy ways to express your feelings. IPT may be employed if your anxiety is mostly related to your connections with other people, as is the case with SAD, even though it was initially created to treat serious depression.
Which anxiety therapy is best?
The primary line of treatment for anxiety is cognitive-behavioral therapy. This method can be quite successful in assisting people in identifying and altering the unfavorable ideas that lead to worry. But it's crucial to remember that every individual is different and might react in a different way.
What to Expect From Anxiety Therapy
It's a frequent misconception that therapy will make you feel better right away. This is true sometimes. However, you usually have worsening symptoms before you begin to feel better. Remarkably, feeling worse is frequently a sign of improvement. And that makes sense when you consider it. The decision to seek therapy is frequently made because you haven't been able to manage your anxiety on your own. In therapy, you will delve deeper and more meaningfully into the causes of your anxiety. Your anxiety may momentarily increase as a result of this. It is never appropriate to view therapy as a temporary solution. Each person goes through this process in a different way.
The kind of anxiety you have and the intensity of your symptoms determine the kind of therapy you require, the skills you acquire, and the length of time you spend in therapy. It's critical to realize that even though the process won't always seem pleasant, it will ultimately be totally valuable.
How to Make the Most of Therapy
It can be difficult to try to change. This also applies to anxiety treatment. But if you stick with it, you ought to see results. Here are some strategies to get the most out of your therapy and genuinely see some progress:
Don't act like you're alright.
Pose inquiries
Share everything with your therapist.
Complete the work outside of your scheduled sessions.
Pay attention to your objectives.
Make healthy lifestyle choices.
Ensure that you have a network of social support.
Lessen the stress in your life that exacerbates your anxiety.
In this way, you can see that the main influence on how effectively therapy works for you will be your effort and presence during the procedure.
Commentaires