The effects of anxiety disorders and the struggle to get a solution can be stressful. Do you feel like your anxiety is out of control? Do you find yourself constantly worrying about things that could go wrong? Do you have a general and eternal sense of discomfort in your life?
If so, you may be suffering from an anxiety disorder, and therapy might be the answer for you! Anxiety therapy can help take back your life and give you the tools necessary to live stress-free. But what exactly is anxiety therapy, and can it make a significant difference compared to other treatment options?
This blog post explains more about the different types of anxiety therapy. And what you need to do to gain more during your sessions.
Table of Contents
What Are Anxiety Disorders?
The American Psychological Association (APA) reports that 18% of adults suffer from at least one form of anxiety disorder. This is one of the reasons why it is so common today to interact with someone suffering from anxiety.
Anxiety disorders can be experienced in different ways. Some of its symptoms include a racing heart, sweating, and dry mouth. It tends to consume you from within and makes you worry more about life problems, some of which can be unrealistic.
Anxiety is a feeling of nervousness, such as worry, fear, and dread. A person suffering from anxiety disorder experiences these emotions without a clear cause. Ideally, anxiety disorder is an umbrella term encompassing many sub-disorders, including Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). The most common anxiety disorders you’ll come across include:
- Panic disorder (recurrent panic attacks)
- Social anxiety disorder (uneasiness in social situations)
- Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Phobias (intense, irrational fear of an object or situation such as flying or heights)
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Types of Anxiety Therapy?
There are many types of anxiety therapy solutions for every unique case. Often, your therapist will always choose one that will work best for an individual. Here are some of them in detail.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy(CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a type of therapy that focuses on how you think. It also focuses on your feelings and behaviors. At Courageous Kids Counseling, you are taught to recognize the connection between these three sectors through this therapy, especially its impact on everyday life.
Through this therapy, you’ll learn coping skills so you won’t have to worry about your anxiety issues anymore.
Your therapist may have you keep a journal of your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. This way, you will know what is stressing you out the most, and you will be able to create a strategy on how you can deal with it best.
You may also have to do some homework from your therapist. It might involve writing down certain situations that you think may cause you anxiety. And you will have to figure out ways to cope with them.
This kind of therapy is gaining popularity for many reasons. For one, it deals with thoughts and feelings more than behaviors. It focuses on the root of the problem rather than treating its symptoms.
Exposure Therapy
Exposure therapy uses systematic desensitization to help you manage your anxiety. It is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy. You will love it if you want real-life practical methods to deal with problems.
You may sometimes think that you’re having an attack because you fear it so much. But in reality, you’re thinking about it too much. By learning how to cope with your anxiety at Courageous Kids Counseling, you become less afraid of it and finally relax.
The therapy requires you to study the patterns you experience when you feel anxious to deal with them better next time. Afterward, you will have to set goals for yourself as you face your fears in life. Your therapist will make you confront your fears in small steps. Here are some examples your therapist from courageous kids counseling may use:
Virtual reality : Here, your therapist will present you to a virtual situation you fear so you can learn how to face it.
Gradual exposure : This technique gives you time to face your fears. And as you get more comfortable, your therapist will increase the time you spend in that environment you fear.
In vivo exposure : this is facing your fears head-on, and you will be paired with a therapist you can trust.
Hypnosis : you will be guided by your therapist’s voice so you can relax and face your fears at the same time.
Psychoanalytic Therapy
Psychoanalytic helps to resolve symptoms and maladaptive behaviors. It brings unconscious conflicts into conscious awareness through self-examination.
In psychoanalysis , you and your therapist will discuss your concerns. It is an open-ended process that can last several years (and longer for some patients), depending upon your condition.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is an intensive form of therapy developed to treat individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder . Yet, it has recently been used in various other mental health settings and with different illnesses.
It combines cognitive-behavioral strategies for emotion regulation and reality-testing with concepts derived from dialectical philosophy. The term “dialectical” refers to the joining of two contrasting elements. For example, you can’t be “in” a relationship if you are not also “out” of it. The good thing about this method is that it teaches you powerful skills, including:
Distress Tolerance offers mindfulness skills for dealing with cravings and urges and managing discomfort at the moment without immediately acting on it.
Emotion Regulation includes ways of identifying emotions if you are having a hard time tolerating them. It helps you to acknowledge them rather than avoid them while offering healthier solutions.
Interpersonal Effectiveness is a technique that offers change-oriented communication skills that you can use in your relationships with others. Such as asking for what you want, avoiding self-injury and crisis-provoking behaviors, or ending toxic relationships.
Walking the Middle Path is a dialectical philosophy of change. It encourages you to accept your life circumstances while striving to improve them.
Interpersonal Therapy(IPT)
Interpersonal therapy (IPT) was developed by Gerald L. Klerman and Myrna Weissman in the 1970s. It’s a form of psychotherapy that emphasizes interpersonal relationships and how they affect mood, like depression or anxiety.
IPT looks for patterns in a personal relationship, like how you communicate and interact with people you have surrounded yourself with. Not only that, but also how you feel you fit in a social setting.
Art Therapy
Contrary to popular belief, art therapy is not just for those with mental disabilities. This therapy is used to help you understand yourself better by assessing yourself based on your artwork. During this process at courageous kids counseling, you will be able to let your guard down and show your true colors. It’s used alongside other therapies like CBT for Effectiveness.
What Do You Do to Gain Most Out of the Anxiety Therapy Sessions?
The journey towards any change, like in the case of anxiety therapy, is usually challenging. Nevertheless, being persistent in attending your therapy sessions at courageous kids counseling will offer better results. It’s easy to get distracted when you’re in a therapy session due to one or two reasons. So, here are some tips on evading distractions in your therapy sessions.
- Arrive early for your appointment: Your therapist will likely start your therapy session by asking how you’re doing and what you’ve been up to. By arriving early, you will probably know what you’ve been up to. And you can be ready with a list of things you’d like to discuss in your therapy session.
- Talk about you: It’s easy to get caught up in other people’s problems at first. But remember everything is about you. Your therapist will likely ask you how you’re doing, and it might be tempting to say you’re fine when you’re not. However, if you talk about yourself, you will know what topics to discuss with your therapist next time you meet. You can also talk about yourself in your therapy sessions with issues like “What’s something small you did that you’re proud of?” or “what are you most fearful of?”.
- Take notes: There may be some things you don’t remember when it comes to your past. Or something you want to change you can do in the future. It’s essential to take notes, and you will likely feel like you’ve learned more after taking notes and be more focused on your therapy sessions.
- Be open: You don’t want to hide anything from your therapist. So, speak about them openly and never shy away. No matter what you want to talk about, you will feel relieved you know your therapist will be there for you. There’s nothing wrong with having deep conversations or sharing personal information you don’t share with anyone else.
Final Words
Anxiety disorder top the list as one of the most common mental illness most Americans battle. Fortunately, several anxiety therapies may help you manage your symptoms and get back on track with life. But still, it is essential to understand which type of therapy is right for you before beginning your sessions.
