Anxiety therapy methods vary, depending on the nature and severity of your anxiety disorder. Kuhn encourages clients to become informed on anxiety disorders as part of their therapy journey.
She advises her patients to record all anxious thoughts during a designated “worry time,” to help identify which types of thinking exacerbate anxiety and stress levels.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Many of us experience anxiety in new or stressful circumstances; if this feeling doesn’t subside after several moments or worsens over time, you could be suffering from an anxiety disorder. Luckily, there are alternative treatments available which can provide relief without medication being necessary.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), more commonly referred to as talk therapy or psychotherapy, is one of the most effective forms of treatment for anxiety disorders. CBT involves short-term, skills-focused therapies designed to alter maladaptive thoughts and behaviors by changing maladaptive thought processes and behaviors.
Your therapist will teach you to recognize and challenge negative thoughts that contribute to anxiety, as well as strategies you can practice between sessions such as journaling and breathing exercises that can help boost confidence while safely confronting fears in a healthy manner.
Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)
IPT (Interpersonal Psychotherapy) allows therapists to explore your interpersonal relationships. Sessions will focus on recent interactions in your life, such as a disagreement you had with a friend or how you react in certain social situations. Your therapist will encourage you to experience unpleasant emotions safely so that you may gain new perspectives and develop healthy coping mechanisms.
IPT is a time-limited therapy option, typically lasting 12-16 weeks, designed to increase client retention. This approach is especially important since many patients find engaging in long-term therapy difficult, often leading them to dropout altogether.
IPT helps individuals identify the problematic areas in their life and offer specific tools and positive strategies to address those areas. Furthermore, it identifies situations that are likely to trigger symptoms and provides a framework for discussing them; IPT teaches patients to recognize underlying fears as well as how they have become distorted over time.
Hypnosis
Although hypnosis might conjure images of psychiatrist couches and patients reliving childhood memories, therapeutic hypnosis has proven itself an effective means of managing anxiety. It’s important to remember that therapeutic hypnotherapy doesn’t involve mind control or brainwashing and that you remain in complete control throughout the session.
Pisarik notes that counselors can assist clients in learning to recognize negative self-talk and address it effectively, as well as learn techniques for avoiding stressful situations that cause anxiety or relaxing techniques to lower overall levels of stress.
Hypnosis can provide relief from both physical and emotional strain associated with anxiety, according to Pisarik. Hypnosis may reduce physical symptoms like rapid heart rate or shaking while relieving emotional tension by changing unhelpful beliefs into supportive ones and lessening any social struggles which contribute to an anxious mood – something research indicates can only benefit from using CBT therapy alone. Hypnosis could therefore serve as a great adjunct therapy.
Medication
Medication may be a key component of treating anxiety. They may be used alone or alongside psychotherapy. While medication cannot cure anxiety, it can significantly lessen symptoms and enable more functional living.
Anxiety can manifest physically as restlessness, jitteriness, shaking and difficulty focusing on tasks like work or school. Other symptoms include a lump in the throat, difficulty focusing, diarrhea and chest pain as well as feeling restricted across chest or abdomen and shortness of breath. Furthermore, anxiety may contribute to decreased energy, decreased sexual drive, insomnia or difficulty focusing on tasks at hand.
Talk to your doctor about how anxiety is impacting your everyday life and family relationships. He or she will conduct a medical history, physical exam and possibly lab tests to rule out any conditions which might contribute to it. He or she may also refer you to mental health specialists such as psychologists or psychiatrists; such specialists can help identify triggers of your anxiety while teaching healthier ways to cope.
