Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Really the Best Anxiety Treatment Available?
People who suffer from anxiety find that their lives are severely affected. When you don’t feel like your anxiety is affecting you in the way that it should, it can feel very much like a death sentence. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be. Treatment can help, and cognitive behavioral therapy in particular is often the best alternative to prescription medications. That s because cognitive behavioral therapy unlike medications usually only treats the symptoms of your disorder. Treatment helps you uncover the root causes of your fears and worries; learn to manage your anxiety without the use of medication; and improve and even develop new coping and problem-solve skills.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can take a number of forms. CBT is usually offered in two forms: one session is conducted during one regular weekly appointment, and the other is conducted at home or at a therapist’s office. Each session can range from fifteen to forty-five minutes, with alternating sessions throughout the week.
During a typical CBT session, the anxiety sufferer will be asked to observe and describe the way they react when faced with feared stimuli. At home, they may be asked to stare into a dark room and try to stay still and quiet. In the therapist’s office, they will use relaxation techniques such as breathing exercises and progressive muscle relaxation. They may also be asked to repeat self-help statements like “I am relaxed and calm.” The purpose of these relaxation techniques is to make the client more comfortable with their anxiety, which in turn will make them less anxious. The relaxation helps them gain control over their fears, making them melt away and leaving them feeling light-hearted and confident.
The cognitive behavioral therapy approach to treating anxiety disorders is generally helpful for people who only experience mild symptoms. However, there are some cases where the disorder is so severe that it necessitates treatment by a psychiatrist. If you have extreme anxiety, you should see a psychiatrist, especially if you cannot seem to control your thoughts or feelings any other way. Some doctors do not use this particular form of therapy because they feel it puts too much stress on the patient. However, it is growing in popularity as more people seek relief from their negative thoughts and feelings.
A third popular method used to treat anxiety disorders is called exposure treatment. This approach has been shown to be effective in the majority of cases and is sometimes referred to as the mixed method. It involves facing your fears in small, controlled amounts in order to desensitize the patient to the fear. The patient is then asked to return to the triggering situation multiple times, with each situation being slightly different than the last.
Many people find the combination of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure therapy helpful when dealing with panic disorders and general anxiety. CBT generally requires the patient to confront his or her fears through various means. These could include reading about the disorder, researching the topic at length, looking for information online or talking to a therapist about your fears. This approach helps the patient to gradually expose themselves to situations that bring on anxiety or fear, allowing them to manage the emotions and symptoms that they feel. In the process, the person slowly learns to better control his or her reactions.
When dealing with panic disorders, exposure therapy can be very helpful. However, in this case, the therapist may ask the patient to do something that will provoke a response from him or her. They could ask the patient to sit in a room and allow a fire to begin burning. Over time, the patient will become desensitized to the situation and may no longer be affected by the fear involved.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), on the other hand, is a form of therapy that has been proven to be very effective when treating anxiety disorders. CBT aims to change a patient’s thinking patterns and reactions to certain situations. This type of therapy usually requires the use of drugs or other forms of therapy, as well as constant monitoring of how the patient is reacting to their fears and concerns. The use of exposure therapy in conjunction with CBT can prove to be very effective. However, before starting out with this particular type of therapy, you should always make sure that you are properly screened for anxiety or phobias first.