Can Therapy Help With Anxiety?
If you’ve struggled with any form of anxiety–whether that be extreme phobias, panic attacks, intrusive thoughts, or concerns that don’t seem to ever let up–you’ve probably experienced the sensation of feeling alone and isolated. Anxiety can leave us feeling vulnerable, overwhelmed, exhausted, and sometimes, it can make us feel as if we are broken. The good news: you are not broken. Whether you’re experiencing general anxiety, or you are dealing with an anxiety disorder, therapy can be extremely beneficial to add to your care. Let’s take a look at some of the ways therapy can help with your anxiety.
Therapy helps to address underlying reasons for your anxiety.
While medication can help to address the symptoms of anxiety, therapy helps us address the underlying reasons for anxiety. Therapy helps anxiety by creating a care plan that is unique to your needs. When working with a therapist, you are inviting in added support to your circle of care. Using therapy as part of your treatment for anxiety provides the space for trained support, which is not something we can get when our only care may be friends and/or family.
How do I know which therapist is right to help my anxiety?
Looking for a therapist to help can potentially feel overwhelming. Here are some things to consider when searching for a therapist. If you’ve been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, it’s important you find a therapist who is trained in treatment for your specific disorder. For instance, treatment for OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) is going to look different compared to someone who is being treated for general anxiety or panic attacks. Most therapists have what services they specialize in on their websites. Every therapist approaches treatment differently. On top of finding a therapist that specializes in the specific type of care you need for your anxiety, you’ll want to be sure you find a therapist you feel comfortable working with. Therapeutic care is intimate work, and it’s important to find someone you feel warmly connected to. Before you make an appointment, be sure to reach out to potential therapists you may want to work with. You can typically begin that process by emailing or calling the provided contact information. Don’t be afraid to ask any questions you may have or to share any concerns you may feel moving forward with the process. These preliminary conversations will help you find the therapist that is the right fit for you.
What are some types of treatments a therapist may use to help my anxiety?
There are many ways a therapist may approach your therapeutic treatment plan. As we mentioned before, working with a therapist will help to provide a specific plan catered to your needs. There are some specific tools or types of therapy a therapist may use for this. Your therapist may use cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as a basis for your anxiety.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is widely used to help treat anxiety disorders. CBT helps us to address the negative patterns or distressing ways we perceive the external world. CBT is founded in considering the way our thoughts affect how we feel. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps us retrain our brain by reevaluating our thoughts. CBT helps treat anxiety by recognizing when we are experiencing negative thoughts and then learning how to identify and replace those thoughts. When we replace our negative (unrealistic or distorted) thoughts with realistic truths, we can change the trajectory of our feelings. This reframing found in CBT helps to reduce our anxieties.
Other forms of therapy specifically used to help treat anxiety can also include different types of exposure therapy. Exposure therapy is helpful for anyone who struggles with specific fears that are anxiety inducing. Exposure therapy helps treat anxiety by slowly integrating whatever phobia(s) are triggering. Depending on the severity of the phobia, this could look like starting by simply viewing pictures, or it may be actually confronting the scary situation. If you are using exposure therapy to treat your anxiety, your therapist will know how to best direct your levels of exposure. The goal of exposure therapy is that you will ultimately feel more in control of the situation that triggers you. This could also entail your therapist helping you to ultimately feel more desensitized to the triggering phobia.
Systematic desensitization can work in tandem with exposure therapy by helping us, first, learn relaxational skills. Your therapist will help you decide what type of relational techniques are most beneficial for you. This can look like breathing patterns/techniques, learning muscle relaxations, tapping, or other regulatory techniques that help you to reduce physical symptoms of anxiety responses.
After you’ve incorporated relaxation techniques, your therapist will help you create a step-by-step list that is catered to helping you overcome a potential anxiety-inducing situation or phobia. Creating a specific list that is tailored to your anxieties and/or fears will help to reduce your anxiety by knowing exactly what to expect. This list will be specific, clear, and create measured objectives. When we know exactly what to expect and have these concise goals outlined, it will help lower anxiety triggers.
Working through these steps with your therapist will take time. You can feel reassured that you will not move past a step before you and your therapist are sure the prior step has been successfully integrated. This means that each step will help you decrease the amount of anxiety you are feeling. So, once a step no longer feels scary or triggering, you will move onto the next one. Ultimately, the goal of working through these steps is to reduce your fears that come up within the anxiety trigger. Each step will help you to learn what tools you need to find safety and regulation. As you move to each step, your brain will slowly start to realize these situations are not dangerous, and the emotions that come up cannot harm you either. In turn, your body will also realize it is safe, and therefore will not feel activated by past triggers.
What about other ways to help anxiety?
You and your therapist may find that incorporating things such as exercise or meditation will aid in helping your anxiety. Working with a therapist to help anxiety will bring a different awareness to the connection between your body and your mind. Learning how your body feels or responds to anxiety (hyperventilating, racing heart, insomnia, muscle tension, etc.) will create a mindful approach as to what you are experiencing. This is helpful information for both you and your therapist. When we make these connections between our mind and our body, we are better equipped as to how our nervous systems may need support in removing the perceived threat.
It will take time before you feel better.
In our fast-demanding world, we are often expectant and hopeful and quick results. When it comes to your therapeutic care, the reality is that it will take time. And since therapy helps us address our fears and learn what may trigger our anxieties or anxiety disorders, we can often feel worse before we feel better. You will likely, at times, want to stop the process or may even feel like it’s not helping you. The important thing to remember is that going to therapy for anxiety is meant to help you long term. Remember, your therapist is there to support you in this journey. However you may be feeling at any time, whether that be overwhelmed, irate, or like something isn’t working for you, be honest with your therapist about these feelings. Sometimes these feelings can be indicators of how you may need further support. Stick with the plans you have in place with your therapist. Stick to your treatment and trust the support and care from your therapist, and you will make it through the hard. Before you know it, your anxiety will ease and you will have tools to help you move forward as your healthiest self.
We understand it can take time to find the right therapist for you. Here are some ways you can support yourself now and during therapeutic care:
Reduce stressors in your life. Look for ways you can minimize stress and things that heighten your anxiety. Things such as caffeine and nicotine are known to heighten feelings of anxiety. Surround yourself with positive people and try to lessen time around people or places that may make you feel anxious. Say no when you can, and make sure to leave intentional time for fun and relaxation.
Knowledge is power. Learning more about anxiety can help you understand more about yourself. When we can understand a problem more, we are more equipped to address the problem. Having more knowledge about your anxiety may not cure you, but you will feel more empowered and potentially more in control of how to move forward in receiving care.
Refrain from isolating. Sometimes, we all need time to ourselves, but as we mentioned before, anxiety can heighten our need to isolate ourselves. Find people you feel safe around and allow yourself the gift of a supportive community. Have fun! If you don’t already have one, find a hobby that you feel excited about.
Get physical. Physical activity will help ease tension and anxiety. Stay hydrated with a lot of water and incorporate mindfulness into all consumption. Some foods, alcoholic beverages, and drugs can all exacerbate anxiety.
Still feeling unsure if therapy is the right call to help your anxiety? Please don’t hesitate to reach out. We are here to help you in any way we are able to.
