Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy

Anxiety disorders seem to be very prevalent in our country. Approximately 40 million Americans are reeling under the impact of anxiety ailments and the importance of right treatment cannot be overstressed. It is extremely difficult for the affected people to get through everyday life in the wake of the symptoms created by these mental disorders. To help them cope up, there are many anxiety medicines that could be used together with other treatment forms.
Anxiety and stress related disorders are usually treated with anxiety medication together with self-help techniques, therapy and support. With the combined treatment, various types of anxiety are controlled and even cured. Serious conditions like post-traumatic stress ailments can also be curtailed with following the proper regimen of anxiety medication.
Anxiety medications can be broadly classified into two types – Antidepressants and Anti-anxiety medications. Both these can strongly curtail and lessen the anxiety symptoms in people.
Antidepressants such as Paxil and Zoloft are prescribed for the long-term management of anxiety related disorders. These drugs are a little slow to work and patients must use them strictly as directed by their doctor and should follow his instructions very carefully. These are extremely beneficial with collateral cognitive and behavioral therapy.
Anti-anxiety medications exhibit a rapid effect on acute symptoms. But they are usually addictive and possess depressant effects on patients. Only short term treatments are recommended with this type of medications where urgent relief from symptoms is necessary for the patients. For lasting and overall treatment, other options are usually followed to relieve symptoms of anxiety over a long period.
Whereas anxiety medications are generally not designed to affect a cure or to put a stop to symptoms of anxiety, they control the symptoms to such an extent that the patients can take the benefit of other therapy forms as well. These other therapy forms for the anxiety disorder patients are Psychological therapy and Self-help.
Psychological therapy as the name suggests, consists of giving the patients cognitive and behavioral therapy tools to overcome their anxiety disorders. With the symptoms controlled with the help of medications, patients can concentrate on working on other long lasting techniques for keeping their anxiety symptoms at bay. More often than not, desensitization, positive thinking and many other techniques assist the patients survive the anxiety-triggering experiences.
Self-help consists of self-hypnosis, meditative therapy and relaxation techniques which assist the patients further to overcome their mental disturbances. It cannot be said that all disorders of anxiety can be cured, but most of them can be controlled with the right therapy.
Anxiety medicines do not offer a cure but they constitute a very important factor of the overall plan of treatment. When it is absolutely necessary to control the symptoms to bring a patient back on track, these medications are indispensable.

Anxiety is a feeling that we may experience when we are exposed to a situation we are not comfortable with. The main symptoms of anxiety are increased sweating and heavy breathing, feeling of hopelessness, dizziness, etc. Anxiety can be very crippling for some people as even a small trigger may make them anxious and they start hyperventilating, panting and sweating. But anxiety may be cured by the right kind of treatment. A patient may take therapy to reduce his anxiety.

A therapy called the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been proved to be very effective in anxiety. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a type of therapy that aims towards changing and modifying our behavior and response to different situations in life. This therapy tries to influence the negative emotions in our mind and replace them with positive emotions. In this therapy, the patient is asked to keep track of their emotions and the event associated with them. The patient is then asked to evaluate and analyze his behavior and feelings at various occasions when he was feeling panicky. The patient is then taught to avoid those feelings and thoughts and distract himself from them. Then various ways and techniques are taught to him that he can use to relax himself and stay calm even in the pressure situations. This therapy can be taken as an individual and also in a group. In some cases, the group therapy works better as it also helps a patient to see that he is not the only one suffering from this disorder and it builds his self-esteem.

The next step in this therapy is to give the patient emotional strength to cope with his insecurities. The patient is asked to make a strategy to counter the attack of such insecurities in future. The main aim here is to teach the patient to remain calm in the stressful and tense situations to avoid getting anxiety attacks.

Another behavioral therapy called the exposure therapy is also quite helpful in anxiety especially for the patients of phobias induced anxiety. In this therapy, the patient is exposed to the things or situations which make him anxious. The main objective of this therapy is to desensitize the patient towards a particular thing or situation by exposing him to it in a controlled environment. This therapy makes the patients face their fears and helps them to control their anxiety as they get a lot of exposure towards their phobias.

Besides the behavioral therapy, the patient may also take up yoga as it is also very helpful. Yoga has a calming effect on our body and mind and it helps us calm ourselves down and hence, fight the anxiety better.

By virtue of being human, each of us has experienced anxiety.

Indeed, anxiety is something that each of us is sure to have experienced, in one form or another, at some point in our lives.

As such, it’s nothing to be alarmed about. In truth, a degree of anxiety can even be beneficial. Occasional feelings of temporary, minor anxiety can push us on, giving us ‘the edge’. It can keep us on our toes, allowing us to perform to a greater degree of excellence than we ever could without it.

But habitual and chronic anxiety is completely different.

Anxiety of this type can be truly incapacitating and overwhelming. It can really handicap us, preventing us from functioning in a normal way in otherwise ordinary circumstances.

More than this, anxiety can seriously and adversely affect our health.

Chronic anxiety – anxiety experienced on a regular basis over an extended period of time – can have alarming consequences. It can weaken the immune system and lower the body’s natural resistance to infection, leaving us prey to all manner of illnesses.

Long periods of anxiety can elevate blood pressure, putting far too much strain on vital organs such as the heart. And anxiety can really increase the possibility of becoming a stroke victim. Digestive problems such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, headaches and skin eruptions can all have their origin in anxiety.

If you are experiencing real anxiety then it really is best to visit your doctor or medical advisor, just to make certain that there are no underlying physical reasons for this. Physical reasons eliminated, you are faced with the decision of what course of action to take.

Most often, the medical response is to simply prescribe pharmaceuticals. Drugs like Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, or tranquilizers are recommended in order to cope with the symptoms.

But for some people, these powerful drugs can have some quite dire side effects.

Another popular approach is to undergo a course of CBT – cognitive behavioural therapy. This therapy is meant to help the sufferer cope with the symptoms of the anxiety. It aims to help the person to develop coping strategies in order to manage the symptoms of anxiety.

Yet it is important to understand that anxiety is simply a feeling generated at the subconscious level of the mind. It is based on the belief that something bad is going to happen.

Therefore it is the subconscious that can provide the true solution to the problem.

And this is exactly what good hypnotherapy does. In hypnosis, we can realign the subconscious mind with reality, allowing it to become calm and more relaxed, to rapidly stop the alert process that is incorrectly functioning and producing those anxious feelings.

No-one was born to feel anxious. With modern advanced hypnotherapy, you can let go of those terrible, anxious feelings, simply stopping them just as soon as they start.

People all around us feel anxious and stressed out due to the present condition of the world. Everyone has their own reason for being stressed out and you can see people wherever you look, be it a small child or an old man, having a worried look. Let’s take a look at a few examples of what makes people stressed out.

A child who has moved into a higher school would be stressed because his parents back home would expect him to excel because the amount of competition is high. A middle aged man has to toil harder by working even after his office hours to hold onto his job because his company is reducing the number of employees.

We just saw two instances which makes people suffer from anxiety and if you think anxiety is a simple word, then think again. Anxiety may cause distress and may severely affect a person’s life. The range of intensity may vary but yet the results are dangerous. You may wonder how come people do not get affected even though anxiety is quite normal. This is because although due to the present day scenario most people suffer from anxiety, people can lead a proper life without anxiety causing any major worry to their lives if it is dealt with properly.

If you are still doubtful whether anxiety therapy is needed, take a look at the problems caused by anxiety:

Ø As a victim of the most generalized type of anxiety, you may have recurring thoughts about losing everything that you posses. The symptoms are quite dangerous because people who suffer from similar experiences are bound to face problems in concentrating on their daily task.

Ø Many people develop various types of phobias that can be really dangerous and that may lead to various other mental illnesses.

The problems mentioned above are just a couple from a never ending list; the impact may vary from person to person. Anxiety therapy is extremely important because if anxiety is not dealt with properly it may cause recurring panic attack, psychological disorder, depression etc.

Here is a brief insight on ways to fight anxiety.

Behavioral Therapy:

This therapy employs techniques that work in reduction or stopping of undesired behavior. A common technique used makes use of relaxation and deep breathing that stops breathing problems that anxiety may cause.

Cognitive Therapy:

Cognitive bevavioural therapy is an excellent Anxiety therapy because it is a different but realistic approach to those who understand how anxiety causes problems since it enables them to take steps to stop the reasons that create anxiety.

Anxiety therapy should be started as soon as possible so that things are kept under control from the very start. You can find more anxiety therapies on the internet but always consult your doctor before starting any particular anxiety therapy.

According to the advice of professionals and experts in the field of anxiety therapy, there are two ways in which you can beat anxiety.  The first is with the help of good self-help material to treat anxiety.  The second is the services of a professional therapist who can help you address the cause for the anxiety which could be something very deep-rooted in your psyche.   The best way anxiety cure is to employ a combination of both techniques.  It is thought that using one method without the other will not produce the desired results.Informing yourself about the condition will appease your nerves, the more you understand your panic attacks the closer you are to beating them.  You may be able to relieve the symptoms of your anxiety and reduce the intensity or frequency using good self-help material which you can find online or in bookshops.   Beware of programs offering quick fixes which promise to cure anxiety.  More often than not, these so-called ‘cures’ only serve to reduce the physical symptoms of anxiety and the results are likely to be only temporary.This is why it is so important to have therapy for anxiety.   Though there is a stigma attached to therapy, do not be discouraged.  These trained professionals will be able to identify the underlying cause of your anxiety and will be well equipped to help you deal with your anxiety once and for all.  Without this cognitive therapy for anxiety, the real reason for your anxiety could remain undetected, therefore going untreated.  There are so many benefits  to seeing a therapist for your anxiety, I have listed some of the main things a therapist can do to help you.-    A therapist can help you understand the condition and how it personally affects you.  They can help you understand your symptoms and why the condition was developed.

-    Perhaps the most important thing your therapist can do for you is determine the underlying cause for your anxiety.  They can also help you understand how this developed and where it came from.

-    Create a personalized plan designed specifically for your recovery according to your unique circumstance.

-    Provide you with tools and methods to help you overcome your anxiety.  They can provide support and answer any questions you may have regarding the condition or medication and treatments for anxiety.

-    Help those close to you understand your condition and be on hand to provide reassurance and support.

-    Support and mentor you throughout your recovery until you have made a full one.These are just some of the main advantages, there are just too many to list here.  If you want to know more there is wealth of information on the Internet.  Alternatively, you can go and see your doctor who should be able to provide you with more info.  The worst thing you can do for your anxiety is suffer in silence, there is lots of help available and with the right kind of help anyone can  overcome their anxiety.

Have you ever wondered how your thoughts and emotions have affected your behaviour? Or whether thoughts and behaviour are inter-related? Is it possible that what you think consciously or unconsciously can actually influence your life and even the lives of those around you?

Often the problems that we face in our lives are because of negative or faulty thought patterns that manifest themselves in our day to day behaviours and we are unable to recognise it. Thus we are trapped in the vicious circle of negative thoughts leading to negative behaviours which again causes negative thoughts. So how do we correct these faulty thought patterns and make life better? The answer lies in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is a form of psychotherapy which emphasizes the importance of thinking and how it affects our emotions and actions. It is based on the idea that our thoughts influence our actions, our moods, our feelings and our emotions. External things like people, situations, and the environment are not the cause of our problems. Thus if you correct your way of thinking and make a change in yourself you can cope better with the same people and situations and function better in the same environment.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is one of the shortest forms of therapy available, in terms of time and effective results. An average of 16 sessions or lesser is required depending on the problem. The whole therapy process is structured and goal-oriented.  The therapist and the client collaborate on the goal of the therapy, and the decision to terminate the therapy when it has been achieved. What makes it very effective is the fact that each session has a goal which is decided by the therapist and the client. They have to work on the techniques in that session to reach an outcome, and proceed likewise in each subsequent session. Therefore in each session the therapist guides the client towards his goal by teaching him alternative or new ways to think and behave to achieve what they want.

Often our behaviours and thoughts are learnt, so we need to unlearn the faulty thought patterns and relearn the correct thought and behaviours. The therapist educates and aids in this process. Once the person understands why and how he is doing a particular action the sooner he can change it and learn a new action. This can be a time-consuming process thus we have a feature unique to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, known as the Homework to speed it up. At the end of each session the therapist assigns the client to practice the techniques taught in the session and give some additional reading and exercises to be done. This helps in reaching the goal faster.

Empirical evidence has shown this therapy to be effective in problems ranging from Anxiety, Depression, Eating Disorders, Stress, Marital problems, Relationships etc. So Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is an effective therapy to solve your problems by yourself, make a change and enhance the quality of your life.