Nowadays, there are many people in the world suffering from mental health disorders. The Coronavirus pandemic has disturbed the life of the people. Many people have complained about depression, anxiety, insomnia, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and behavioral and emotional disorders. Living with a mental health issue is not easy. Mental disorders and conditions can be challenging. Anxiety is one of the most common mental health disorders. Living with anxiety can be difficult for anyone. Sometimes, medication helps to fight anxiety. Anxiety is common, but not everyone who lives with it needs therapy and medication.
However, getting the right therapy can help to prevent the symptoms of anxiety. The treatment of anxiety depends on the severity of symptoms. The thought of seeing a therapist can scare some people. It is one of the most natural forms of easing anxiety. Therapy is a healthy coping strategy. It enables a trained professional to analyze the extent of your anxiety and find the underlying cause of the triggers. Many studies have proven that certain types of therapy work well for treating mental disorders like anxiety. It is called cognitive behavioral therapy, also known as CBT.
The studies over the last several years have shown that cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety is highly effective. One study referred to cognitive behavioral therapy as the ‘gold standard’ in the Psychotherapeutic treatment of patients with these anxiety disorders.
What Causes Anxiety?
Researchers believe that anxiety is caused by how we think and react. With many people, it can be in the workplace, when you are under extreme pressure. If you have suffered from anxiety for a while, you might start to see a pattern formed when it arises and when it gets worse. People living with anxiety try to avoid anxious situations that make them feel uncomfortable.
Cognitive behavioral therapy plays a vital role in helping the person to overcome anxiety. It enables the person to think and behave differently about the situation in a new way. There are some situations where people will not be able to experience without feeling anxious. They are stuck in a cycle of feeling fear and try to cope by avoiding the situation that causes them to become anxious. While using the coping skills, the person will realize that situations are not dangerous at all. The way to relieve anxiety symptoms is to find, identify the pattern, and address unhealthy behaviors.
Pros And Cons Of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy For Anxiety
There are pros and cons to everything. Similarly, there are pros and cons for CBT as well. People with severe anxiety cases need medication, and a therapist specializes in this kind of anxiety disorder. Talking about the pros, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is highly effective as a short-term treatment for anxiety. As per the studies, 60% of the people who receive CBT for anxiety have fewer symptoms than before the therapy began. The most significant advantage of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is that once a person gains coping skills, they retain these skills for a lifetime. Many people experienced substantial improvement in a short period, generally within 12 to 20 sessions.
There are also a few cons of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It requires lots of hard work on the part of the patient. They have to practice and learn new challenging skills. Patients have to face their fears by confronting the situations that put them in anxiety. The initial treatments may create a bit of anxiety.
How Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Works For Anxiety
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for anxiety is a set of psychological treatment techniques. The patient has to participate actively in the treatment for it to be successful. It helps patients understand what is involved in their treatment and why they need to practice coping skills. The better the therapist and the patient understand the root cause of the anxiety, the easier it can be treated. For some people, CBT can start right away. The CBT therapist digs the past and takes a personal history of the patients to assess their psychological functioning.
If required, the therapist can also refer the patient for a psychiatric or medical consultation. The main reason is to rule out any possible medical causes for anxiety. Therapists help their patients to learn more about anxiety. Patients are encouraged to note their feelings, thoughts, and behaviors and try to identify situations that trigger their anxiety. The therapist and patient work together to find the behavior habits that need to be changed and also determine the best techniques to relieve the symptoms.
The therapist teaches the patient to question themselves about the things that make them anxious. Patients learn how to identify the anxious thoughts and replace them with healthier thoughts based on rational appraisals of the situation. It is called cognitive restructuring that is based on the ability to form logical thoughts.
Once the patient learns to adapt their behavior and thinking, it is time to test it in the real world. The therapists expose the patients to their fears but in small doses under their guidance. When the patient practices coping skills better, therapists guide the patient through more challenging situations. The more patient practices CBT techniques, the more they gain control over their anxiety. Once the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and medication starts, the patient finds relief from their anxiety symptoms quickly.
Whenever a therapist digs into a patient’s past, it brings out additional issues or disorders. Depending on the issues, a therapist treats the new issues with CBT or, if needed, recommends another form of treatment. The common issues diagnosed along with anxiety are depression and substance abuse. The therapist treats other disorders at the same time as anxiety.
Remember that anxiety is common, and no two people’s cases are the same. Identify your triggers and plan of how to healthily deal with the attacks and how you can keep the condition under control. With a little perseverance and strength, you will get there.
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