Anxiety disorders are by far the most common mental health disorders that affect people all around the world. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) states that 30% of adults will face anxiety at some point in their lifetime. Anxiety is an umbrella term for several different anxiety disorders, including:
- Agoraphobia
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
- Panic disorder
- Separation Anxiety Disorder
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- And more specific phobias
The good news is that anxiety can be treated and made manageable with therapy. In this blog, we’ll discuss the different types of therapy that can treat anxiety and what to do when you need anxiety therapy.
Symptoms of Anxiety
Anxiety is characterized by an intense fear, sometimes seemingly irrational. Fear processing is a healthy way of teaching us to learn — such as avoiding putting our hand on a hot stove for fear of burning. For those with anxiety, their fear response is more easily activated than others, causing a flight or fight response in their interpersonal relationships, at the workplace, or in normal social situations. Some symptoms of anxiety are:
- Avoidance of the thing that makes you anxious
- Lack of focus or restlessness
- Insomnia
- Irritability
- A lack of appetite or overeating
- Heart racing, headache, or upset stomach
- Forgetfulness
- Panic attacks
Therapies Used to Treat Anxiety
Anxiety looks different for different patients, and may require different treatments depending on your experience. Some of the therapies most commonly used to treat anxiety include:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT focuses on the learned behavior patterns that might not be serving patients with anxiety anymore, and the thought patterns that influence those behaviors. A CBT therapist will help patients to recognize a dysfunctional thought pattern — such as “I’m useless” or “nothing will ever go my way” — and reframe it with healthier perspectives. By changing the root thought, the goal is to then change the behavior. This is common for patients with anxiety to help them learn healthy coping mechanisms for dealing with their anxiety.
Exposure Therapy
Most people with anxiety tend to avoid the things that make them anxious. While this can relieve the anxiety symptoms momentarily, it can actually make those fears stronger in the long run. Exposure therapy encourages patients to do the opposite. Through exposure therapy, you are encouraged little by little to expose yourself to the things that make you anxious, until you feel a sense of control over those fears.
Exposure therapy involves setting goals, beginning with small steps and working your way to the most challenging anxiety trigger. Through exposure therapy, you will develop coping mechanisms to help you better face the anxiety trigger. This often goes hand-in-hand with CBT.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
DBT is an intensive therapy that was originally created to treat borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, today, it can treat a number of different mental illnesses, including anxiety. DBT typically involves two sessions per week — one individual session and one group session in which you go over the DBT workbook with others receiving DBT.
DBT begins with accepting the behavior and thought patterns you have and the ways they may have once served you without judgment. However, part of that acceptance is recognizing that these patterns no longer serve you. In DBT, you will identify your “target behaviors” and what triggers them. By recording these behaviors, you can learn coping mechanisms to overcome them.
Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)
IPT is a particularly effective therapy treatment for those with social anxiety or those with GAD that often focuses on social situations. Through interpersonal therapy, you will learn how to manage interpersonal situations that can often trigger anxiety — such as relationship conflicts or advocating for yourself at work. The goal of IPT is to help you express your emotions and needs in a healthy way.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT is similar to DBT in some ways: it involves an acceptance of yourself without judgment while also committing to learning healthier coping mechanisms and managing your anxiety. In ACT, you will first identify your life values. What is most important to you? What do you want your life to be? How might your anxiety be getting in the way of that? From there, you will learn coping mechanisms to help you act in accordance with those values.
Art Therapy
Art therapy is a way to stay grounded in the present through mindfulness, as well as a healthy way to express emotions. These are both skills that are important for patients with anxiety. It is still being researched to measure its effectiveness as an anxiety treatment, but it is often paired with other therapies, such as CBT.
How To Find the Right Anxiety Therapy For You
With so many options, how do you find the right anxiety therapy for you? One of the first steps is to research these different types of anxiety therapies. Consider what skills have worked for you in the past. Maybe you feel less anxious when you talk through your problems, or maybe painting sets you at ease. This may help you to narrow down your search.
You can also consider what triggers your anxiety. For instance, if your anxiety is rooted in trauma, therapies used to treat trauma such as CBT might help you unlearn some of those trauma-created thought patterns. If you struggle with social anxiety in particular, IPT might help you build your confidence in interpersonal situations.
If you’re still not sure which anxiety therapy is the best option for you, you can get a referral from a mental health professional. You might be able to schedule a consultation or an evaluation where you can discuss your anxiety. In exchange, an experienced mental health professional may recommend a therapy that they believe would be effective for you.
Rivia Mind employs a wide variety of therapists, psychiatrists, counselors, and other mental health professionals who can help you learn how to manage your anxiety. We can meet with you in a free 15 minute consultation and discuss different therapies, as well as medications and other treatments. Contact us today to learn more or to book an appointment.
