5 Anxiety Management Methods Explained
5 Anxiety Management Methods Explained
Anxiety attacks happen anytime and anywhere. They strike at moments when we least expect them to. They may terrorize us while we are deep in sleep or while we are out in public doing a routine chore. What a bother these irrational feelings of fear, doom and anxiety do to us! They certainly know how to get into our nerves.
Fortunately, these attacks of anxiety are not unmanageable. Therapies and other forms of treatment have been planned, practiced and advocated by many health care professionals, psychologists, counselors, and therapists to help effectively resolve the mental health problem of which is anxiety. Five of many anxiety management methods available to those seeking anxiety relief are listed and discussed below.
1. Cognitive – Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive – behavioral therapy or CBT is a form of psychotherapy that has gained many supporters over the years. It is considered the best method in addressing and managing anxiety as it has shown most rapid results in patients cured.
This therapy is grounded on the idea that our thoughts and the way we perceive situations and events cause our feelings and behaviors of fear. It greatly emphasizes that no external factor whatsoever may it be people, situations and circumstances have any say in how we feel and how we act. It is only our thoughts that control our behavior and emotions.
With this line of thought, CBT proposes that if we change how we think and how we perceive the world around us, the feelings of fear and symptoms of anxiety we so want to get rid of can be finally achieved. No more episodes of apprehension will ever catch us off-guard. All that we need to do is unlearn these unwanted reactions for a more positive and healthier way of reacting to situations.
2. Exposure Therapy
With the use of the CBT method in resolving anxiety attacks, exposure therapy has been developed. This form of therapy involves confronting your fears or going into the situation that causes you to feel terrorized in order to reduce your anxiety and fear responses. However, this therapy does not simply let you jump into this fear-inducing situation like a lamb to a slaughter. It does this in a systematic and gradual approach.
In this therapy, we are exposed to the feared object, situation, thought or memory on the idea that as we are gradually exposed to them, we learn to become less sensitive to these triggers. We become used to these annoying and not truly dangerous situations that in the long run we no longer notice them. We become habituated to these items that they gradually lose the power to stir anxiety within us.
As we are repeatedly exposed to the feared situation and the feared consequence does not happen, our brains will learn to understand and process signals more accurately. Hence, the feelings of going crazy will subside and less anxiety will be experienced in future similar situations.
3. Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is a method used to aid psychotherapies such as CBT and Exposure Therapy in the management of anxiety. Through the help of a professional hypnotherapist, patients are led to a state of focused attention, intense concentration and increased suggestibility to help resolve persisting anxieties, learn healthy coping strategies and correct distorted ways of thinking.
In a trance state, therapists help to uncover unpleasant memories, feelings or thoughts hidden deep within the unconscious mind. When this traumatic past event is made consciously known to the patient and the therapist, this trauma can then be addressed in psychotherapy to help resolve the mental health disorder.
Aside from this, the trance state can be used to make patients respond to suggestions that will help change their behaviors. By suggesting that the fear experienced when certain objects are seen or visualized are unrealistic and implausible, sufferers can rid themselves of this irrational perceptions and sensations.
4. Herbalism
There is an increasing number of scientific proof and confirmation that state of the effectiveness of herbs and naturally growing plants in the treatment of mild to moderates anxiety. Medical and psychological organizations have conducted numerous studies verifying the effectiveness of these herbal plants: St. John’s Wort, chamomile, lavender, passionflower, lemon balm, and kava kava. So far, their investigation has been promising.
5. Medications
Because of the many side effects and adverse reactions that anti-depressants and anxiolytics can cause, the use of medications is seen as a short-term action. These medications - selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitors, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, and tricyclic antidepressants - help alter or modify certain substances or chemicals in the brain to bring balance and reduce the observed physical manifestations of anxiety.
Anxiety and its symptoms can greatly affect the quality of life we live. This mental disorder can cause us to become unproductive at work, cut ties from our family and friends and be disinterested in things we used to love. Because of these complications, immediate help must be sought. The use of the above cited methods alone or in combination can significantly relieve the worries and physical discomforts.
Ryan Rivera knows first-hand the pains and discomforts of panic and anxiety. He was once laden with this burden but has now found relief through the help of these anxiety management methods. To learn more of these techniques, click www.calmclinic.com.
