Psychotherapy for Anxiety Disorder Treatment

Without anxiety treatment, anxiety disorders can be extremely debilitating for the person experiencing them. They can prevent you from enjoying life and dealing with everyday stresses. Thankfully, there are effective ways to treat anxiety. One of these is psychotherapy.

How does psychotherapy for anxiety disorders work?

One of the most common types of anxiety treatment is cognitive-behavioral therapy. CBT is characterized by its focus on the relationship between thoughts and actions. This type of therapy holds that thoughts influence what happens to us instead of what happens to us influencing our thoughts.

For example, a person with social anxiety who is invited to a social gathering may think, perhaps unconsciously, “I am no good in social situations. No one will want to talk to me.” This thought then results in him or her avoiding other people and keeping conversations curt and brief, which in turn prevents others from trying to get to know him or her. Their belief that they are no good in social situations is then reinforced, and they will have an even greater conviction as a result of the outcome.

CBT attempts to train the person with the anxiety disorder to recognize thoughts like this and replace them with more realistic and beneficial ones. For example, if the person with the anxiety disorder thinks he or she is no good in social situations, they can be trained to recognize this thought and catch it before it can influence the outcome. A therapist may ask them to combat the thought by thinking of at least one time when a social situation did go well or that it is perfectly normal for a person to be wary when talking to strangers for the first time. The person with the anxiety disorder can then approach the situation with a new mindset so his or her thoughts do not control the outcome.

What other types of psychotherapy are there for anxiety disorders?

While CBT is the most common form of psychotherapy for anxiety disorders, there is a broad range of therapies that can also be used for anxiety treatment.

Dialectical behavioral therapy was originally developed as a treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder but has also come into use to help those with anxiety. DBT involves the concept of mindfulness, which is the ability to recognize and analyze one's thoughts without judgment. This helps with changing behavioral patterns. DBT is especially useful for those who self-harm or who have destructive coping habits.

Psychodynamic therapy is another type of anxiety treatment. This type of therapy has been in use since Sigmund Freud's days and is a long-form treatment that typically lasts around two years, which is a far longer period than most other types of therapies last. Psychodynamic therapy aims to uncover unconscious feelings and thoughts that may be contributing to symptoms of anxiety.