Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety is becoming more and more common. The main goal is to change the thought processes of the anxiety sufferer, in terms of eradicating dysfunctional negative thinking and changing their responses to situations in life. The techniques used in CBT help the person to identify and react to negative thought processes and emotional responses and change their behavior over time.

Central to the use of cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety is the concept of mindfulness where the sufferer attempts to analyze and understand their thought processes when they begin to feel particularly anxious or feel a panic attack.

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How Does CBT Work?

In the initial stages of the therapy, the well-established negative thought processes will often win out and the sufferer will often give-up, admitting defeat. Like any skill however, it is possible to improve by trying time and time again. For this reason, CBT treatment usually consists of a number of sessions.

When the person begins to feel anxious, they are encouraged to really dwell on what they feel anxious about, and to appraise whether their perceived negative outcome is the most likely one, or indeed if it is anything more than a remote possibility.

In the case of panic attacks for example, a sufferer might say that they refuse to go to the supermarket because they feel like they might have an attack.

The therapist will attempt to help them rationalize this thought process by thinking about the real likelihood of having an attack, and the consequences if they do. Most panic and anxiety sufferers cite public reaction to their attacks as one of the main reasons why they are reluctant to go somewhere they perceive they might have such an attack. The truth however is that in the first instance, although it may not feel like it to the sufferer, most people will not even notice they are having a panic attack as almost all of the symptoms are internal. Secondly, if it does become apparent, the vast majority of people will be helpful and in a public place you are likely to be surrounded by strangers for whom the event will be of little to no consequence.

Continuing in this manner, the sufferer is encouraged to change their thought process about anxiety such that its grip over them begins to loosen.

Increasingly, people are looking to go about curing anxiety naturally, and CBT based techniques provide a platform for this. The techniques have been found to outperform medication in many cases when it comes to generalized anxiety disorder treatment.

For anxiety sufferers with limited capacity to pay a therapist or whose appointments are scheduled far into the future, there are a number of online CBT-based self help programs available. Panic Away is probably the best of these, and you can read our Panic Away Review, or check out our best anxiety treatments page for a comparison of the guides.

The guides represent a cheap and effective way to deal with anxiety in your time and at your own pace.

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