Breaking the Anxiety Trap: How Psychotherapy Can Change Your Relationship with Anxiety
Do you find yourself stuck in a cycle of anxious thoughts? Do your worries and doubts prevent you from being productive at work, developing and keeping meaningful relationships, or simply living the life that you want for yourself? Anxiety is more than just feeling stressed out. It can manifest as persistent intrusive thoughts, physical symptoms like chest pain and heart palpitations, and even avoiding the activities and people we hold dear. While having anxious feelings is normal in everyone, it's important to be aware that too much of it can negatively impact our lives in many ways – which is why it's important to seek help with psychotherapy. In this article, we will explore how psychotherapy helps us break free from these anxious cycles so we can reach our full potential – both personally and professionally.
How Anxiety can disrupt our lives
Anxiety can have a tremendous impact on our lives, especially when it follows us into our relationships, job performance, leisure time, and other areas of our life. When feeling anxious, avoidance may feel easier than facing the situation head-on but avoidance only serves to compound worries, create fear of failure, and make things appear worse than they may be. Anxiety can also affect communication which can cause damage to relationships and make job performance more difficult due to avoidance of tasks, difficulty with decision-making, and an overall lack of confidence in oneself. Psychotherapy is a powerful tool to manage anxiety and look at ways to cope with stressors that can help us successfully navigate our lives and not allow anxiety to deceive us into running away from situations or people due to fear.
Symptoms of Anxiety and Panic Disorders
Anxiety is a normal human emotion like any other. It is only when you see anxiety interfere with your ability to live your life effectively that it becomes a mental health condition known as an "anxiety disorder." These disorders have varied symptoms beyond feeling nervous and stressed. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition (DSM-5) categorizes anxiety disorders into several different diagnoses, including Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Panic Disorder, and Social Anxiety Disorder. Anxiety can also be highly present in other diagnoses like Borderline Personality Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Among these varied diagnoses, some of the most common symptoms are rapid heart rate, sweaty palms, excessive worrying or fear, sleep problems, muscle tension, nausea, dizziness, or lightheadedness. Individuals often avoid sources of their anxiety in order to limit their anxiety symptoms. This might mean avoiding a certain location (i.e. a public space) or activity (driving, speaking to groups, etc.) or even just scrolling on one's phone instead of dealing with something stressful. While this often helps at that moment, it can cause your anxiety to worsen over time.
It’s important to remember that everyone experiences anxiety differently — what may be a symptom for one person may not be for another — which is why it can often be difficult to diagnose an anxiety disorder. Helping individuals identify and address their anxieties with the right treatment methods is key to effective management in daily life. Psychotherapy is one way to help those with difficulty managing anxiety and anxiety disorders better understand their triggers and how they can best cope with them long-term.
How Therapy Can Treat Anxiety Symptoms
Anxiety can take a toll on performance, relationships, and overall well-being. Fortunately, professional help is readily available to those seeking relief. Through psychological therapy, individuals struggling with anxiety issues can work to understand their thinking patterns and confront avoidance tendencies, while simultaneously developing insight into the underlying causes of their anxiety. In doing so, clients acquire an array of skills that help them to both calm the body and center the mind in moments of distress. Accessing these techniques can be transformational for those wishing to live without fear, shame, or guilt. Therapy for anxiety offers a way forward out of the same pulsing cycle of avoidance and discomfort faced by many on a daily basis - allowing one to step back into a world full of possibility.
What Therapy for Anxiety Can Look Like
For those struggling with anxiety, therapy can offer a way forward. Through the process of psychotherapy, individuals can gain insight into their own thinking patterns and confront the avoidance behaviors associated with living with anxiety. They can learn new skills and practices that limit the negative impacts anxiety can have. Therapy encourages the development of skills for both body and mind that help people become aware of their thoughts and feelings, allowing them to better manage their responses to stressful situations. Mental health professionals have a variety of tools to draw on, ensuring that as many clients as possible can reach their goals. This might include progressive muscle relaxation or other relaxation techniques like deep breathing, exposure therapy (in-person or imaginal exposure), and emotional regulation and coping skills. With dedicated effort on the part of the individual, therapy for anxiety can produce lasting effects that help open doors to improved relationships, more productivity at work, better physical health, and general well-being.
Benefits of Receiving Psychotherapy for an Anxiety Disorder and Anxiety Symptoms
There are countless benefits to receiving professional help for anxiety and anxiety disorders, especially those that may be affecting job performance, relationships, and overall well-being. With a compassionate and understanding professional, anxiety can be managed so it no longer is a source of ongoing stress and disruption. Professional help can provide techniques to alleviate feelings of anxiousness when they arise, allowing an individual to once again feel more in control of their life. Furthermore, healthier relationship dynamics can develop with the help of a therapist who understands how emotions inform behaviors between two or more people. It ultimately leads to improved education and career progress too, removing barriers created by anxiety-related issues such as lack of confidence or decisional paralysis due to fear. When facing difficulty with anxiety, having the proactive support from a mental health professional provides invaluable benefits for cultivating healthier habits for improved mental health, relationships, and overall happiness.
What the Research Says About the Effectiveness of Therapy for Anxiety Disorders
According to evidence-based research, psychotherapy can be incredibly effective in treating anxiety disorders and reducing anxiety symptoms. Mental health conditions such as Social Anxiety Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Specific Phobias, Separation Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Panic Disorder can be treated through a number of different types of therapy as first-line treatment options. Studies suggest that psychotherapy may even be more effective than medication, being able to target the source of the anxiety rather than simply reducing symptoms. Further evidence suggests that psychotherapy also has a far greater long-term impact when compared with short-term strategies such as medications. Pharmaceutical medicine's benefits are often greatly amplified when combined with regular therapy sessions. Overall, evidence continues to mount that psychotherapy is a valuable tool in treating and managing anxiety disorders and providing sustained emotional well being
What types of therapy work best for anxiety disorders?
While we cannot say that one therapy for anxiety is better than others, many different forms of psychotherapy have been shown to improve the specific symptoms of anxiety. There are several types of psychotherapy that have been shown to be beneficial in treating anxiety issues such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), schema therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) and eye movement desensitization reprocessing (EMDR).
Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on understanding how one's thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes influence their emotions. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, which combines elements of cognitive behavioral approaches while also emphasizing the importance of emotion regulation skills through mindfulness practices. Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, which is based on the idea that focusing too much on trying to control one’s negative thoughts only serves to make them more powerful. Mindfulness-based stress reduction, which focuses on developing a non-judgmental attitude toward present moments and experiences as well as recognizing thoughts without attachment. Schema Therapy, which works to identify long-held beliefs that are contributing to current difficulties and provides tools to help manage them. Interpersonal Therapy, which emphasizes improving communication skills in order to manage emotions more effectively and build more satisfying relationships. Eye movement desensitization reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based approach for treating trauma-related symptoms including anxiety. While each of these treatment approaches has shown to be effective at reducing anxiety, take some time to talk with your therapist about how their approach will meet your unique needs.
Want to Break Your Anxious Cycle?
Anxiety and Anxiety Disorders can be both mentally and physically debilitating, but there is help available. From seeking professional help to implementing proactive strategies into your daily life, there are many ways to manage anxiety. And for those with a more intense form of the disorder, there is even more support offered through psychotherapy. Research shows that therapy for anxiety can help improve the symptoms of anxiety and increase the quality of one’s life overall. The relief from distressful thoughts and feelings gained from therapy is invaluable to sufferers of anxiety disorders—and even to those without an official diagnosis who have experienced high levels of stress and worry in recent times. If you are struggling with anxiety, don’t hesitate to reach out to a professional therapist today. With dedicated psychoeducation and an individualized treatment plan tailored to your specific needs, thought challenges and interventions can help you find long-term relief from this sometimes all-consuming condition. Whatever your situation may be, finding help during times of psychological distress is often a step in the right direction toward greater emotional well-being, connection, and satisfaction within yourself and all areas of life.
Find a therapist for anxiety today!
Interested in learning to better manage your anxiety and achieve all those out of reach goals? Consider a consultation with Grand Prix Psychology. Through an evidence-based, individualized approach, we work with you to work through challenges and realign yourself with what is most important.
Not the right fit? Check out these resources to help find a therapist or other mental health providers.
Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists
Therapist Finder: https://www.findatherapist.com/
or contact your insurance company!
