The Different Types of Therapy for Anxiety

Understanding that you don’t have to live with anxiety and fear Is essential. Regardless of the cause, anxiety can deeply affect your well-being, whether you have panic attacks, obsessive thoughts, unexplained worries, or a phobia. Therefore, treatment is highly beneficial, and therapy is often the best solution for many anxiety issues. That’s because, unlike medication, anxiety therapy tries to find the root cause of the problem. In addition to learning relaxation techniques and how to have new perspectives on different situations, therapy may help you identify the reasons for your anxieties and fears. In therapy, you learn how to use the tools provided to help you conquer your anxiety. However, there are different types of therapy for anxiety. As a result, we will discuss which is best depending on the kind of anxiety, as they are also different.

What is anxiety?

A feeling of concern, fear, and uneasiness is known as anxiety. Sweating, being agitated, and having a rapid heartbeat are all possible. But anxiety can also be a typical stress reaction. When faced with a difficult task in school, before taking a medical test, or during a job interview, you could experience anxiety. However, in some cases, you may find it simpler to handle these stressful circumstances if you are anxious. For instance, you could feel more inspired or focused if you’re nervous. At the same time, the symptoms can aggravate and linger for a very long period for a person with an anxiety disorder. Generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and social anxiety disorder are a few examples of serious anxiety disorders.

What are the different types of therapy for anxiety?

The best approach to managing anxiety is to learn as much as possible about the available therapy choices, then customize them to your needs. It might often be beneficial to consult a specialist to get the best fit. Here are a few therapy types you can choose from:

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

One of the most often used kinds of anxiety therapy is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which effectively treats various anxiety problems. Cognitive therapy focuses on helping you realize that your thoughts drive your feelings. CBT seeks to assist you in recognizing and analyzing how your actions and negative thoughts affect your life. It enables you to swap out those destructive behaviors for constructive ones and optimistic thinking. You’ll discover that you can develop coping mechanisms to combat anxiety, fear, and apprehension once you anticipate and comprehend what sets off your anxiety symptoms.

If CBT is suggested as a treatment for your anxiety, you would normally see a therapist once per week. Or in some cases, every two weeks. Six to twenty appointments, each lasting between thirty and sixty minutes, are part of a standard CBT schedule. However, most clinicians will integrate CBT into treatment along side of a variety of other treatments.

Exposure Therapy

Since anxiety isn’t a pleasant feeling, we try to steer clear of it whenever possible. As a result, avoiding circumstances that make you uneasy makes perfect sense. If you’re afraid of heights, you could make a three-hour detour to avoid crossing a high bridge. Or, if speaking in front of others makes your stomach turn, you could decide not to attend your closest friend’s wedding to avoid making a toast. The issue with avoiding your fear is that you never have the chance to analyze it. In actuality, suppressing your anxieties usually makes them worse.

As the name implies, exposure therapy exposes you to the things or circumstances you are afraid of. The idea is that when you experience the circumstance more frequently, you’ll have a better feeling of control over it, and your fear will decrease. Your therapist may urge you to visualize the frightening circumstance, or you may encounter it in real life as part of the exposure process. You can practice exposure therapy on its own or with cognitive behavioral therapy. The usual duration of exposure treatment is around three months, with weekly individual sessions totaling eight to fifteen sessions.

Animal-assisted therapy

Spending time with a trained therapy animal is a component of animal-assisted therapy. Both people with PTSD and those with anxiety disorders might benefit from having a therapy pet. Therapy animals are sometimes used in hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare institutions to offer comfort or assistance. Furthermore, therapy pets are especially beneficial to those who have cancer, heart problems, or mental health issues.

Researchers advocate using animal-assisted therapy, music therapy, and other supportive therapies for hospitalized patients to lessen stress and trauma. At the same time, animal-assisted therapy is also beneficial for young adults with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, as they create a higher risk of addiction in Millennials and Gen Z individuals.

The patients often decide the length of animal-assisted therapy and may want to take part for a few weeks or even several months. The three most popular animals used in this type of therapy for anxiety are horses, cats, and dogs.

Reiki

The therapeutic and healing technique called Reiki originates in Japan. The theory underlying this method is that blockages or disruptions in a person’s energy channels may be responsible for various bodily and mental illnesses, including excessive anxiety. Reiki works to clear energy blockages and get things flowing normally so that the body may heal itself. The average length of a Reiki session is fifty minutes. While completely dressed and lying on a massage table, a Reiki practitioner will gently place their hands, palms down, on or just above certain energy zones of your body. During the session, practitioners use twelve to fifteen hand positions to clear the blocked energy channels. A Reiki session can last from fifteen to ninety minutes, and the patient decides, along with the practitioner, how many sessions are needed to heal completely.

Final words

There are many different types of therapy for anxiety, just as anxiety has various forms. What is most important is to know which therapy and therapist to choose to manage and treat your anxiety. Therefore, read our article, consult your doctor, and determine the best option for you.