Anxiety Treatment

When people think of anxiety treatment, it is naturally assumed that drugs or medications are the first course of action; however there are other effective treatments for anxiety. In particular, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT is a very popular form of anxiety disorder treatment.

In Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, a therapist works one to one with a patient suffering from anxiety to help him or her think and behave in a different manner to better manage and control levels of anxiety and stress. Dr. Robert M. Galatzer-Levy (Psychiatrist) says that a CBT therapist will try and "unpack irrational beliefs in a very systematic way and then they create situations where one emotionally confronts that irrational belief."

So once the therapist and the patient have a firm grasp of the conscious or cognitive aspect and where negative thoughts or feelings are coming from, then the patient is challenged in a way that exposes them to the element (object or situation) that triggers their anxiety.

A key component of the behavioral therapy is response prevention. In response prevention, the patient is taught to ignore their natural instinct of fleeing or avoiding and instead to withstand or even become engaged until the anxiety level is reduced. CBT may take time and practice but it is extremely rewarding in terms of offering anxiety relief.

Please watch the video below to learn more about anxiety treatment.