Cognitive therapy is about changing the way you think, and it can be incredibly beneficial for a wide range of anxiety and panic disorders and symptoms. Most anxiety disorders present with at least some degree of irrational thinking. This can be anything from fearing that you are going to die every time you have a panic attack to worrying that people are judging you, that seeing a spider or clown can result in significant harm or death, or that leaving your doors unlocked can present danger to someone you love. These thinking patterns are disruptive and can even be disabling, and it is the goal of cognitive therapy to help change them and replace them with neutral or positive thoughts.
With cognitive therapy, you will work to identify thoughts that are detrimental to your health and your life. Thoughts such as “everyone is judging me” can be slowly modified. Through observation, relaxation, and practice, you can learn that the people in a room are usually focused on their own conversations and actions, helping to ease that anxiety that accompanies worrisome thoughts.
Behavioral Therapy
Behavioral therapy is, on the surface, the opposite of cognitive therapy. Instead of thoughts, the aim of behavioral therapy is to change your actions in an effort to stop or decrease the symptoms of your anxiety. Behavioral therapy is indeed different in nature that cognitive therapy, but more often than not, it is intended as a companion to or a complement to the practice rather than an opposite or alternative.
Behavior therapy for anxiety is most commonly seen in exposure therapy. With this form of therapy, patients are commonly presented with the objects, situations, or ideas that provoke symptoms of anxiety or panic. This is usually first done by imagining the anxiety inducing object or situation before the patient is gradually exposed to it physically. This sort of controlled exposure can help eliminate anxiety surrounding the object or situation and can often present with the eventual loss of reaction to it. For example, someone who is afraid of cats but who is slowly exposed to them until they no longer produce anxiety will likely stop experiencing a physical reaction whenever he or she sees a cat.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
For people with anxiety disorders, the most effective form of therapy offers elements of both cognitive and behavioral therapeutic treatment. With anxiety symptoms, the thoughts and actions of the patient are closely linked and are largely responsible for the creation of the symptoms themselves. Cognitive behavioral therapy is designed to help greatly reduce panic and anxiety symptoms, and it has been shown time and again to be as effective as state of the art medication at providing symptom relief.
There are five main components to cognitive behavioral therapy as it is used for treatment of anxiety and panic disorders and symptoms. These five components are listed and explained below:
Education
In order to diminish symptoms of anxiety and panic, a patient needs to understand why the symptoms occur. Education helps explain how the body creates symptoms of anxiety and panic so that they can better understand that these symptoms, while not normal, are able to be alleviated and recovered from and are not permanent.
Cognitive Restructuring
This is a major part of cognitive behavioral therapy and is designed to help correct the distorted patterns of thinking that accompany panic and anxiety attacks. Sensations of panic or early panic symptoms trigger an emotional arousal in patients, and learning to appropriately deal with stimuli that provoke anxiety is critical in treatment. Cognitive restructuring requires patients to closely monitor their thoughts and assumptions, especially when symptoms of anxiety and panic and first beginning. The therapist will help the patient understand the role that their thoughts play in the severity and duration of these symptoms.
As cognitive restructuring progresses, patients will learn to examine distorted or catastrophic thoughts and beliefs and to replace them with rational and adaptive thoughts. Essentially, thoughts that a patient is dying or that something horrible is happening are replaced with the realization that the sensation is not dangerous and short lived. By taking away the fear and worry, the thought, and thus the symptoms, stop provoking fear and anxiety.
Breathing Training
During panic attacks and in many cases of anxiety, hyperventilation causes shortness of breath, which can intensify worries and fears and make symptoms more severe. Breathing training helps a patient learn a pattern of slow, regulated breathing. This helps to prevent hyperventilation and can often prevent panic attacks or severely reduce their duration and severity.
Relaxation Exercises
woman doing yoga
For patients with high levels of general anxiety, relaxation exercises can be very effective. These exercises are often meditations, guided imagery, or progressive muscle relaxation techniques that help promote a sense of mental and physical relaxation that will reduce symptoms of anxiety. There are numerous relaxation exercises, and while some patients respond more positively to one than another, all can be very effective at reducing anxiety
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