What role does a therapist play in treating anxiety?
A therapist helps the person identify the thoughts, emotions, and behaviours associated with your anxiety and change them which improve your anxiety. A therapist can also teach you certain skills that help you cope with your anxiety.
What approaches do therapists use for the treatment of anxiety?
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and Exposure Therapy, which is a type of CBT, are common approaches that therapists use to treat anxiety. CBT works by identifying the person’s unhealthy thoughts and behavioural patterns, challenging them, and replacing them with healthy and constructive thoughts and behaviours. Exposure therapy works by exposing the person gradually to what causes them anxiety, and helping them engage in relaxation as well as working on the negative associations which eventually weakens their anxiety in response to the situation or thing.
Is online therapy effective for anxiety?
Online therapy is as effective as face-to-face therapy for anxiety in bringing about positive outcomes. You may want to consider online therapy if commuting to a therapist’s clinic is a difficulty, it’s easier to schedule sessions in your routine, you find it difficult to confide in someone in-person.
What are some techniques that therapists could recommend for managing anxiety?
Therapists can recommend practicing any form of mindfulness awareness and making it a daily practice, yoga or other forms of exercises, relaxation techniques such as progressive muscle relaxation, body scan meditations or guided imagery, reframing the anxiety-causing thoughts, interrupting the anxiety by engaging in a different activity, etc.