Deciding on the best therapy for anxiety involves understanding the range of available options, what a therapist can offer, and how different approaches can be combined. Modern anxiety therapy includes several key approaches such as solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).
How to Choose the Best Therapy for Anxiety
To determine the best therapy for anxiety, consider the following:
- Personal Preferences: Some clients may want to understand why they are feeling anxious, and others may not. Some clients respond well to logical disputation, and others find that this makes them feel more stuck. Some clients want to focus on the past, and others prefer to focus on the present and future.
- Symptom Severity: Mild anxiety triggered by specific threats may be managed with techniques to control day-to-day anxiety.
- Professional Advice: Consulting a healthcare provider can provide tailored advice and rule out underlying medical conditions. They can recommend suitable therapies or therapists based on your specific needs.
- Therapist Training and Experience: Look for therapists with specialised training in anxiety disorders, particularly in CBT and exposure therapy. Experience in treating anxiety is more important than years in practice.
- Connection with the Therapist: Choose a therapist who understands anxiety and communicates effectively. Feeling comfortable and understood is crucial for discussing private matters.
An anxiety therapist can offer several forms of support:
- Identifying the causes of anxiety: The therapist will help you to clarify the factors and causes of anxiety that are known to contribute to the intensity and degree of your condition.
- Skill Development: Teaching strategies for managing the complexities of life more comfortably. Therapists can help clients develop personalised coping strategies.
- Understanding and Healing: A therapist can assist you in understanding the roots of your difficulties and support you in healing.
- Applying evidence-based techniques: Therapists learn what really works and refine these tools through experience.
- Challenging avoidance: An anxiety therapist will support you to face your fears by developing and implementing behavioural experiments.
- Values clarification: A therapist can support you to clarify what is really important to you.
Main Modern Approaches to Anxiety Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): Development started in the 1970’s.
- CBT focuses on changing negative patterns of thought and behaviour.
- It helps clients assess risk realistically, decrease avoidance, and confront feared situations.
- Techniques include cognitive restructuring, exposure therapy, and relaxation techniques.
- CBT aims to alleviate symptoms by mastering thoughts and emotions.
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Developed from the 1990’s.
- ACT focuses on accepting anxious thoughts and feelings rather than controlling them.
- It encourages clients to identify values and commit to actions aligned with those values.
- Mindfulness and defusion techniques help clients observe thoughts without fusion.
- ACT aims to enrich life by undermining destructive patterns and fostering psychological flexibility.
- Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT):
- SFBT focuses on increasing positive affect and identifying strengths and resources.
- It emphasizes future-oriented techniques and setting well-defined goals.
- Questions help clients explore how they have coped in the past and what they wish to maintain despite anxiety.
- SFBT aims to help clients define what they want instead of anxiety and build on existing coping mechanisms.
- Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP):
- Uses methods for managing negative thought patterns.
- Aids people in seeing how they are creating anxiety and that there is more than just one choice.
Combining Approaches
Anxiety therapists can combine different approaches to tailor treatment:
- Integrating CBT and SFBT: Traditional and SF approaches may be combined to help clients reach their preferred future. Combining biological treatments with SF approaches involves inviting clients to describe the first signs of recovery.
- ACT and CBT: ACT can complement CBT by shifting the focus from symptom control to living a valued life.
- Holistic Plans: Therapists agree that it helps to develop a plan to tackle anxiety and support patients to discover for themselves what is helpful.
Selecting the best therapy for anxiety involves considering personal preferences, symptom severity, and professional advice. An anxiety therapist can provide support by teaching skills, helping you to understand your anxiety, and supporting you to access values. Modern approaches like CBT, ACT, SFBT, and NLP offer various techniques that can be combined to tailor treatment to individual needs, moving towards a more fulfilling life.
Anxiety therapy, CBT, ACT, SFBT, NLP, Mental health, Coping skills, Personalised treatment, Therapy approaches