To find the best therapy for anxiety, it’s essential to understand the different approaches available, their pros and cons, and what to expect from each. Combining therapies can also provide more comprehensive support.
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): CBT is a widely recommended therapy for anxiety.
- Benefits: CBT addresses both thinking patterns and behaviours that exacerbate anxiety. It helps clients evaluate their thoughts and reduce distortions or logical errors, such as overestimation of probability and catastrophising. CBT also involves exposure therapy, which helps clients face their fears through gradual experiments.
- Disadvantages: CBT focuses on symptom alleviation and might not address underlying life issues. Some find its technique-led approach frustrating if it doesn’t foster deeper self-understanding. There is also a risk of relapse after treatment ends.
- What to expect: Clients learn to identify and challenge negative thought patterns and change behaviours through exposure exercises. This process aims to provide a sense of mastery and control over anxious thoughts and feelings.
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): ACT is a third-wave behaviour therapy that uses acceptance and mindfulness techniques.
- Benefits: ACT increases psychological flexibility by encouraging openness to present experiences and aligning actions with personal values. It addresses experiential avoidance, helping clients accept unwanted private experiences. ACT can be applied to various problems and is not limited to anxiety-specific techniques.
- Disadvantages: ACT requires a commitment to rethinking assumptions about psychopathology and psychotherapy, and it may not suit everyone. The rapid dissemination of acceptance and mindfulness notions has outpaced practical application.
- What to expect: Clients learn to observe their thoughts and feelings without struggling against them, clarifying their values and committing to actions that align with these values. ACT aims to redirect attention from managing unpleasant thoughts to actions that define what clients want their lives to stand for.
- Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT): SFBT focuses on increasing positive emotions and identifying existing coping mechanisms.
- Benefits: SFBT is future-oriented and solution-focused, making it a brief and efficient therapy. It helps clients identify strengths and resources, focusing on what they want instead of the problem. SFBT can be combined with traditional approaches.
- Disadvantages: SFBT may not delve deeply into past issues or underlying causes of anxiety. It requires clients to define clear goals, which may be challenging for some.
- What to expect: Clients engage in conversations about what they want to achieve instead of focusing on the problem. The therapist helps clients identify small changes and exceptions to their anxiety, emphasizing accountability and action.
- Psychodynamic Therapy: This therapy explores the reasons for anxieties and helps people come to terms with them.
- Benefits: Offers intensive talking treatment, addressing possibly unrecognised reasons for anxiety.
- Disadvantages: Can involve extensive self-examination, which may not be the best plan. It can be a lengthy process.
- What to expect: A more intensive talking treatment that can take place individually or in groups, typically on a weekly basis for several weeks or months.
- Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP): This approach aims to reprogramme the mind to manage anxiety.
- Benefits: NLP provides tools to use the mind effectively. It aids in understanding how anxiety is created, offering more than one choice in response to anxiety.
- Disadvantages: May be seen as only addressing the symptoms of the problem. Success depends on the patient’s engagement.
- What to expect: Empowerment and a calm, self-assured mentality. Clients learn to understand their situation and decide what they want, envisioning a future free from anxiety.
Possible Combinations of Therapy
Traditional and SF approaches may be combined in helping clients to reach their preferred future. An integrative approach can incorporate analysis, emotional work, cognition, behaviour, family dynamics, and physiology.
How to Find the Right Therapist
- Seek Recommendations: Ask friends, physicians, clergy, or mental health professionals for referrals.
- Check Training and Experience: Ensure the therapist has specialized training in anxiety disorders. Look for experience treating anxiety, with at least 50% of their practice devoted to anxiety clients.
- Assess Connection: Pick a therapist who understands anxiety and explains therapy in a way that makes sense. Trust your gut feeling about whether it’s a good fit.
- Consider Online Options: Explore online therapy platforms for flexible and accessible support.
- Be Assertive: Don’t hesitate to ask potential therapists about their training, experience, and approach. Remember your commitment is to progress and a cure.
Summary:
Best Therapy for Anxiet
- CBT: Best for those seeking structured techniques to manage thoughts and behaviours, but may not suit those seeking deeper self-understanding.
- ACT: Ideal for individuals aiming to increase psychological flexibility and align actions with values, though it requires a willingness to rethink conventional approaches.
- SFBT: Suited for those who prefer a brief, future-oriented approach focused on solutions and strengths, but may not be suitable for those wanting to explore past issues.
- Psychodynamic Therapy: A more intensive talking treatment aimed at adressing possibly unrecognised reasons for anxiety.
- NLP: Offers tools for reprogramming the mind and managing anxiety, but its effectiveness depends on patient engagement.
Tags: anxiety, therapy, CBT, ACT, SFBT, mental health, counselling, psychological flexibility