I have always been in pretty good health, so I was surprised one day when my doctor told me my blood pressure was a bit high. She told me to begin watching my salt intake, start exercising, and to try to relax. Well, I intended to follow her advice when I left her office, but the next day I was back to my same habits. I kept using the salt shaker and didn't begin an exercise routine like I had planned. When I went for my next check-up, she told me that my blood pressure was even higher and approaching a dangerous level. I had to begin a blood pressure medication to manage it. I wanted to create a blog to share my story and remind people to listen to their doctors' advice. If a few lifestyle changes can improve your health, then you should make them.
If you have an anxiety disorder, then your physician may prescribe medication for you. And, while this is true, you may also want to seek out assistance from a psychotherapist. There are a variety of ways that more traditional therapy can help you, so keep reading to learn how.
Thought Exploration
People who have anxiety have an overreaction to certain types of stimulus. In other words, the body and the mind perceive danger and fear in a variety of situations that are not harmful or scary. And, a psychotherapist will work with you to investigate the types of thoughts and feelings that lead to anxiety. Typically, anxiety occurs in conjunction with cyclic thoughts that involve worrying, anxiousness, and rumination.
Your therapist will help you to understand why the cyclic pattern happens and how you can stop it from occurring in the first place. Also, the professional will provide you with some good non-pharmaceutical methods to reduce your anxiety. For example, you will learn how to deep breathe, meditate, and involve yourself in distracting tasks.
The psychotherapist will also teach you about setting goals and how you can focus on these goals. This can help to keep yourself from regressing back into anxious thoughts and feelings.
Part of therapy is likely to involve an exploration of past traumas, emotions, and thoughts that may be linked to your anxiety. Resolving past events can help you to reduce your anxiety long-term.
Exposure To Fears
One of the best therapy techniques to help reduce your anxiety is to expose you to the things that you are fearful of. And, this is highly successful if you have a specific phobia, social anxiety, or agoraphobia.
Exposure therapy occurs in a controlled manner over a set period of time. And, it will progress as you feel comfortable. The key is to slowly expose you to your fears so the body gets used to the stimulus. This helps to prevent the physiological reaction while you work on the emotional and thought aspects of the anxiety with talk therapy.
The goal of this therapy is to completely eliminate the fear of a specific type of stimulus. Keep in mind that it can take months for this to happen, but the extinction of the fear is often permanent and you may not require medication at all. Depending on the level of your fear, you may need to involve yourself in exposure therapy several times a week to start, so make sure you speak with your therapist about this.
For more information, you will want to consult a professional, such as Barry J. Richman MD Psychiatry.
Share21 May 2019
