Is Therapy Helpful For Reducing Anxiety?

Anxiety is a serious mental health concern that can significantly impact your mental health, emotional well-being, and ability to function. If worrying is disrupting your life or getting in the way of your health, prosperity, or peace of mind, you might wonder what options exist for reducing anxiety and how effective they are. Therapy for anxiety is a standard treatment option for people with anxiety disorders or related mental health conditions, and there are various options to try.

While feelings of nervousness, worry, and apprehension are normal, excessive and persistent anxiety can signal the existence of a mental health concern. Anxiety disorders are a type of mental illness characterized by elevated levels of fear and distress, along with serious physical symptoms, like sweating, physical tension, increased heart rate, and rapid breathing. 

There are several anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and specific phobias. Conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder also feature anxiety prominently, though they are no longer considered anxiety disorders. (Post-traumatic stress disorder is now listed under the “Trauma and Stressor-Related Disorders” section of the DSM-V, while obsessive-compulsive disorder is classified under the “Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders” section.)

Therapy may be helpful for anxiety

Research suggests that psychotherapy is an effective form of treatment for a range of mental health concerns, including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorder, and bipolar disorder. Science says therapy can alleviate symptoms of various types of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder. 

Therapeutic treatment for anxiety can help participants learn more about their symptoms, identify the sources of their feelings, and address potential comorbid conditions (e.g., obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder). There are several types of therapy for anxiety disorders that may be beneficial for you. Below are a few of the most utilized methods to treat anxiety, how they work, and their effectiveness. 

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most widely used therapy to treat anxiety disorders and may involve examining, evaluating, and changing negative thoughts and clinical anxiety symptoms. Using cognitive therapy and behavior therapy techniques, a licensed therapist can help you recognize how specific anxious thoughts might contribute to your anxiety or the onset of a panic attack.

Your therapist might start by teaching you to recognize cognitive distortions (negative thoughts or beliefs). This process might take some time and effort, and you may seek help to realize the beliefs behind your fears. Your therapist can use proven techniques to guide you as you uncover unhelpful or inaccurate thoughts. 

Once you understand the negative thoughts behind your symptoms, CBT may involve evaluating helpfulness and accuracy. With this approach, your therapist can encourage you to challenge each belief so you can decide how it impacts you. Then, your therapist can help you explore new ways of thinking to replace the old beliefs that may increase anxiety symptoms.

Depending on the root of your anxiety, your therapist may incorporate different CBT elements to help you make the most of your sessions. For example, panic disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and other psychiatric conditions may all benefit from specific types of anxiety therapy. If you experience emotions intensely, a therapist may use a type of CBT called dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), which typically aims to help people accept the reality of their lives while also working to make positive changes.

In countless studies, cognitive behavioral therapy has proven effective in treating anxiety disorders. Neuroimaging studies involving brain scans show that cognitive behavior therapy can create positive changes in the brains of people with anxiety disorders. In another research review project, scientists found that CBT showed significant effectiveness in helping people with anxiety disorders reduce their anxiety sensitivity.

Exposure therapy

Exposure therapy might be recommended for anxiety disorders involving specific phobias, compulsions, or fears surrounding hypothetical situations. A specific phobia might include a fear of heights, particular objects, or places. For example, social anxiety disorder was previously known as social phobia. Exposure therapy is a behavioral therapy that can help people confront these fears and reduce their sensitivity. 

In exposure therapy for anxiety disorders, you may face what you fear in a controlled environment to see that you can survive and overcome your feared outcomes. It often starts by brainstorming the situations or objects you fear and ranking them in an anxiety hierarchy. Then, you may face each trigger, starting from the least anxiety-arousing situation and moving up until you've encountered the most frightening. 

For example, for someone who has a phobia of needles, exposure therapy may start by looking at photos of a needle, moving on to holding a needle in your hand, and ending with getting a therapeutic saline IV treatment supervised by a medical doctor. Exposure therapy is often meant to be repeated, so you can see more than once that your fears do not result in harm. 

Exposure therapy may require a willingness to continue. Your therapist can help you in each step of this process, from devising the hierarchy to facing your fears to reevaluating your thoughts about the feared objects or circumstances.

Exposure therapy can effectively treat anxiety disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and social anxiety disorder. In addition to traditional exposure therapy, virtual reality exposure therapy is effective for people with anxiety, such as those with a fear of flying. 

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) aims to help people with anxiety disorders learn to accept unhelpful thoughts and feelings they can't control. ACT may be integrated with short-term psychodynamic therapy, and it typically involves developing a commitment and acting according to your chosen values.

ACT is another treatment shown to be effective for individuals with an anxiety disorder. It may benefit people with generalized anxiety disorder, as shown in a 2015 study. The participants learned to accept that panic attacks were only sensations, that negative thoughts were just thoughts, and that they could accept that these occurrences would not harm them.

Another technique you may learn in therapy is how to use relaxation to reduce anxiety symptoms. Jacobson's progressive relaxation technique (JPRT), also known as progressive muscle relaxation, is a therapy for stress and anxiety that involves tightening and relaxing each muscle group in your body in a systematic sequence.

Your counselor may also teach breathing techniques for managing your symptoms if you have an anxiety disorder. One of these techniques is deep, slow breathing, like box breathing.

Several studies have indicated that learning and using relaxation techniques can help decrease the symptoms of anxiety and depression. One study explored the SKY breathing method and found it helpful for anxiety and depression symptoms.

As explored above, many therapeutic approaches and techniques have demonstrated effectiveness for people with anxiety disorders. However, regardless of the approach you and your therapist choose, there are several steps you can take as you go through treatment to reduce your anxiety symptoms effectively. Included below are a few tips to consider.

The treatment of anxiety often requires commitment and consistency. When you find a therapist who fits your needs, try to make therapy for your anxiety disorder a priority in your life. It may be easy to get distracted or discouraged if you don't see progress in the short term. However, attending therapy sessions can show you and your therapist that you're ready for change. 

Before your sessions, try to prepare yourself to engage fully in therapy. Ensure you're hydrated and not hungry when it's time to begin. Try to get enough sleep the night before if you can. If you're doing online therapy, find a quiet, comfortable, and safe place for your session.

Many people have a preconceived notion of what therapy might be like. However, your therapist may use techniques and methods that are unfamiliar to you. For example, they may suggest participating in support groups, practicing mindfulness meditation, or utilizing exposure therapy. Try to be willing to consider the treatments your counselor suggests with an open mind. By being open to varied strategies and types of therapy, you may learn something that helps you. 

Learn about your anxiety disorder

Your therapist might take some time in your sessions to teach you about anxiety disorders or related conditions (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder). Learning about anxiety disorder symptoms can help you identify issues you might not have noticed. Anxiety related to certain events or areas of your life, such as social anxiety, may benefit from complementary therapies. Learning about how treatments work and have helped others may also give you hope and encouragement to stick with your treatment. 

Being fully engaged with your therapy can mean paying attention to what's happening during sessions, listening carefully, and responding to suggestions. It can also mean trying to understand and put what you've learned into practice. If your therapist assigns homework or offers resources, consider checking them out.

Your therapist might ask you to do homework between sessions. Your assignments could involve writing about your symptoms or practicing a new skill. If your therapist prepares you for exposure therapy, they might ask you to think about and write down situations that bring up anxiety. Your homework might include changing behavior and reporting the results. Try to do each homework assignment before the next session so that you can move on to the next phase of your treatment more confidently.

You might have questions about what's happening in therapy or be concerned if it isn't going as you had hoped. Trust your counselor with these questions and concerns. They may offer answers so that you feel better about the process and have the understanding you crave to get relief from your symptoms.

Talking to a therapist who understands and treats anxiety disorders can be a helpful step in finding relief from your symptoms. However, at times, the prospect of finding a therapist, traveling to a new location, interacting with new people, and waiting in a busy office can be intimidating to those with anxiety. In these cases, online therapy may be a practical choice. With online therapy, you can match with a licensed therapist from wherever you have an internet connection, including the comfort of your own home. 

Significant research shows that online counseling can be as effective as traditional therapy for anxiety. For example, one study explored the effectiveness of internet-delivered cognitive behavior therapy (ICBT) compared to face-to-face cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). ICBT and CBT were equally effective in treating five different anxiety disorders. If you're interested in getting started, consider signing up with BetterHelp.