Therapy models for anxiety?

Question

Looking for specific CBT techniques used for anxiety disorders

Answer 1

EMDR works really well. It is mainly for PTSD. It stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It is really awesome therapy. It takes a good therapist a few sessions which generally last 45min to 1.5 hours at a time. You are sitting diagonally across from the therapist and watching his/ her hand go back and forth, like a windshield wiper while you are picturing the negative experience and thinking about how you feel. Ie the negative cognition that you have attached to that picture. such as: I am responsible, It is my fault. This form of therapy seperates the left brain thought from the right brain picture and both go away. for good. It works 100% of the time when it works. it does not work on dissociative or a person under the influence. It should not be done on actively suicidal or homicidal people. find a therapist that does it and give it a try!

Answer 2

Depends on the anxiety disorder.

There's Generalized, Social, Specific phobia, Panic, PTSD, OCD, Separation...

Typically what is used are a combination of methods beginning with psychoeducation (teaching about the disorder, where anxiety comes from, how it's defeated), followed by exposure therapy. Exposure therapy is gradually intensifying, controlled exposure to the anxiety-provoking stimulus. It's done over the course of weeks typically. It's well planned-out and the client is made aware of the plan at every stage.

Other techniques that relate specifically to CBT are found throughout therapy and are typically employed when a person's anxiety leads them to have disorted thoughts (hence the C-ognitive aspect of CBT). Such thoughts depend on the nature of the disorder, but an example would be "I will die the next time I have a panic attack," or "I will get really sick if I touch a toilet seat" or "everyone will hate me if I mess up on stage."

These distortions are examined by asking the types of questions that would allow the client him/herself to realize the absurd nature of the thought and the unlikelihood that it will ever come true.