6 effective treatments against anxiety

Feeling anxious is totally normal, and people can experience it in our daily lives in multiple situations. For example, just before an exam when the nerves are on the surface or when we cannot fall asleep because we have to make an important decision.

Anxiety is a normal and adaptive reaction that appears in situations of stress or uncertainty. However, when anxiety causes functional impairment, it affects different areas of our life (relationships interpersonal, work, school ...) and causes great discomfort and suffering, then it is possible that it is a disorder of anxiety. In this case it is necessary to go to psychological therapy.

• Related article: "The 7 types of anxiety (causes and symptoms)"

Symptoms of anxiety disorders

Negative anxiety can manifest itself for different reasons, as there are different types of anxiety disorders. Some people have a great fear of speaking in public (social phobia) and therefore ** tend to avoid situations in which they are exposed to this discomfort **.

Others have irrational and catastrophic thoughts almost daily on events that have not happened and that have a very low probability of happening (generalized anxiety disorder), and others feel great discomfort when reliving a traumatic event from the past (post traumatic stress disorder). Regardless of the type of anxiety, some characteristic symptoms of this disorder are:

• Intense and irrational fear.
• Excessive worries.
• Dizziness, sweating, muscle tension, shortness of breath, dry mouth or fatigue.
• Avoidance of feared situations.
• Repetitive thoughts and behaviors.
• Traumatic events are relived.
• Sleeping difficulties.

Treatments for anxiety

If you think that you are one of those people who suffers from an anxiety disorder, you should know that you are not alone, because this is a very common problem. Since there are different types of anxiety disorder, each one has a specific treatment.

However, psychologists can provide a series of techniques that help improve anxiety states, but the problem does not go away if you do not do your part. It is your responsibility to implement certain habits and strategies in your life to make anxiety stop being a problem.

If you want to know what treatments are applied in the therapeutic sessions, below you can find a list with the most relevant and outstanding:

1. Relaxation techniques

Our body reacts to anxious thoughts with muscle tension and a series of physiological reactions. When an anxious person interprets a situation as threatening, the fight and flight response is activated, they are released a series of hormones and the autonomic nervous system prepares the individual to respond to a dangerous situation.

Relaxation techniques They aim to teach individuals to relax, learn to breathe properly, and decrease physiological arousal. There are several types of relaxation techniques, for example, Jacobson's progressive muscle relaxation technique or Schultz's autogenic training.

2. Exhibition techniques

Anxiety is not a pleasant sensation, so people with this disorder try to avoid situations that cause discomfort. A very common way to do this is to withdraw from the anxious situation or stimulus.. If someone is afraid to speak in public, they can avoid attending their best friend's wedding to avoid giving a speech in front of all the attendees. If anyone has fear to fly, you can drive for days to avoid getting on a plane.

Exposure therapy, as its name suggests, consists of exposing the patient to feared situations or objects. The idea is that through repeated exposures, he will acquire a sense of control over anxiety, and the situation will tend to disappear. Expository techniques are used in cases of phobias and other anxiety disorders (for example, obsessive compulsive disorder), and are characterized in that the patient must confront the feared stimulus until the anxiety is reduced thanks to the habituation.

Thanks to these types of techniques, it is possible to prevent escape or avoidance from becoming a security response. To carry it out, a hierarchy of feared stimuli is usually established, so that the patient can gradually approach these stimuli until extinction is achieved. These types of techniques can be carried out both live and imaginary. Today, thanks to new technologies, it is possible to perform these techniques through Virtual Reality. Exposure therapy can be used alone, or it can be done as part of the cognitive behavioral therapy.

3. Systematic desensitization

Instead of facing the feared situation or object right away, treatment and exposure may start with a situation that is only mildly threatening, to work little by little to the goal. This step-by-step approach is called systematic desensitization. Systematic desensitization allows you to gradually challenge fears, build confidence, and master panic control skills.

Systematic desensitization is similar to expository techniques (and for some authors it is included within them). However, there are some differences between the two treatments. While in exposition techniques habituation is used to overcome anxiety, in systematic desensitization uses counterconditioning, that is, the substitution of a response that produces anxiety, by another incompatible with the herself. In systematic desensitization, the approach to the stimulus occurs gradually, but in the technique of The rate of approach depends on the time available, the disposition of the patient and the rate of habituation.

Systematic desensitization includes three parts:

• Learn relaxation skills, and, once the patient faces his fears, use these relaxation techniques to reduce his anxiety response and stimulate relaxation.
• Make a step-by-step list. 10-20 scary situations are selected to progress to the final goal. For example, if you want to overcome your fear of flying, your first step may be to look at pictures of airplanes.
• Work the steps under the guidance of the therapist. The patient is exposed to the feared situation and substitutes the anxiety for the techniques learned.

4. Cognitive restructuring

Cognitive restructuring is based on the idea that the way we feel, behave, and respond to situations based on our way of thinking, so this technique attempts to modify dysfunctional thinking patterns and beliefs.

Cognitive restructuring derives from cognitive therapy (but is also used in cognitive behavioral therapy) which can help people identify and challenge the thought patterns and beliefs that elicit anxiety. The purpose of this technique is to modify the patient's thinking patterns thanks to different methods.

5. Pharmacological techniques

In some cases it is advisable to complement psychological treatment with pharmacological treatment, especially in those situations where it is necessary to reduce symptoms quickly, such as to treat a panic attack.

However, drugs must be combined with different cognitive and behavioral techniques and must be gradually replaced by these. Drugs can create addiction and intolerance, so it is necessary to be cautious in their use and self-medication should be avoided. Two types of drugs are commonly used in the treatment of anxiety: anxiolytics and the antidepressants.

6. Mindfulness

Mindfulness belongs to the third generation psychological therapies. One of the most widely used programs for the treatment of anxiety disorders is MBCT (Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy) or Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy. The program combines meditation with the acquisition of practical skills that characterize cognitive therapy, such as the disruption of thought patterns that lead to anxiety symptoms.

Mindfulness, more than a set of techniques, is a philosophy that focuses on self-acceptance, compassion, focusing attention on the here and now, and adopting a mindset not prosecutor. It is based on the idea that it is not events that cause anxiety, but how we interpret them and how we deal with them. It is not about eliminating anxiety but about accepting it, because by not resisting, anxiety symptoms are reduced.

Go to psychotherapy, the best option to overcome anxiety

When it comes to treating anxiety disorders, science shows that psychotherapy is generally the most effective option. Therapy helps the patient discover the underlying causes of her worries and fears; It enables you to learn to relax and to look at situations from a new perspective, and it gives you the ability to develop better coping and problem-solving skills. Therapy provides the tools to overcome anxiety and teaches how to use them.

The length of treatment will depend on the type and severity of the anxiety disorder. However, many anxiety therapies are relatively short, because the vast majority of people improve within 8-10 therapy sessions.

Bibliographic references:

• American Psychiatric Association -APA- (2014). DSM-5. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Madrid: Panamericana.
• Hofmann SG, Dibartolo PM (2010). Introduction: Toward an Understanding of Social Anxiety Disorder. Social Anxiety.
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• Stephan WG, Stephan CW (1985). Intergroup Anxiety. Journal of Social Issues.
• Huhn, M.; Tardy, M.; Spineli, L.M. (2014). Efficacy of Pharmacotherapy and Psychotherapy for Adult Psychiatric Disorders A Systematic Overview of Meta-analyzes. JAMA Psychiatry, 71 (6): pp. 706 - 715.
• Wampold, B.E., Flückiger, C., Del Re, A.C., Yulish, N.E., Frost, N.D., Pace, B.T., et al. (2017). In pursuit of truth: A critical examination of meta-analyzes of cognitive behavior therapy. Psychotherapy Research. 27 (1): pp. 14 - 32.