Getting The Help You Need To Manage Your Anxiety
If you’re ready to take a step towards managing your anxiety, consider connecting with anxiety therapy Singapore. This is a powerful move that can make all the difference.
Depending on what is causing your anxiety, you may find that different types of therapy are more beneficial. In addition to psychotherapy, medications are often used to manage anxiety symptoms.
Cognitive behavioral therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a type of talking therapy, can help you change the negative thinking patterns and behaviors that contribute to your anxiety. The CBT model is based on the theory that your thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations are interconnected. You can learn to recognize patterns of distorted thinking and practice confronting sources of anxiety armed with relaxation and calming techniques. Your therapist may also use exposure therapy, which involves slowly exposing yourself to your triggers over time. The therapist may choose to expose you all at once to your triggers (flooding), or gradually over a period of time (desensitization).
Other types of psychotherapy that can be helpful for anxiety are interpersonal therapy (IPT) and schema therapy. These two modalities can help you learn how to better interact with others and address relationship issues. Medications are also commonly used to treat anxiety disorders. Beta-blockers are commonly used to treat high pressure and can reduce rapid heartbeats, shaking, and other anxiety symptoms. Ask your therapist if medications are a good idea for you.
Different types of therapy work differently, so finding the right one for you will take some research. If you don’t know where to begin, ask your primary care doctor for recommendations of therapists who specialize in anxiety disorders. Asking the correct questions during your first telephone consultation and remaining dedicated to the therapeutic process will help you succeed.
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
It’s important to seek effective therapy when anxiety symptoms persist and affect your daily life. A psychiatrist (a medical specialist in mental illnesses) or psychologist can diagnose anxiety disorders and treat them. They will typically start by performing a physical examination and taking your health history. They may also perform laboratory tests to rule-out a physical cause for your symptoms.
Talk therapy, also known as psychotherapy, is a powerful treatment for anxiety disorders. The most common type is cognitive behavioral therapy, which teaches you to identify and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors that contribute to your anxiety symptoms. Other types of psychotherapy for anxiety include interpersonal therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and exposure therapy.
Dialectical behavioral therapy is a comprehensive treatment for anxiety disorders that focuses on emotion regulation and skills training. It teaches how to recognize your emotions and regulate them, as well how to interact with those who make you feel bad. It’s based upon the idea that many mental disorders are disorders of dysregulation of emotions.
Interpersonal therapy is an approach to psychotherapy that focuses primarily on improving relationships with others. It helps you recognize and cope with problems in your personal relationships, such as conflicts with family members or poor communication. It has been proven to be especially beneficial for those who suffer from social anxiety disorder.
A second type of interpersonal therapy is called rational emotive behaviour therapy. This teaches you how to identify and replace self-defeating thoughts. It’s based on more than 50 years of research and has been proven effective for anxiety disorders. ACT also involves accepting what you cannot control. Lastly, exposure therapy involves gradually confronting your fears to help you overcome them. This includes imaginal exposure, in-vivo exposure, and virtual reality exposure. Your therapist will guide through the process.
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)
Therapy can help calm your anxiety by calming your misperceptions and reactions to danger. It can also help you replace negative thoughts and reframe situations to make them less scary. Psychotherapy also helps you to develop coping strategies that will last long after your treatment. In fact randomized controlled trials have shown cognitive and behavioral treatments to be more effective in treating anxiety disorders than medication.
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is one of the most well-known anxiety treatments. It is based on Relational Frame Theory that explains how language can entangle clients in futile attempts to fight against their internal experience. ACT teaches the client to reframe their discomfort in dealing with thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations. It teaches them that these are a series of unavoidable internal events. It also teaches the client to let go and move on from trying to control these private events or avoid them.
A trained therapist can provide support by being an active listener and encouraging deeper exploration of thoughts and emotions. They can provide you with mindfulness training and psychological exercises that you can use at your home to improve your psychological flexibility. They may also ask you to complete homework assignments that involve identifying your values and practicing behaviors that lead toward those values.
During a session, your therapist will identify the irrational predictions and negative distortions in your anxious thoughts, and work with you to replace them with more accurate and positive ones. They will also help you come up with realistic, calming statements you can say to yourself when you’re facing or anticipating a trigger that normally sends your anxiety levels soaring.
Individual psychotherapy (IPT)
IPT is a short term treatment that focuses primarily on interpersonal issues, which are thought to cause psychological distress. IPT has shown to be an effective treatment for depression, and when combined medication for mood disorders, such as bipolar, it is also effective. It has also been found to be helpful for anxiety disorders, particularly those with a strong interpersonal component (such as social anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder).
IPT is generally scheduled once weekly and consists of a brief introduction to the therapy by the therapist, followed by the sessions themselves. The client and therapist will discuss the person’s symptoms, relationship history, and other factors that may be causing their distress. During the first session, the therapist will identify the specific areas in the client’s lives that are causing problems and will work with the client to create a plan of improvement.
IPT is different from cognitive or behavioral therapy, which focuses on a person’s maladaptive behaviors and thoughts. IPT places a greater emphasis on the importance of relationships in mental health. IPT therapists are trained to recognize signs of relationship difficulties and encourage the client to become more aware of their emotions. They also teach clients how to navigate their relationships more effectively.
IPT is a limited-time treatment that usually lasts 6-20 sessions. Maintenance therapy can be added if needed. IPT not only improves a patient’s mood but also helps them to learn to support family and friends.
