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Individual Counseling
Behavioral Therapy (ABA)
Social Skills Training (SST)
Life Skills Training
Consultation Services
Any of these services can be provided in-home or via telehealth!
Anxiety & Stress Management
Anxiety and Stress are unfortunately accepted by our society as part of the daily routine, but chronic anxiety and stress is extremely exhausting for our minds. This in turn causes our bodies and emotional states to become unstable and unhealthy. Take charge of your anxiety and stress before it takes over your health and well-being. We thank you for taking the time to learn more about anxiety and stress management.
Here are some more resources:
- Psychology Today
- Anxiety and Depression Association of America
- American Psychology Association of America: Coping with Stress and Anxiety
Types of Stress
- Circumstantial or acutestress is a survival mechanism left over from our hunter-gatherer days.
- Chronicstress has become a global epidemic, leading to major damage to our bodies and minds.
Stress on the Respiratory System:
Stress makes you breathe harder than normal, or cause irregular breathing. If you have a lung disease or asthma, this can pose a big problem in the long run. Fortunately, there are many deep breathing and relaxation strategies that you can learn to have better control over your breathing and stress overall.
Chronic stress is responsible for more serious mental damage and can lead to:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Panic attacks and phobias
- Memory loss
Consider taking up a meditation routine. Even 5 minutes a day can reduce the effects of stress. Some studies have also shown that doodling can in fact alleviate stress.
What are the types of anxiety disorders?
There are several major types of anxiety disorders that can be treated using therapeutic approaches, including:
- Panic disorder
- Generalized anxiety
- disorder (GAD)
- Phobias
- Social anxiety disorder (SAD)
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Regardless of the specific disorder, the underlying processes that drive them often follow a similar pattern. People with anxiety tend to react to unpleasant thoughts, feelings, and situations in a more extreme way and may try to manage those reactions by avoiding triggers. Unfortunately, this type of avoidance only serves to reinforce fears and worries. Most modern types of therapy address negative thinking and avoidance to help you manage your anxiety.
Therapies That Can be Used to Treat Anxiety Disorders
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Anxiety Disorders
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the most widely-used therapy for anxiety disorders. Research has found it to be effective in treating SAD, GAD, phobias, and panic disorders, among other conditions. The premise of CBT is that your thoughts—not your current situation—affect how you feel and subsequently behave. The goal of CBT is to identify and understand your negative thinking and ineffective behavior patterns and replace them with more effective thoughts, actions and coping mechanisms. Once you start to recognize your anxiety and your triggers, you can learn to apply the coping skills that you learn in CBT to manage fear, panic, and worry.
Exposure Therapy for Anxiety Disorders
Exposure therapy is one of the most common CBT methods used to treat a variety of anxiety disorders, including specific phobias, SAD, and PTSD. The basic premise behind exposure therapy is that if you’re afraid of something, the best way to conquer it is head-on. During exposure therapy, your therapist will introduce you to anxiety-producing objects or situations. This is often done using a technique known as “systematic desensitization,” which involves three steps:
Relax: Your therapist will teach you relaxation training to help combat your anxiety. Examples of relaxation training include progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, meditation, and guided imagery.
List: Create a list of your anxiety-provoking triggers, ranking them in terms of intensity.
Expose: In this final step, you’ll gradually work your way through your listed anxiety-provoking objects or situations, using the relaxation techniques when necessary.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) for Anxiety Disorders
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a highly effective type of therapy. Originally used to treat borderline personality disorder (BPD), DBT is now used to treat a variety of conditions, including anxiety. DBT focuses on helping you develop what seems like a dialectical or opposite outlook, acceptance, and change. During DBT treatment, you’ll learn to both accept your anxiety all the while actively working to change it. It’s similar to the notion of loving yourself the way you are, while still trying to change yourself for the better.
DBT treatment teaches four powerful skills:
- Mindfulness: Connecting with the present moment and notice passing thoughts (like anxiety) without being ruled by them
- Distress tolerance: Managing your anxiety when faced with a stressful situation
- Interpersonal effectiveness: Learning how to say no, or ask for what you need
- Emotion regulation: Managing anxiety before they get out of control
Look for an experienced and trained mental health provider who specializes in treatment for anxiety disorders. Your mental healthcare provider will evaluate your circumstances and specific behaviors to determine the overall approach to treatment.
What to Expect From Anxiety Disorder Therapy
A common misunderstanding about therapy is that you’ll immediately start to feel better. Sometimes this is the case. But sometimes, you feel worse before you start feeling better- a sign of progress. Therapy involves exploring your anxiety and the reasons behind it in a deeper, more meaningful way. This can cause a temporary spike in your anxiety. Therapy should never be thought of as a quick fix. It’s a process that’s unique to each individual. The type of therapy you need, the skills, that you learn, and how long you’re in therapy depends entirely on the type of anxiety you have and the severity of your symptoms.
Contact Crystal with any questions.