How Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Can Treat Your Anxiety Disorder?

Anxiety is a common mental health condition that can severely impair your ability to function at work or in social situations. Suffering from anxiety generally involves fear and/ worry about the future. One treatment option proven to be effective is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

CBT is a short-term treatment that aims to develop skills to alter emotional responses that are hazardous to your well-being. A therapist can help you change behaviours and thoughts that trigger your anxiety symptoms. If you change your thinking, your feelings and actions will change too – and that’s where CBT could be helpful.

What is CBT?
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) works on negative thoughts and behaviour patterns to recognise and restructure them. For instance, if you’re starting a new job, you might feel anxious, stressed, and excited simultaneously. These responses depend on personal attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions.

When you are feeling anxious, negative thought patterns and emotions overshadow your positive behaviour. You may start to sense feelings of worthlessness and fear. The goal of CBT is to work on changing the way you think and lead a pleasurable life.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Anxiety
Anxiety and nervousness are inevitable aspects of our lives. But if it starts to worsen your situation and affect your daily life, it causes intense fear, anxiety, and panic. When you have negative feelings and thoughts about a situation, it can start to affect your behavioural patterns.

As time passes, these behaviours become your repeated patterns. Using CBT for anxiety, you can learn to concentrate on those patterns and actively work to change them. Cognitive behavioural therapy can help you determine links in the chain that triggers your anxiety symptoms.

A CBT-trained therapist will follow three steps to calm your anxiety:

Step 1 – Identify your negative thoughts
Suppose you feel awkward, and everyone treats you as a loser. In a CBT session, you will have a comfortable space to discuss your thoughts. Together, you can find the root thoughts behind your anxiety and tackle each one separately.

Step 2 – Challenge negative thoughts
A therapist will question the evidence for your thoughts, analyse beliefs behind them, and test them. A session is conducted to know the real facts and separate your thoughts and feelings. A specialist encourages you to replace your negative thoughts with positive ones to live a healthier life.

Step 3 – Replace negative thoughts with realistic ones
If you try to change your negative thinking patterns, new thoughts won’t stick in your mind for long. In CBT sessions, you will learn more about cognitive distortions and practice mindfulness to get relief. When you challenge negative thoughts and replace them with realistic ones, it becomes easy to identify distortions before they hurt you.

CBT Techniques for Anxiety

• Cognitive Restructuring – A therapist will ask about your thought process in certain situations. And once you’re aware of them, you can learn how to reframe those thoughts and be productive.
• Behavioural Activation – If anxiety stops you from doing a particular activity, you can schedule it accordingly. This will encourage you to move ahead and face the situation with a relevant coping mechanism.
• Relaxation Techniques – Relaxation techniques reduce stress and give you a clear thought process. These techniques may include deep breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, and meditation.

Takeaway
Anxiety can be a big challenge, but the good news is, there are many treatment options available, such as CBT and hypnotherapy to work through it. CBT is a proven way to change your negative thought patterns to positively affect how you respond to situations.

At MindEase, we provide anxiety counselling therapy in Singapore to overcome your emotional imbalance. Here’s how we can help:

• Address what causes panic or stress and how to regain control, via cognitive counselling
• Learn how to minimise negative thoughts, behaviour, and mental health problems
• Develop a tailored plan to manage stressful situations
• Conduct counselling and hypnotherapy sessions to manage panic conditions

We leverage 5-PATH® Hypnotherapy, 7th Path Self-Hypnosis® and/ or Access Bars® to overcome situations like dizziness, irritability, panic attacks, feeling constantly on the edge, and more.

Schedule an appointment and take a step forward anxiety-free life.