If you are someone who deals with anxiety and has reached out for assistance from professional counselors, you know first-hand how difficult it can be to find a therapist who matches your needs. Whether you are looking for a therapist that has a similar background to you or specializes in your desired form of therapy, the process of searching for an anxiety therapist can be overwhelming.
Many therapists specialize in a particular form of therapy, therefore you should become acquainted with what form of therapy works best to treat your anxiety. Here at Anchor Therapy, we specialize in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, also known as CBT. CBT is a popular form of therapy that is proven to treat anxiety disorders, such as generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, and panic disorder. Before jumping into the inner workings of CBT, let’s walk through anxiety disorders and how to tell if you have anxiety.
Anchor Therapy is a counseling center in Hoboken, NJ with psychotherapists specialized in helping children, teens, adults, and couples with anxiety, depression, relationship issues, trauma, and life transitions. Anchor Therapy is accepting new clients and is now providing in-person sessions and telehealth (video/phone) sessions to residents of New Jersey and New York.
First and foremost, it is important to note that experiencing infrequent anxiety is a normal part of life. If you have an anxiety disorder, anxiety is anything but occasional. People who suffer from anxiety disorders have acute, excessive, and constant feelings of worry and terror about daily or “normal” occurrences. Typically, anxiety disorders include recurrent episodes of unanticipated feelings of acute anxiety or terror that reach a peak within a few minutes, known as panic attacks.
These feelings of anxiety and terror are so severe that they begin to interfere with daily activities since they can be difficult to manage, can last a long time, and are inconsistent with the actual endangerment. Symptoms of anxiety can start at any stage of life, from childhood and your teenage years to adulthood.
Some different types of anxiety include:
Generalized anxiety disorder -
Involves continual and immoderate anxiety and worry about activities or events, including typical or daily occurrences. The worry impacts how you feel about yourself is inconsistent with your actual level of danger and can be hard to control. It can occur alongside depression or additional anxiety disorders.
Social anxiety disorder (social phobia) -
Includes a high level of anxiety, panic, and avoidance of social situations due to emotions regarding self-consciousness, awkwardness, and worry about being criticized by others or being viewed negatively by others.
Separation anxiety disorder-
Commonly regarded as a childhood disorder. Separation anxiety disorder may be harmful to a child's development. It is related to detachment from their parents or other individuals who fulfill the parental role.
Specific phobias -
Characterized by considerable anxiety when you have to deal with a particular object or situation, and you have an intense desire to avoid it. Phobias can trigger panic attacks in some individuals.
Some common symptoms of anxiety include:
Having the desire to avoid things or situations that provoke anxiety
Experiencing an increased heart rate
Experiencing a sense of imminent hazard, nervousness, or doom
Feeling fearful, uneasy, or rigid
Sweating
Trembling
Feeling weak or tired
Breathing quickly (Also known as hyperventilation)
Having difficulty concentrating or thinking about anything besides your anxiety
Having a hard time sleeping
Suffering from gastrointestinal (GI) issues
Having a tough time managing worry
Luckily, CBT is here to help combat your anxiety! CBT is a short-term treatment that transforms how you respond to emotional distress. With the help of a licensed therapist, you can alter your thoughts and behaviors that provoke or worsen your anxiety. With CBT, you are mainly focusing on controlling your thoughts since thoughts create feelings and feelings create actions. By altering your thoughts, your feelings and actions will fall into place. CBT uses a three-step process to help you manage your anxiety.
Pinpoint your negative thoughts
The first step in the CBT process is identifying your negative thoughts. While some negative thoughts may be easy to pinpoint, others may take some time to uncover which is where your therapist steps in to help. By working together, you and your therapist will eventually be able to dig deep and discover the root cause of your anxiety-triggering thoughts. Once this is accomplished, you can address each thought individually.
For instance, you may have thoughts that everyone is making fun of you while you are publicly speaking. In a CBT session, it may take some time to come to this conclusion. Your therapist may start asking you about your general feelings towards public speaking, and how you feel when you need to make a presentation at work. Then, you both work together to find the deep cause of this fear and your thoughts about it.
2. Oppose your negative thoughts
Your therapist will provide you with the skills needed to help question your thoughts, inspect the belief behind them, and test it. For example, you can talk about how someone made fun of you during a presentation during school which shaped your confidence in presenting and public speaking. From there, you will discuss why you feel uncomfortable presenting. Lastly, you will challenge your negative thoughts by dividing your thoughts from your reality. You may feel distressed while presenting, but remember that you would not be asked to make a presentation unless someone felt that you were capable of doing so. Your thoughts and feelings are not rooted in facts!
3. Replace your negative thoughts with more positive, realistic thoughts
A crucial part of CBT is learning how to transform negative thoughts into real ones. It is important to note that trying to replace a negative thought with an unrealistic positive thought will not last long since it is the polar opposite of what you are used to. If you begin to tell yourself, “Everyone thinks that I’m the best public speaker in the world”, you will find that this narrative will not stick which can lead you back to your negative thoughts. Instead of going for an extremely positive thought, you can create a realistic thought. You can try: “Just because I feel anxious and uncomfortable presenting, doesn’t mean that other people view me in that manner.”
CBT treatment is so much more than anxiety counseling, it works deeply to challenge your negative thought system. By taking part in CBT sessions, you and your anxiety therapist will work hand-in-hand to help you understand your anxiety and reframe your thoughts using the three-step process. By continuously replacing your negative thoughts with positive ones, you will eventually be able to easily identify your triggers and prevent your unpleasant thoughts from occurring frequently. If you are looking to treat your anxiety, finding an anxiety therapist who specializes in CBT is a great way to begin your mental health journey!
Victoria Scala
is the Social Media Manager at Anchor Therapy in Hoboken, New Jersey. She is currently an undergraduate student at the Honors College of Rutgers University-Newark, looking to study Clinical Mental Health Counseling at the graduate level. As a Social Media Manager at Anchor Therapy, Victoria is committed to producing content for and managing the office’s social media presence and blog.
