How Behavioral Therapy Can Help With Anxiety Problems
By undergoing behavioral therapy you'll be trying to control your reactions to a given situation. Generally this situation will try to mimic one which triggers your anxiety attacks. Don't be worried though,you won't be put into this situation your first time at bat. Your therapist will work with you and build you up to the point where you'll at least be able to attempt defeating your fears with physical action and no I don't mean karate chopping or anything like that.
What you will be prompted to do in Behavioral therapy will be to relearn all of your reactions and responses that you've honed over your lifetime when facing any given situation. Basically this form of therapy believes that if you can control your behavior, or your reactions, you can change your thought process along with it.
When I say "control your behavior" I mean how your body reacts instinctively to any given situation,sometimes without you even realizing it. If we take the ever simple example of a car accident, when you're mind recognizes the oncoming danger your body automatically goes into emergency mode.You'll spin the wheel and try to avoid the collision all within the space of a few seconds and all without conscious decision or thought.
It's this type of unconscious reactions,which triggers your anxiety that Behavioral therapy will try change so that you'll be able to fight back at the anxiety and panic pushing at you.
So for instance if you're faced with your worst panic inducing fears then you'll be taught to handle it differently. Mind numbing fear might not be your first choice of reaction if you've come to terms within your therapy sessions.
In which case, you might just be able to relax your tensed muscles and assess the situation first.
- Is it a threat?
- Can you be harmed by it?
- Do you need to run and run fast?
These should hopefully be going through your mind instead of thoughts of mind numbing terror, after successfully completing your Behavioral therapy.
