Anxiety is something that almost everyone experiences. It might manifest as nerves before a big presentation or worrying about what's ahead. If your anxiety has grown from a temporary feeling into a continuous struggle, you are not alone. In this article, we will explore what exactly anxiety is, where it comes from, and how therapy can help to alleviate it.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is your body’s natural response to stress or danger. It's a feeling of fear, nervousness, or worry that can happen when faced with challenging situations. It’s completely normal to feel anxious from time to time, like before an exam or a job interview. These are temporary feelings that usually pass once the situation is over.
If you feel anxious all the time, even when there is no immediate threat or stressful event, it may be more than just a passing emotion. It could be a sign of an anxiety disorder.
What is an anxiety disorder?
An anxiety disorder is when feelings of anxiety—such as fear, worry, or nervousness—are persistent, overwhelming, and interfere with daily life. While it's normal to feel anxious from time to time, people with anxiety disorders experience these feelings much more intensely and frequently, often without a clear cause or trigger.
Anxiety disorders can make it difficult to function at work, school, or in social situations. They can also affect relationships and overall well-being. Unlike temporary stress or nervousness, anxiety disorders can last for months or even years if left untreated.
Common Anxiety Disorders
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): People with GAD worry excessively about many areas of life, like health, finances, or relationships. This constant worry often leads to physical symptoms like muscle tension, fatigue, and trouble sleeping.
Panic Disorder: Those with panic disorder experience sudden, intense panic attacks. These attacks are marked by symptoms like shortness of breath, heart palpitations, sweating, and an overwhelming sense of dread. The fear of another attack often causes people to avoid certain situations.
Social Anxiety Disorder: Social anxiety involves intense fear of being judged or embarrassed in social situations. This can make things like attending a party, speaking in public, or even casual conversations extremely stressful.
Phobias: Phobias are irrational fears of specific objects or situations. This could be anything from fear of spiders, heights, or flying to more common fears like claustrophobia (the fear of enclosed spaces).
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): OCD involves repetitive, uncontrollable thoughts (obsessions) and the urge to perform certain behaviors (compulsions) to reduce anxiety. For example, a person with contamination OCD might feel compelled to wash their hands repeatedly to avoid germs.
How can I discover what is at the root of my anxiety?
Understanding where your anxiety comes from is an important first step in therapy. Anxiety often has deeper emotional or physical roots—sometimes from past experiences, traumas, or learned behaviors. As an EMDR-trained therapist, I guide my clients through processing past experiences that may be fueling their anxiety. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) helps uncover and heal unresolved emotional memories, often bringing relief to those struggling with anxiety.
Another way to discover the root of your anxiety is by exploring your thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations during moments of distress. This process can help reveal the underlying patterns and triggers that contribute to your anxiety. Techniques like mindfulness and body awareness are powerful tools for gaining deeper insight, and these are methods you can work on with your therapist to better understand your unique experience of anxiety.
What coping strategies can help alleviate anxiety?
Therapy provides a safe space to explore practical strategies for managing anxiety. Some common coping strategies that may help include:
Deep breathing and relaxation techniques: These can help calm the nervous system when you're feeling overwhelmed.
Mindfulness practices: Staying present in the moment can help break the cycle of anxious thinking.
Grounding techniques: Engaging your senses (what you see, hear, touch, etc.) can can help bring you back to the present moment when anxiety feels overwhelming.
Regular exercise: Physical activity can help reduce stress and improve mood.
Establishing routines: Creating structure in your daily life can provide a sense of predictability and control.
Journaling: Writing down your thoughts and feelings can help you process emotions and identify patterns in your anxiety.
Cognitive reframing: Changing negative thought patterns that fuel anxiety can reduce its intensity.
Gradual exposure: Facing your fears slowly and safely can help you build resilience to anxiety-provoking situations.
How can I do therapy if I'm too anxious to leave my house or go outside?
If your anxiety makes it difficult to leave your house or go to therapy appointments, virtual or online therapy might be a good match for you. Many therapists, including myself, offer online therapy or tele-health sessions. These sessions are structured the same as in person therapy, but they are conducted through a video call from the comfort of your home.
Research has shown that online therapy can be just as effective as in-person therapy for treating a variety of mental health issues, including anxiety.
What types of therapy are best for anxiety?
When it comes to treating anxiety, there are several types of therapy that have proven to be effective:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): CBT is one of the most common therapies for anxiety. It focuses on changing negative thought patterns and behaviors that contribute to anxiety. CBT helps people reframe their thoughts and learn practical coping skills to manage anxious feelings.
Exposure Therapy: This type of therapy is often used within CBT to help individuals gradually face the things they fear. By confronting fears in a controlled way, clients can learn that their worst fears often don’t come true—and that they can cope with anxiety-provoking situations.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): Originally developed for PTSD, EMDR has shown effectiveness for various anxiety disorders as well. During EMDR processing, your therapist will ask you to focus on specific anxiety-inducing memories while engaging in guided eye movements. This process facilitates the reprocessing of these memories, helping to lessen their emotional intensity and ultimately alleviating symptoms of anxiety.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): While originally developed for borderline personality disorder, DBT can be adapted to effectively treat anxiety as well. DBT combines cognitive-behavioral techniques with mindfulness practices to help regulate emotions and improve interpersonal relationships.
Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP): This approach focuses on creating a safe therapeutic relationship to help clients process difficult emotions and experiences. It can be particularly helpful for anxiety related to attachment issues or trauma.
Psychodynamic Therapy: This type of therapy explores how past experiences and unconscious thoughts influence current behavior and emotions. It can be particularly helpful for understanding the root causes of anxiety.
Somatic Therapy: Somatic therapy involves focusing on the body to release stored tension and trauma. For people with anxiety, this can help reduce physical symptoms like muscle tension and rapid breathing. It also helps connect the mind and body in a way that allows for deeper healing.
Which type of anxiety therapy should I choose? CBT vs EMDR?
Both CBT and EMDR are evidence-based therapies that can effectively help manage anxiety. The choice between the two largely depends on the nature of your anxiety and whether you're looking for a more symptom-focused approach (CBT) or something that addresses the deeper roots of your anxiety (EMDR).
CBT is widely recognized for its effectiveness in treating various types of anxiety, including generalized anxiety, panic attacks, and social anxiety. It works by helping you to identify and change negative thought patterns and behaviors that contribute to your anxiety. Through practical tools like cognitive restructuring (challenging unhelpful thoughts) and exposure techniques, CBT can help reduce symptoms and improve coping strategies. CBT is typically more focused on managing and alleviating present-day anxiety by targeting specific thought patterns and triggers.
On the other hand, EMDR is particularly beneficial if your anxiety is deeply connected to past trauma or overwhelming emotional experiences. While CBT is structured around changing thought patterns in the present, EMDR aims to process and reframe distressing memories, reducing their overall emotional charge. This can be especially helpful for those whose anxiety is rooted in unresolved trauma or if they find that their anxiety is tied to past events, even if they may not always be consciously aware of those events. EMDR incorporates bilateral stimulation (often through eye movements) to help the brain reprocess anxiety inducing memories and to reduce their overall emotional intensity.
To summarize, both CBT and EMDR are effective therapies for managing anxiety, but they serve slightly different purposes. CBT is generally more focused on providing immediate, practical strategies for managing anxiety in the present. CBT can help you to identify and change unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors, offering tools for managing symptoms on a day-to-day basis. In contrast, EMDR is generally more focused on addressing the deeper, often unconscious roots of anxiety, particularly when your anxiety is linked to past trauma or distressing experiences. EMDR works by helping you process and reframe these memories, reducing their emotional intensity and providing long-term relief from the underlying causes of anxiety. For these reasons, many people find success in combining both therapies, starting with CBT for symptom relief and then using EMDR to process the root causes of their anxiety for more comprehensive healing.
FAQs about CBT vs. EMDR for anxiety
Q: How effective are CBT and EMDR for treating anxiety?
A: Both CBT and EMDR have been shown to be effective in treating anxiety disorders, though they approach treatment differently:
CBT is a well-established, evidence-based therapy for anxiety and is often considered a first-line treatment for various anxiety disorders. Extensive research supports its effectiveness.
EMDR, originally developed to treat PTSD, has also shown promise in addressing other anxiety disorders. While research is still developing, some studies suggest EMDR may be more effective than CBT in reducing anxiety symptoms.
Q: How do CBT and EMDR differ in treatment approach?
A: The approaches of CBT and EMDR are quite different:
CBT focuses on identifying and changing negative thought patterns and behaviors related to anxiety. It often includes "homework" where you practice techniques outside of sessions to reinforce learning and skills.
EMDR uses bilateral stimulation (such as eye movements) to help you reprocess traumatic memories or anxiety-provoking thoughts. It involves less verbal discussion and more direct processing of emotions and memories during the sessions.
Q: How long does it take for CBT and EMDR to show results?
A: The time frame for both therapies varies:
EMDR may work more quickly for some people, with relief often possible after just a few sessions, especially when trauma is a significant factor.
CBT typically requires more sessions over a longer period to see significant results. It’s a structured process that builds over time with continued practice.
Q: Which therapy is better for my type of anxiety?
A: It depends on the nature of your anxiety:
EMDR may be particularly helpful if your anxiety is linked to specific traumatic events or memories, including emotional injuries, accidents, or abuse.
CBT can be beneficial for a wide range of anxiety issues, particularly when negative thought patterns and behaviors are at the core of the anxiety.
Q: How do I decide which therapy to choose?
A: When deciding between CBT and EMDR, consider the following:
Consult a mental health professional who can assess your specific needs and help you decide which approach is best for you.
Consider your personal preferences for treatment style—whether you prefer structured, skills-based work (CBT) or a more experiential, trauma-processing approach (EMDR).
Reflect on the root causes of your anxiety (e.g., trauma vs. generalized anxiety or negative thought patterns).
Be open to combining approaches if needed. Many people find success in starting with CBT to manage current anxiety symptoms and then using EMDR to process deeper, trauma-related issues.
Remember, the most effective therapy is one that you feel comfortable with and can commit to. It’s also possible to switch or combine approaches if one doesn’t seem to be working well for you.
--
Therapy for Anxiety in NYC and Brooklyn
If anxiety is affecting your life, therapy can be a powerful tool for healing. Whether you're dealing with generalized anxiety, panic attacks, or social anxiety, there are many different types of therapy that can help you to alleviate your symptoms and find lasting relief.
If you're ready to explore your options and develop a personalized treatment plan, don't hesitate to reach out. As a NYC-based therapist, I specialize in helping New Yorkers to manage their anxieties and achieve lasting relief.
Comments