How Can I Overcome Phobias?
Posted on 12-12-2022 08:58 AM
Even though anxiety is on the increase, anxiety treatments are getting faster, more reliable and easier to do. Anxiety therapy today will focus on getting people back to normal as quickly as possible. Usually in a few sessions. The focus is on helping people build their own resilience so they can get themselves past their anxiety. But first they have to see the initial symptoms of anxiety.
It is like looking at the glass half full. When people see their fear, they look at their shoulders, their back, their wrists, their ankles and feet. The therapist will make sure they are comfortable. And the therapist will ask them a series of questions about what they are feeling and what they are experiencing. The first session will typically be about 30 minutes.
Even though anxiety is on the increase, treatments for anxiety are getting faster, more reliable and easier to do. Anxiety therapy today will focus on getting people back to normal as quickly as possible. Usually in a few sessions. The focus is on helping people build their own resilience so they can get themselves past their anxiety. But first they have to see the initial symptoms of anxiety. It is like looking at the glass half full. When people see their fear, they look at their shoulders, their back, their wrists, their ankles and foot. The therapist will make sure they are comfortable. And the therapist will ask them a series of questions about what they are feeling and what they are experiencing. The first session will typically be about 30 minutes.
As people see their fear in the first session they are given a number of exercises they can do to help them build resilience in a series of exercises they can do to help them build resilience in a group of exercises they can do to help them build resilience at home or at work. The exercises could include breathing exercises, visualisation exercises, doing a sport, a hobby, or a task that has no pressure. It can be anything that lets them concentrate and concentrate has shown to be powerful.
Once the exercises are finished the focus of the second session will be on the anxiety that happened. The therapist will try to get the client to revisit the area that feels scary to them (for example a particular part of their body, the bedroom). Sometimes using a story that has a happy ending or a funny story that makes them laugh helps them to forget.
The third session the therapist will start to bring in the fear as a person feels it. Sometimes the therapist will start by asking them questions about the fear and the client will give them a 'negative statement'. In the third session the therapist will ask the client to rephrase that statement so that they are saying more of what they're afraid of. The third session will also include a set of guidelines, using the 'Five Eyes' method they will discuss with the client how they would like to deal with this phobia and use the '5 eyes' method to get their response and how they would like to see things to be. This will follow the same format as the first two sessions.
The third and last session the therapist will start to bring in the fear as a person feels it. The first thing the therapist will do is let the client know what's expected of them next. They will then ask them if they're ready to do a breathing exercise. The breathing exercise works to help the client to realise how they're feeling. It starts with the client taking a deep breath, feeling their chest rise and fall as they breathe in and out. The client will hold this for 5 seconds then relaxes holding their breath for 5 seconds then breathe out slowly. They will repeat this 4 times. The client will now repeat this a total of 4 times. They will then say a prayer of peace before their next session.
All of the above can be done individually or in a group setting. One great thing about therapy is you don't have to do it alone. All of these exercises can be done with a friend, spouse or partner. You may find you each have very different things that you want to work on so an anxiety therapist can be a great team player.