Is There An Effective Anxiety Treatment?

Have you ever experienced anxiety?  If you haven’t yet, the odds are good that you will at some point in your life.

According to MedicineNet, anxiety is definitely a pretty common thing! In the United States, more than 60 million people will suffer from anxiety at a certain point in their lives and more than three million will have a panic disorder in the course of their lifetime. Over four million people experience general anxiety each year. Panic attacks typically begin during teenage years, from 15 to 19.  Millions of men suffer from approach anxiety.  (Emphasis in original.) (http://anxietybuzz.com/how-many-people-have-anxiety/)

If you are one of the millions of people who already has suffered from anxiety (and I am one of them), you know how incapacitating it can be.  If you haven’t yet, it’s not something to look forward to.  When you experience anxiety it’s hard to focus, to make decisions, to act, and to think.  All you want to do is escape, but there is no escape at the moment.

Luckily there are effective anxiety treatments.

There are three major approaches to anxiety treatment and several sub-categories

(adapted from the Anxiety Disorders Association of America):

1.  Psychotherapy

·         Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

A well-established, highly effective, and lasting treatment is called cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT. It focuses on identifying, understanding, and changing thinking and behavior patterns. Benefits are usually seen in 12 to 16 weeks, depending on the individual.

In this type of therapy the patient is actively involved in his or her own recovery, has a sense of control, and learns skills that are useful throughout life. CBT typically involves reading about the problem, keeping records between appointments, and completing homework assignments in which the treatment procedures are practiced. Patients learn skills during therapy sessions, but they must practice repeatedly to see improvement.

·         Exposure Therapy

A form of CBT, exposure therapy is a process for reducing fear and anxiety responses. In therapy, a person is gradually exposed to a feared situation or object, learning to become less sensitive over time. This type of therapy has been found to be particularly effective for obsessive-compulsive disorder and phobias.

·         Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Also known as ACT, this type of therapy uses strategies of acceptance and mindfulness (living in the moment and experiencing things without judgment), along with commitment and behavior change, as a way to cope with unwanted thoughts, feelings, and sensations. ACT imparts skills to accept these experiences, place them in a different context, develop greater clarity about personal values, and commit to needed behavior change.

·         Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

Integrating cognitive-behavioral techniques with concepts from Eastern meditation, dialectical behavioral therapy, or DBT, combines acceptance and change. DBT involves individual and group therapy to learn mindfulness, as well as skills for interpersonal effectiveness, tolerating distress, regulating emotions.

·         Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

Often referred to as IPT, interpersonal therapy is a short-term supportive psychotherapy that addresses interpersonal issues in depression in adults, adolescents, and older adults. IPT usually involves 12 to 16 one-hour weekly sessions. The initial sessions are devoted to gathering information about the nature of a person’s depression and interpersonal experience.

·         Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

Under certain conditions eye movements appear to reduce the intensity of disturbing thoughts. A treatment known as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or EMDR, seems to have a direct effect on the way that the brain processes information. Basically, it helps a person see disturbing material in a less distressing way.

2.  Medication

3.  Complimentary and Alternative treatment

• Stress and Relaxation Techniques
• Yoga
• Acupuncture
• Kava

Many people have found relief from each of these modalities.

Using The Lefkoe Method

After helping literally thousands of clients get rid of their panic disorders and various forms of anxiety, I think that the fastest and most lasting anxiety treatment is to eliminate the specific beliefs and conditionings that underlie any given anxiety disorder.

Unlike cognitive-behavioral therapy—perhaps the most effective psychotherapy technique—The Lefkoe Method (TLM) does not require clients to “practice” after they leave the office.  TLM permanently eliminates your limiting beliefs and conditionings during a session, after which you observe your anxiety disappear.

Interestingly, the same beliefs that cause anxiety also cause a lack of confidence, a concern with the opinion of others, procrastination, and other common mental problems—most of which are sources of anxiety.

Here is a list of beliefs and conditionings that we have discovered underlie most forms of anxiety.  Eliminating them probably will eliminate your anxiety.

• Mistakes and failure are bad.
• I’m not good enough.
• Change is difficult.
• I’m not important.
• What makes me good enough or important is having people think well of me.
• Nothing I do is good enough.
• I’m not capable.
• I’m not competent.
• I’m inadequate.
• If I make a mistake or fail I’ll be rejected.
• I’m a failure.
• I’m stupid.
• I’m not worthy.
• I’ll never get what I want.
• I’m powerless.
• People aren’t interested in what I have to say.
• What I have to say isn’t important.
• It’s dangerous to have people put their attention on me (something bad will happen).
• What makes me good enough or important is doing things perfectly.
• Conditioning: Fear associated with criticism and judgment.
• Conditioning: Fear associated with not meeting expectations.
• Conditioning: Fear associated with people putting their attention on me.
• Conditioning: Fear associated with rejection

Whatever anxiety treatment approach you choose, the most important thing to remember is that there is no need to live with anxiety.  Suffering is not our natural birthright—happiness is.

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If you haven’t yet eliminated at least one of your limiting self-esteem beliefs using the Lefkoe Belief Process, go to http://recreateyourlife.com/anxietytreatment where you can eliminate one negative belief free.

For information about eliminating 23 of the most common limiting beliefs and conditionings—which cause eight of the most common problems in our lives including a lack of confidence—and get a separate video of the WAIR? Process, please check out: http://recreateyourlife.com/naturalconfidence.

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copyright ©2012 Morty Lefkoe