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Psychotherapy, or counseling, is important in treating anxiety disorders. For some disorders, like some phobias, counseling may work well on its own. But many people do better with both counseling and medicine.
Counseling is more than just talking with someone. It can teach you ways to deal with your anxiety. You can change the way you think about things. With time, you may be less likely to have symptoms.
Therapy also helps you feel less alone. When you meet with a counselor, you can get support, advice, feedback, and information. Having someone to talk to can help you feel less alone.
Types of counseling
Anxiety disorders are treated with several types of counseling. Sometimes two approaches together work best.
- Behavioral therapy teaches you how to act in ways that help reduce your anxiety. It is used for social anxiety disorder and certain phobias.
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps you find and change your ways of thinking and acting that add to your anxiety symptoms. It is used for generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, and phobias.
- Exposure therapy helps you face the things you fear. You slowly increase the time you spend in a feared situation, until your fear goes away. It is used for panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, and phobias.
- Psychodynamic psychotherapy helps you look closely at unconscious thoughts and feelings linked to past events. It may be used for many anxiety disorders, often together with cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Also of Interest
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