Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Anxiety and Phobias
For the best books on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy click here.
CBT aims to change your thoughts and behaviour and is statistically proven to have a high success rate when treating anxiety, panic, and phobias. CBT is made of two elements, cognitive therapy and behaviour therapy.
Behaviour Therapy targets the way you react to things which trigger anxiety, or feelings you associate with the onset of anxiety. The goal is to break the link between the situation or feeling and the symptom. Another important aspect of Behavioural Therapy is learning how to achieve physical and mental relaxation.
Cognitive Therapy teaches the sufferer to notice their thought patterns, and understand how they are misinterpreting events and causing automatic negative thoughts to spiral out of control resulting in anxiety and panic building up.
CBT can be very helpful to the sufferer of anxiety, panic, or phobias. I would even go so far as to say there is little chance of a complete cure if you do not understand some crucial aspects of CBT. In my experience though CBT was best used for tackling situations which occurred daily. For example, with agoraphobia I drastically increased my comfort zone, but my phobia of using the Metro or Underground wasn’t helped as I was not a regular user. If you have never tried CBT it is worth speaking to your doctor about it. It can be relatively quick (a month or two) at bringing good results, and because the sufferer does all the work, the outcomes are in your control, this means your progress is much likelier to be permanent.
Books
If you are lucky you can visit a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist and have a series of sessions. If this is impractical or unaffordable there are two books which are extremely good. And, as all always, books are cheaper than therapy and, when you read, you know you are hearing from an expert. Mind Over Mood
, by Christine Padesky and Dennis Greenberger, is a modern classic which explains the process thoroughly (UK Readers Click Here).
The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook, by Edmund J. Bourne, was recommended to me by my therapist.It will form a sound basis for your recovery (UK Readers Click Here). They are both excellent books.
For a more detailed analysis of a CBT session click here.