Anxiety Disorder Programmes — How Do They Help?

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is a natural response to have to stressful or dangerous situations. However, for some people, anxiety begins to dominate their lives. This is when it becomes a problem. To somebody suffering with extreme anxiety, it may seem like it’s never going to go away. However, with treatment, anxiety levels can be reduced. Anxiety disorder programmes are a great way to get this point across. It is normal to feel anxious sometimes, but not the majority of the time.

How is anxiety treated?

Anxiety can be treated in different ways. A GP may refer an anxious patient to a local mental health team, who can decide on a course of therapy to treat the anxiety. There are different kinds of therapies available. A very commonly used therapy would be cognitive behavioural therapy. Counselling or other therapies may also be recommended, depending on how the anxiety affects the person.

Some people require medication for their anxiety. This can come in the form of serotonin sensitive re-uptake inhibitors (anti-depressants also known as SSRIs). Those with severe anxiety may be prescribed benzodiazepines, to be used when they are extremely anxious.

What examples can we give of anxiety programmes?

Our anxiety disorder programme, “Extreme Anxiety: Winning the Battle”, features interviews with patients who have severe anxiety. Each one explains how anxiety affects them and what did or didn’t help. It also covers the medication side of anxiety, which there is a lot of misinformation and stigma about, due to the addictive nature of some drugs used to treat anxiety. We have other programmes that cover anxiety, as well as depression. Examples would be, ‘Stress and Depression in the Workplace’, and, ‘Insights on Depression’.

What is cognitive behavioural therapy and how does it work?

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a form of talking therapy that helps the patient to analyse their thought processes and figure out which thoughts are irrational. The aim is to eventually change the behaviours relating to certain thoughts. A good example would be if somebody was socially anxious, they might worry a lot about embarrassing themselves in a social situation. This might lead them to avoid attending social situations.

Their perspective could eventually be changed to be more like, “Everyone has embarrassing moments, and I don’t fixate on my friends’ embarrassing moments.” Cognitive behavioural therapy can also be very useful for helping improve self-esteem levels. Anxiety and low self-esteem often go hand-in-hand, so improving one can sometimes help the other.

Conclusion

Education on anxiety is important, so that others who experience it know that things can eventually change. It can be hard to explain how you really feel about something. There is also a stigma around using medication to help with mental health problems. An anxiety disorder programme can help those who suffer with anxiety, as well as family members and friends who may struggle to understand or empathise with them. Our anxiety disorder programme, “Extreme Anxiety: Winning the Battle”, and others are available on our website.