Saturday, June 20, 2009

Anxiety - Therapy and Counseling

By Gordon Dalwood

Dealing with anxiety and panic attacks is never an easy venture. For many, these problems can lead to a great reduction in the quality of a person's life. That is why it is critical to seek the proper treatment to reverse the ravages of these problems. One of the most common strategies is to seek therapy and counseling with a qualified mental health professional.

Therapy and counseling are utilized to get to the psychological roots of the anxiety. The goal here is once the root of the problem is discovered it can be possible to reverse the ravages of the problem. However, one needs to have realistic expectations about these sessions in order to get the most out of them.

First and foremost, one needs to realize that a counseling session is not intended to deliver a quick cure for one's anxiety issues. Some have the notion that a counselor will reveal a number of secrets that will alleviate anxiety once and for all. Actually, it does not work this way. The counseling session will seek to reverse the problems associated with anxiety in incremental steps. With time, patience, and consistency, great progress can be made with reversing the excess anxiety.

How will the counselor or therapist approach the sessions? There really is no single, unitary answer to this. There are standardized psychological tests that can be administered in order to arrive at an accurate diagnosis. The specific questions and approached that might be employed during the actual therapy session will vary among the many mental health professionals in the field.

This brings up another point: there is no right or wrong answers to any questions the therapist might ask. Simply answer all the questions that are posed to you in as clear and direct a manner as possible. It is also critical to be truthful in your responses and avoid holding anything back during the questioning. This will simply undermine the potential success of your therapy sessions.

Also, it is important to point out that counseling sessions are not one way streets. That means it is not just the therapist that asks questions and you respond. You should always ask questions of your counselor in order to learn more about your condition and to help reduce your problems with anxiety.

When you are not in therapy, you should keep a log book and keep an accurate account of how you are dealing with the anxiety since the start of your sessions. This will allow you to notice what exactly it is that triggers some of your more anxious moments. Ultimately, through keeping an accurate log of your behavior you can gauge how well your therapy sessions are going.

Therapy sessions are the number one way of treating anxiety. They may not only help to decrease your feelings of anxiety but may help to turn around the effects of other psychological problems that you may be experiencing which will be brought out during these sessions. For those who want to regain control of their lives this is a sanctioned way of doing so. - 16890

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