Anxiety During The 1950s And 1960s

CBT has a number of strengths; first beginning with its capacity to yield empirical results as to its effectiveness. Countless studies have shown CBT to be the most effective treatment for anxiety and depression (e.g., Oei & McAlinden, 2014; Tolin, 2010); this is likely the result of a number of factors. CBT is a collaborative, educational, time-limited model that demystifies the therapy process; changes are made with clients, not to clients, the strategies learned equip clients to better navigate current and future difficulties, and the setting of goals allows clients to clearly see their progress (Corey, 2013; Skinner & Wrycraft, 2014). An additional strength of CBT for anxiety and depression is its applicability to both individuals and groups; group CBT has a number of auxiliary benefits including, vicarious learning, a sense of cohesiveness that can increase motivation, social interaction and the opportunity to help others (Oei & McAlinden, 2014).

Cognitive-Behavioral therapy (CBT) is an empirically supported treatment for a variety of disorder diagnoses. Although pharmacological treatments are the most widely used method of treatment in anxiety disorders in America, research has found that even though patients respond sufficiently to medication treatment initially some are unable

Agoraphobia is a strong fear and anxiety of being in places where it may be hard to escape or even where help may not be available (medlineplus.gov/ency/article). People that normally tend to have this fear try to avoid public places in that they may feel there would be a very difficult way in them trying to escape. In turn, this does make them have panic attacks

A phobic disorder is marked by a persistent and irrational fear of an object or situation that presents no realistic danger. Agoraphobia is an intense, irrational fear or anxiety occasioned by the prospect of having to enter certain outdoor locations or open spaces. For example, busy streets, busy stores, tunnels, bridges, public transportation and cars. Traditionally agoraphobia was solely classified as a phobic disorder. However, due to recent studies it is now also viewed as a panic disorder. Panic disorders are characterised by recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety that usually occur suddenly and unexpectedly (Weiten, 1998).

#*CBT is an intensive therapeutic approach that helps isolate thought patterns that contribute to anxiety. Over the course of therapy, you may learn to identify unhelpful thought patterns and learn techniques to change them.

A couple of researchers at the Anxiety Disorders Research Center in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) examined weaknesses of CBT (Craske et al., 2014). Although CBT has been known for the most effective treatment for social phobia, not all patients show improvements after the treatment. Patients easily drop out during, or at the early stage of the treatment. Even patients who successfully finished the entire session tend to have a hard time continuing to use methods they learned and to maintain low level of anxiety, so the likelihood of reoccurrence exists. Therefore, alternative ways to solve these weaknesses are needed in order to develop the treatment itself and to provide the most matchable treatment method for each patient, according to the article by Craske et al. (2014).

There are two routes available to treat anxiety and other mental health disorders; one being the therapy route for example CBT, mindfulness and applied relaxation and the other being the pharmacological route where drugs such as benzodiazepines, anti-depressants and anti-convulsants can be prescribed.

Based on research, CBT is one of the successful therapeutic actions that have demonstrated usefulness to provide a measure to a wide variety of mental illnesses (Basco & Rush, 2007). Major benefiters of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy include patients with depression, mood disorders, and personality disorders. CBT has proved to be as useful as an antidepressant to some individuals with depression in addition to superiority in relapsing prevailing mood swings. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is also applicable in treating anxiety disorders. Among the patients in this category of the disorder include those who experience persistent panic attacks. Through therapy, these people are encouraged to take tests of beliefs they have concerning such attacks

In recent years, mental illness has been more recognised and treated as a true medical condition. Some treatments of anxiety include: Cognitive behaviour therapy, Behaviour therapy, E-therapy , Antidepressant medication,

This paper provides a brief overview of evidence based psychological treatments for anxiety disorders. It addresses the following questions:

The counseling intervention selected for the patient situation is Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). Hofmann & Smits (2008) defines CBT as therapy based upon the notion that all anxiety disorders are cognitive based, and that cognitive restructuring and behavioral techniques can be effective treatment tools. In Richards (2014), CBT is described as therapy that must be focused on three main areas: cognitive, behavioral, and emotional.

Panic disorder and agoraphobia are two separate disorders that often go hand in hand with each other. An individual can be diagnosed with panic disorder, but a diagnosis without agoraphobia can often take place as well. Some individuals develop symptoms of agoraphobia, but do not have the classic panic disorder symptoms, hence the reason they are both listed as separate disorders in the DSM-5. Panic disorder can be identified as “recurrent unexpected panic attacks. A panic attack is an abrupt surge of intense fear or intense discomfort that reaches a peak within minutes, and during which time four or more physical and cognitive characteristics take place (Hooley, J. 2017, pg.188).” When dealing with panic disorder it can often become debilitating, due to the fact that the individual does not know when the onset of an attack will occur. Individuals with panic disorder more commonly develop agoraphobia as a comorbid disorder, and if left untreated, can have a difficult time even leaving their home. Agoraphobia can be defined as “the individual fears or avoids

Along with CBT, an additional evidence based treatment is relaxation training. According to Wicks-Nelson and Israel (2015), relaxation training is a method that “teaches individuals to be aware of their physiological and muscular reactions to anxiety and provide them with skills to control these reactions” (p. 136). Due to individuals learning their physiological and muscular reactions to anxiety they can sense the early signs or anxiety and relax before they panic. As said by Wicks-Nelson & Israel (2015) individuals will go through muscle relaxation training and they will learn a cue word such as “calm”.

Anxiety is treated with cognitive behavioral therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most used for anxiety.Cognitive behavioral therapy helps with negativity and “bad” feelings. Cognitive behavioral therapy has two main components these include : “Cognitive therapy examines how negative thoughts, or cognitions, contribute to anxiety.Behavior therapy examines how you behave and react in situations that trigger anxiety.The basis of cognitive behavioral therapy is that our thoughts—not external events—affect the way we feel”(Arbor,2011,p.12). In other words, different situations can have different reactions and vise versa. Each clinical area focuses on different parts of the brain that may trigger anxiety and it 's symptoms.

It teaches the individual how to behave and learn how to handle anxiety towards stress and fearful situations. Cognitive Behavior Therapy is conducted by individual or group therapy. Treatments for anxiety disorder are generally treated with psychotherapy (talk therapy) and medications. It is necessary to make this study to see how people best benefit from this therapy, whether it is in group or individual therapy. Although there is a lot of literature on group therapy, there is not as much that compares the benefits of group therapy vs individual therapy.