cbt

[Ness93]

Had cognitive behavioral therapy helped anyone with their anxiety symptoms & anxiety?

[Kuma]

I found it helpful. But it takes a fair amount of effort. To me, it is a bit like personal training -- the CBT therapist can guide you and help give you direction, but it is largely personal effort and practicing the "skills" that you learn which leads to success. It is very different than traditional psychotherapy.

If you are motivated to work hard to overcome anxiety, and are willing to be convinced to change some of the ways you think, then I recommend CBT.

[Ness93]

Thanks for the reply I am seriously ready to give it my all and work hard at getting rid of my symptoms of anxiety my symptoms are harsh and it makes it hard for me to want to leave my house with all the pressure I feel on me and I'm only 20 I am young enough I feel to overcome it now so I have a brighter happier future !

[Kuma]

You sound like the type of person who will benefit from CBT.

Fundamentally, people who suffer from anxiety do not do a good job evaluating risk. Think, for example, of the guy who will not drive over a bridge because he is afraid it will fall into the water and he will drown. He lives his life as if there's a 50% chance that will happen. He will drive 40 miles out of his way to avoid the bridge, or will turn down a job that requires a bridge commute. In reality, there is less than one in a million chance that will happen. If he could be taught to evaluate risk more accurately -- he would not worry about the bridge cratering, because it is only one in a million (actually, less, I'm sure) chance.

Anxious people also tend to jump to worst case scenario outcomes. We assume that if a bad thing does happen, the worst result will obtain. Think, for example, of the person who lives in fear of getting the flu. They think "if I get the flu, it could turn into pneumonia and I could die of that, or I could infect my child and that could cause her life long health problems, etc." In reality, it is true you might get the flu, but if you do there is a 99.99% chance you will just take some Tylenol and rest a day or two and get better. So here, the person is not necessarily over-estimating the odds of a bad thing happening -- it is true she might get the flu -- but she is immediately jumping to the worst case scenario conclusion, and is grossly over-estimating the likelihood of that bad outcome. If she understood the real odds, she would still not be happy about getting the flu, but she would not worry too much about it.

People can be taught to evaluate risk (of both events and consequences) more accurately. That is some of what you will address in CBT.

As you say, at a young age you have a lot of time to benefit from shedding your anxiety. And you seem to have a good "can do" attitude, so I bet it will work for you.