Being the most common feature in our times qualified our times to be probably called an era of anxietyowing  to  its  contradictions  and  challenges,  the  lack  of  opportunities  for  self-fulfillment,  over  stress  and  poor social  relationships  and  values,  which  leads  to  a  sense  of  tension  and  anxiety  associated  with  our  inability  to predict what will happen in the future.

Future anxiety is one of the anxieties that simultaneously emerged with Toffler’s launching of the term Future  Shock  (1970);  Zaleski  (1996)  indicated  this concept  which  refers  to  a  state  of  apprehension,  fear, uncertainty  and  anxiety  of  undesired  changes  expected  to  occur  in  the  future.  This  fear  of  the  future could include a variety of anticipated threats including physical threats, such as illness or accident, or emotional threats, for example the loss of one of the family members. These threats vary in terms of severity, and future anxiety may include the individual’s fear of failure in achieving his/her goals and aspirations.

Full story at Institute of Education Sciences

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Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

We’re going to start by examining each form of therapy individually before comparing the two

As you know, Psychodynamic  psychotherapy, like CBT, has been proven to work through research. It makes use of the psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud and uses free association and the understanding of transference and counter-transference to help clients recognize why they’re having psychological issues and lead them down a cathartic path where they can then improve their status after realizing the root of their problem.

This therapy method tends to work well because it focuses on getting to root of the client’s problems and allows for a free range of corrections that account for the various idiosyncrasies you may notice during your sessions.

The challenge with psychodynamic  psychotherapy – especially in today’s fast-paced society – is that it takes quite a while and is rather costly in order to be truly effective. Getting sensitive, helpful information from clients by getting them to talk about their childhood can be like pulling teeth. It’s also hard to test the therapy empirically since results are intrinsic to each particular individual, which makes its effectiveness a hotly debated topic.

CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)

CBT is seemingly the opposite of psychodynamic  psychotherapy.  It is goal-oriented, has a set time frame, and tends to be more structured – all pros in its corner. It also has a bit more scientific support and is much more cost effective than the former therapy type, which are big pluses in today’s economy.

CBT isn’t all roses and unicorns though. It can miss issues that are brought to light in more in-depth therapies like psychotherapy, which can greatly limited the overall effectiveness of CBT if those issues are left unaddressed. It tends not to be as effective for people with complex mental disorders or learning disabilities – limiting the population range CBT can benefit and causing you to have to turn away more clients if you choose to use only CBT.

The Final Comparison

CBT simply works better in today’s insurance reimbursement driven world. People are more skeptical of the psychodynamic approach than ever before and many simply aren’t willing to spend the money required to see real results from psychodynamic psychotherapy. You may it best to start with CBT, especially if there’s a specific issue the client wants addressed, and then ease into psychodynamic psychotherapy once the client has become acclimated with you and a working relationship and trust has been established.

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CBT makes use of two schools of psychological thought: cognitive and behavioral psychology. As you know, cognitive psychology focuses on the study of mental processes such as thought, attention and memory. Behavioral psychology focuses on understanding how people interact within their environment. The two are used together within CBT to help clients with psychological disorders change both the way they think and the way they behave.

CBT is typically used to treat anxiety disorders in adults.  It can use proven techniques of desensitization to gradually introduce people to their fearful stimuli and teach them why they don’t need to afraid, or at least as afraid, of the subject of their phobias.

For instance, let’s say your client has arachnophobia, a fear of spiders.  As you may know, the theories behind CBT contend that you’ve been taught to be afraid of spiders (not in the literal sense but that could be the case too) and that slow exposure to your fear will help undo the fearful response.

Depending on just how afraid of spiders you are, you’d start at the lowest comfort level of CBT you can. In the above example, and perhaps you have tried this intervention, the client  would need to be introduced simply to the idea of spiders – being able to talk about them – before they could move on to seeing images, live specimens and possibly even letting one crawl along their arm!

As you know, CBT has been used effectively to treat a wide variety of disorders, such as schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, psychosis, and bipolar disorder.

Do you agree that CBT works by helping your client change the way he or she looks at life and their surroundings in order to help them achieve the goals they set?

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Pace Yourself
Although you’re probably eager to get rid of your anxious feelings, don’t try to do too much at once. Taking on too big of a challenge when it comes to dealing with anxiety can lead to major setbacks. Instead, set reasonable goals for yourself. Tackle each stressful situation individually as you go about your day. Choose a few coping techniques to try during these situations. Don’t let yourself dwell on a situation once the anxiety passes.

Learn to Breathe
Relaxation is an effective way to handle anxiety. You can practice breathing to help calm you down. There are several techniques to choose from, but the most basic one involves being consciously aware of each breath you take as you inhale and exhale. This helps draw your focus toward calming yourself instead of allowing your anxious feelings to take control. You can also try other forms of relaxation such as meditation or yoga.

Practice Having a Positive Outlook
Staying focused on positive thoughts can have a big impact on your anxiety levels. Since anxious feelings thrive on negative thoughts, practice turning these thoughts into more optimistic ones. This takes a lot of effort and patience if you’re used to having a gloomy and pessimistic outlook on life. You’ll need to try it on a regular basis in order for you to successfully adopt a better view of yourself and the world around you. When you start having a negative thought, stop it in its tracks and replace it with a more cheerful one.

Focus on Solutions
Dwelling on problems instead of actively trying to solve them can make anxiety worse. It can make you feel trapped and frustrated. If you can change a situation to make it less likely to trigger anxiety, work toward doing that. For example, if your financial situation makes you feel stressed, take a closer look at it and come up with solutions. You might decide to take on a part-time job or sell some of your possessions in order to have enough money to cover your bills. You should also keep in mind that there might be problems that you can’t do anything about. If you’re worried about whether or not you impressed a new client at work or passed a test in school, you’ll have to wait and see. Worrying about it in the meantime won’t solve anything, and it will make you feel more anxious.

Put Things in Perspective
Taking a step back to look at a certain situation or life in general helps you put things in perspective. Ask yourself if your present situation will matter a month from now or five years from now. This helps you look at events that happen in a more realistic and objective way, which can help curb anxiety. What you’ll often find is that most of the things that make you anxious don’t really matter in the long run, so they’re not worth worrying about.

related course:
http://www.onlineceucredit.com/ceus-online/ax-anxiety/continuing-education.html

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A phobia is an overwhelming irrational fear of an object or a situation. Most people have at least one phobia that they simply choose to live with. Phobias don’t become a problem unless they interfere with your everyday life.

If you live in a small town where the biggest building is two stories tall, for instance, having an elevator phobia probably won’t cause you any unpleasant complications. Suppose, however, that you live in New York City and work on the 46th floor of a skyscraper? That makes a fear of elevators a more immediate problem, one that needs to be dealt with.

Fortunately, most phobias can be easily resolved using relaxation techniques to decrease anxiety and graded exposure to slowly get you used to being around the thing that you fear.

The first step in overcoming a phobia is learning to relax your body. Sit or lie in a comfortable position and, starting with your toes, tense and release each muscle group until all of your muscles are completely relaxed. If you have trouble achieving this state on your own, it may help to play soft music or sounds of nature in the background. There are also several CDs available that can guide you through the relaxation process.

Now that you know how to relax and let go of your anxiety, the next step is addressing the elevator phobia. Make a list of five situations involving elevators and number the list from the least threatening thought to the most threatening thought. For instance, being in a lobby with a bank of elevators might be least threatening. Actually riding an elevator up a floor or two might arouse more anxiety, and staying in the elevator all the way to the top of the building might be the most frightening thought.

Once you have your list, start with the first item, in this case walking into a lobby with a bank of elevators. You may feel your muscles tense; take time to consciously relax them. Do this for a few days until you are able to remain relaxed while looking at the elevators. Then move on to the next step on your list and so forth.

If you take your time and make sure you are able to remain completely calm through one task before going onto the next, you’ll soon find yourself able to enter an elevator without fear and ride it up to the floor where your office is located.

Related course:
http://www.onlineceucredit.com/ceus-online/pho-phobias/continuing-education.html

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