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How to Beat Anxiety with Exposure Therapy

Exposure therapy is often essential if you are to overcome your anxiety disorder. The cognitive behavioural treatment of  conditions such as: panic with agoraphobia, simple phobias, social anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and post traumatic stress usually entails an exposure component.That is, you must subject yourself to the situations you are worried about in order to beat anxiety.

Call now on 0429 883671 to  make an appointment with a clinical psychologist experienced in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Relief from anxiety  is only a phone call away.

Although treatment may  sound frightening, your therapist will give you the tools to cope with confronting your fears (e.g. rational thinking, slow breathing and isometric relaxation) and you will work together to set  the goals and  pace of treatment.

The guidelines for exposure therapy are that the sessions must be

  • graded
  • repeated and regular
  • prolonged

Graded:
Your therapist will work with you to determine what would be an appropriate first step; it should be difficult enough to provoke some fear but easy enough for you to be fairly confident you can do it. Once you can cope with Step 1 confidently, then you can move onto a more difficult situation and gradually work up your most feared scenarios.

If someone was frightened of dogs they might consider that smaller dogs were less threatening than large ones and particular breeds were less aggressive than others. Someone with a dog phobia might therefore start off exposure therapy by interacting with a Cavalier King Charles puppy and gradually work up to patting an adult rottweiler.

It is important not to confront a feared situation in an exposure therapy session that is far too difficult for you, as if you tackle something too stressful, without sufficient preparation, you may become extremely anxious or even have a panic attack. Such a negative experience would only strengthen the association between fear and the setting.

Repeated:
Part of this form of anxiety treatment is that need to confront your feared situations frequently and regularly. If your exposures are too far apart your fear will have risen again by the next time you do it.

Prolonged:
Generally, it is advised that you stay in the feared situation until your symptoms starts to decrease. Anxious people often approach or attempt a feared situation but then choose to escape from the social or performance situation. When you avoid or leave feared situations your fear of them increases because the decrease in anxiety which follows escape gives you the idea that avoidance was a helpful strategy. However, if you stayed in the feared situation your symptoms would eventually decrease and the next time you confronted the situation you would be less anxious.

Therefore, it is important to your recovery that you stay in the situation you are attempting. Try not to panic or flee if the anxiety becomes severe. If your discomfort is high, you may feel you temporarily need time out from your feared activity, e.g. if you were attending a house party you might go to the bathroom or sit outside in the garden, do some slow breathing, develop some rational thoughts and wait for the fear to decrease for going back into the party.

Remember exposure is an important part of how to beat anxiety.

Take a step towards an anxiety free life with exposure therapy. We have  a clinical psychologist  in Melbourne who can help you through the process, call now at 0429 88 3671

Andrews, G., Creamer, M., Crino,R., Hunt,C., Lampe, L., & Page, A. (2003). The Treatment of Anxiety Disorders. 2nd Edition. Cambridge, England. Cambridge University Press

4 Good Reason You Should Call Us!

Quick appointments no matter where you live in Australia. Online shyness, public speaking and anxiety treatment available.

Minimal out of pocket expense (Medicare & Health fund Rebates)

Clinical Psychologist with approx. 25 years of experience. Also offering virtual reality exposure therapy.

Business hours, After hours and Saturdays appointments

Frequently Asked Questions

Anxiety Australia is an anxiety clinic in Hawthorn, Melbourne that is run by Catherine Madigan, who is a clinical psychologist. She primarily focuses on treating anxiety disorders and stress management techniques to individuals and businesses through one on one consultations and stress management workshops.

She offers professional, discreet and confidential treatment options that work.

Catherine’s effective anxiety treatments offered in Melbourne can help you overcome disorders such as:

Call now for an appointment on 0429 883 671

The www.anxietyaustralia.com.au/ website provides information about anxiety disorders and the treatment options available. You will also find contact details for other psychologists around Australia who have substantial experience in and/or work primarily with anxiety disorders.

Catherine Madigan is a Melbourne based Clinical Psychologist. She is passionate about empowering clients with confidence. The reason her focus is primarily on the treatment of anxiety disorders is that she gains great satisfaction by witnessing the freedom and life changing results her therapies can deliver.

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders in Australia, with 1/7 people (14% of the population) reporting having had an anxiety disorder in the last 12 months. Women are more likely to have an anxiety disorder than men, 18% vs 11%. ABS National Survey of Mental Health & Wellbeing, Summary of Results 2007.

Anxiety or fear is a normal response to a present or imagined threat. Mild fear can be helpful as it enables us to respond quickly when faced with a dangerous situation and to be alert in difficult situations (e.g. exams). However, excessive fear may lead to people being paralysed e.g. soldiers under attack may be so afraid they can’t move to take cover, public speakers may find they go blank, forget their lines and are rendered speechless.

Anxiety is a normal emotion as it affects most people and is widespread. You would be abnormal if you didn’t experience fear sometimes. However, if your anxiety is out of proportion to the situation you are experiencing and/or persists in the absence of threat, e.g you worry about events months ahead or are experiencing anxiety long after the danger has passed, you may need professional help.

Some people are more prone to experiencing anxiety than others and it is not caused by just one thing but by a combination of factors including: genetics, family environment and traumatic life experiences. Sufferers may have unhelpful thinking patterns such as perfectionist standards. Nevertheless, you can learn to manage your anxiety more effectively.

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