More Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Techniques You Can Take Home

Facing Your Fears

Facing your fears can be a vital task that helps you move forward. This doesn’t mean surrounding yourself with tarantulas when you’re scared of spiders. What it does mean is slowly exposing yourself to your fear repeatedly until the anxiety lessens. When looking at your different fears, it’s best to start off with a small fear first. This will help you gain confidence in yourself before tackling the more difficult fears, and familiarizes you with the process.

For example, if you are terrified of spiders, at the top of your list you could start by looking at images of spiders. Then gradually move onto watching videos of spiders, to looking at a spider at the zoo, to standing in a room with a spider, till finally, you can build yourself up to holding or touching a spider. This is exposure.

Relapse Prevention

Not only is it important to learn the different CBT relaxation techniques for anxiety, it is also vital to learn how to prevent a relapse from occurring. CBT works if it is practiced regularly, even daily, but occasionally people slip, and it’s easy to fall back into negative thoughts and habits. To try and prevent a relapse, here are some tips to help you.

Know Your Vulnerabilities

If you know when you are more likely to relapse, it can be easier to stop it from happening. Knowing what your warning signs are before you are faced with an anxiety attack, you will be more capable of putting your CBT skills into place. Creating an action plan based on these warning signs is a great idea.

Challenges

Overcoming and managing your anxieties is an ongoing challenge. Sometimes when we think we are doing well, we tend to ease off on the therapies, and this is how relapses can sneak back in. Even if you are doing really well, look for new challenges to work on so that you are constantly learning and managing the difficulties you experience.

See Also: Overcoming Agoraphobia: How To Say Goodbye To Your Fear Of Open Spaces

Identify Triggers

A small lapse is normal, and many will go through it. The best thing to do is to try and identify what triggered the lapse, and that way you can formulate a plan to cope with the same type of situations in the future. Think of your lapses as a learning opportunity, not just a negative experience.