Your Complete Guide to Online Anxiety Treatment
Anxiety is one of the most common mental health challenges in today's modern society.
And in today's remote climate, there's a new wave of help available. People worldwide are turning to online counseling to alleviate their anxiety and manage it in a way that gives them back the freedom and control to live the best life.
Like our clients, we've had to adapt to a remote environment in recent times. Our therapists began working with clients online in much larger numbers at the start of Covid pandemic. We were forced to see clients online we may have otherwise recommended attend in person sessions.
What did we learn? Online counseling has some unique advantages for treating anxiety! We've adapted and watched our clients make amazing progress!
As a result of our successes, we want to help you. So we've created our complete guide to online anxiety treatment.
There's No Magic Cure for Anxiety, But Online Therapy Can Help
It's important to note that there is no magic cure for anxiety.
It's a natural emotion that, for many of us, spirals out of control at various points and we need to address head on. In fact, feeling a little anxious can be highly beneficial in the right context, especially in danger and risk situations where it can even save your life.
But, if anxiety dominates your life and has an overall negative impact, there is help available. And that help is designed to reshape your relationship with fear. With the right guidance, your anxiety will subside, and you'll be able to allow your anxiety to surface only when it's necessary.
Practicing Coping Mechanisms
The first step to anxiety treatment is learning to manage anxiety in the moment as it comes up. The good news is, there are a lot of different coping skills you can use to cope with anxiety in the moment. The key is to try a variety until you find what works best for you in those moments.
Grounding
One popular coping skill for anxiety that's usually taught at the start of treatment is grounding.
Grounding can be practiced at home or at work and involves recognizing all your body's sensations in turn. It uses your body's senses to distract from the anxieties. After grounding, you'll be familiar with how your body feels when you're anxious. And being able to recognize that sensation is a decisive first step in overcoming it.
With online therapy sessions, your therapist is able to guide you through using grounding techniques in the very place you may feel anxious later. For example, if you often get anxious when you sit down at your desk, you may be asked to sit at your desk (if it is in a private space!) for a counseling session.
Then, your therapist can guide you through grounding right there. The next time you're anxious while working? You'll know exactly how to apply the grounding skills you learned in session!
Mindfulness & Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness is a useful skill to cultivate. When you're in the moment, you're present and aware in a way that helps you manage anxiety. You practice staying here in the given moment. As you practice, you're able to let go of worry.
The practice of mindfulness meditation comes from Buddhist influences, but there's nothing inherently religious about mindfulness and meditation practices.
For our purposes, practicing mindfulness involves training yourself to pay attention and focus on what's happening right now without judgment or criticism. Mindfulness includes thoughts you have about what's happening in the present and relating these to past events or future possibilities.
Mindfulness takes a little practice, but can be powerful when you start to feel anxious!
Understanding the Anxiety
Another thing we may work on in therapy is understanding the cause of the anxiety. This isn't always as obvious as you might think. One example is that a fear of needles might come from a traumatic childhood experience involving bee stings.
In most cases, the cause will be apparent to yourself. But in the above example, overcoming the fear of needles is a huge success story. However, it won't necessarily help you come to terms with a more generalized phobia of sharp objects.
With the right guidance, the good news is that understanding the cause of your fears will become more apparent. You'll also start to notice a pattern emerge. Through more in-depth understanding and insight, you'll be able to relate those experiences to something current in your life. Then you can begin to put those pieces together to successfully move forward.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most common types of therapy and can help with anxiety. It's a form of psychotherapy that helps you look at the relationship between your thoughts, feelings and behaviors.
In the case of anxiety, CBT means replacing those anxieties with healthy perspectives that will allow you to regain control over your life. The key is to identify the triggers for your fear and then address those triggers in a way that puts your mind back into a more positive state.
This works well when paired with exposure therapy.
How Online Anxiety Treatment Works
The best form of online anxiety treatment is one on one therapy where you work directly with an individual therapist. It's similar to seeing a therapist in person.
The difference? You're meeting in a virtual environment. Instead of driving to our office, you'll simply login and meet over video chat.
By working with you through our online therapy services, you'll be empowered to use anxiety as a tool for success instead of being ruled by it.
Who can Benefit From Online Anxiety Treatment?
Therapists can treat general anxiety or a wide range of anxiety disorders through online platforms. Now, everyone's situation is a bit unique. Therefore, it's important to talk to your therapist in your very first conversation about anything specifically you're worried about with online therapy.
Some common types of anxiety that may be treated online include:
Social Anxiety
OCD (in some cases, this is often treated in person but may be adapted to online)
Generalized Anxiety
Specific Phobias
Exposure Therapy
Exposure Therapy is the number one evidence-based practice for treating anxiety. Therapists who specialize in treating anxiety use various types of exposure therapy depending on the source of the anxiety in question.
The most effective treatment involves facing your worries in a systematic, supported way. A unique advantage of online anxiety treatment is that you can practice in the comfort of your own home.
Exposure therapy works well for many types of anxiety. Depending on your situation, it may look a little different. But the general idea is to give you support as you systematically face your fears.
At Aspire Counseling, we often use In-Vivo Exposure and Imaginal Exposure.
In-Vivo Exposure
In-Vivo exposure means facing your fears head on. Online counseling sessions give us a unique opportunity for your therapist to be there when you face your fears in real time.
For example, if someone is anxious about phone calls, we'll gradually expose them to phone calls. In one session, we may watch a video on screen of someone making a call. Then, in the next session, they might simply listen to a phone ring in real-time.
If their anxiety relates to the call itself, we might make or receive a phone call while on the video chat, so they know who is calling and why before they answer the phone. Over time, they'll make more phone calls until it's less anxiety provoking. This gradual style of exposure is well-suited to online anxiety therapy.
Imaginal Exposure
Imaginal exposure is a little different. In this case, therapists encourage clients to visualize their worst fear. They will then help the client to work through the scenerio to desensitize themselves to whatever caused the fear in the first place.
With online therapy, we want to be careful when using imaginal exposure online as we don't want you to get overwhelmed. In some cases, we may want to have an in person counseling session the first time we do intense imaginal exposure work . However, in many cases our therapists have been able to use imaginal exposure during online sessions. You and your therapist will talk about your unique fears and decide what will give you the flexibility and support you need.
Find Local Online Anxiety Treatment
If you live in the United States, you typically have to find a therapist who is licensed in your state. In our case, because of licensing limitations, we only work with residents in the state of Missouri. Plus, having someone relatively local is excellent for a long-term relationship, particularly if you want face-to-face treatment in the future.
Online therapy allows us to offer effective anxiety treatment to those who may not have many in-person counseling options. We’re able to work with clients from all over the state. And this is incredibly life-changing for those who wouldn't otherwise be able to see someone in person whether that’s because you live in a rural area with few therapists, due to Covid restrictions or just having a tight schedule that will allow for an online therapy session on your lunch break but wouldn’t have time to drive to our counseling office..
So, if you live anywhere in the state of Missouri and want help with your anxiety, our therapists would be happy to help. You can contact us online or call us at 573-328-2288.