Anxiety disorder self-help

Anxiety disorder therapy

Anxiety disorder self-help

There are two different forms of anxiety disorders:

1. anxiety disorders without a specific trigger for example generalized anxiety disorders and panic disorders. These are called unattached anxieties.

2. anxiety disorders with specific triggers, such as fear of making mistakes, fear of life, fear of being touched, etc. or various phobias. These are called bound fears.

As these two forms require different treatments, we will focus here on anxiety disorders with specific triggers.

Self-help for anxiety disorders

In order to really understand how we can help ourselves with anxiety disorders, the background should be briefly explained. These anxiety disorders, with specific triggers, are also known as fears from the past or pathological fears. These stem from the past, usually from early childhood between birth and 4 years of age.

Cause of anxiety disorders

In this difficult developmental phase for sensitive young children, they can easily find themselves in situations where they are overwhelmed by their emotions, such as fear, anger, sadness and shame. This can come from real situations or from irrational or fearful interpretations. In such an overwhelming situation, certain specific emotions (fear of dying, fear of loss, feeling of rejection, shame of being me, etc.) can become so strong that they can no longer be integrated/processed. If this happens and the child can no longer free itself from it, the psyche has to help out with an emergency function to ensure stability and survival. This function represses the overburdening emotion into the subconscious. This saves the situation, as well as the survival and stability of the psyche.

Symptoms of anxiety disorders

But now the subconscious has been enriched by a split-off emotion. This is literally psychologically amputated, alienated and develops destructive effects. The severity of the symptoms/effects varies depending on how strong the fear is, or how strong the stress or tension of the fear is. The symptoms can therefore range from mild to dysfunctional and pathological. Typical symptoms of split-off/repressed fears are blockages, for example : The fears, or the content of the fears, are blocked (in the case of a strong fear of criticism, the criticism is blocked). These blockages come from the so-called defense mechanisms. There are many different ones and they are used to prevent the specific fear (or other emotion) from re-emerging into consciousness. This is because the specific subject of fear is excluded from consciousness after splitting off, which means that under normal circumstances the subject of fear is no longer in the person’s world of experience. If, due to a situation, the defense fails to do so and a fear or other emotion does penetrate the conscious mind, such unconscious parts are activated (triggered), the affected person usually experiences a brief but very intense outburst of anger or hatred. The arguments and thinking are then usually very irrational and emotionally driven.

Anxiety disorder self-help

The problem is this rejected, unconscious part. This must be accepted again in some way. There are various methods for this. The best-known method is the confrontation method. It involves confronting precisely these fears. But it is obvious that this is exactly what you don’t want to do. The confrontation method is therefore also the least popular method. Fortunately, there are other methods that do not require a confrontation, such as the Fear Therapy app. There, the stress/tension of the anxiety is gently relieved instead of confronting, which is a completely different experience. This means you don’t have to be afraid of the treatment. Another advantage of the app is that there is no need to travel back to the past; it only works in the here and now. But how can you use it to help yourself? The app is designed so that anyone can do it on their own. The methods are easy to understand and simple. There is also a digital therapist who communicates with you using voice output. This gives you all the tools you need to help yourself with an anxiety disorder. From the comfort of your own home.

The app also thoroughly resolves any fear. Although this takes a little more time, it is much more sustainable and thorough. Once a fear has been completely resolved, it is no longer a burden. The app also thoroughly dissolves the associated negative belief (conviction) of such a fear. So you have the perfect tool for self-help with an anxiety disorder! It is better to spend the time on a one-off anxiety resolution and then have freed-up energy and time for life instead of (having to) constantly worry about anxiety.