CBT for Anxiety
Overcome anxiety with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Learn how CBT helps reframe negative thoughts, build coping skills, and create lasting mental health changes.
What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy? (CBT)
Cognitive behavioural therapy is one of the most widely used and thoroughly researched forms of therapy available today. It can be hugely helpful for treating a long list of mental health concerns like substance abuse, eating disorders, relationship issues, or grief, but its most well-known application is for anxiety and depression.
Its core function is to empower clients to alter their behaviours through a combination of education and skill building. This allows clients to work towards positive mental health changes practically and successively.
CBT is known to be especially effective for treating anxiety disorders with many patients seeing noticeable improvements in just a few sessions.
Anxiety Disorders Effectively Treated by CBT
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD):
When most people think of anxiety, they think of GAD (generalised anxiety disorder). GAD can cause uncontrollable worrying along with a whole host of other unpleasant symptoms. CBT is a great tool for GAD since it can help identify the specific negative thought patterns that lead to worry and reframe those thoughts into a more positive outlook.
Panic Disorder:
The panic disorder cycle—trigger, fear, and panic—can be challenging to break without external support. Approaches like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can help individuals gradually face their discomfort, which can greatly reduce the frequency of panic attacks and strengthen coping strategies.
Social Anxiety:
Social anxiety is a common anxiety disorder that can be effectively addressed with cognitive-behavioural therapy. CBT helps individuals identify negative thoughts about social situations and develop more constructive ways of thinking. Exposure techniques, often used in CBT, can play a key role in gradually reducing social anxiety.
Phobias:
For those struggling with phobias, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) offers structured techniques such as cognitive reframing, exposure exercises, and relaxation strategies to support gradual progress toward overcoming fear.
OCD:
Cognitive-behavioural therapy is a widely used approach for treating OCD, often incorporating exposure and response prevention (ERP). This technique helps individuals change their reactions to triggers, reducing compulsions over time and providing effective coping strategies.
How Do I Know If I Could Use CBT To Treat My Anxiety?
While the decision to seek anxiety treatment is personal, CBT is a highly researched and proven approach. Recognizing key indicators can help determine its value.
You’re Experiencing Persistent Anxiety:
Feeling anxious before or during an intimidating event like an important presentation isn’t cause for alarm. It’s completely normal to experience anxiety from time to time. However, if you find yourself feeling persistently anxious for months or even weeks on end, support from CBT might be warranted.
You Have Physical Symptoms From Your Anxiety:
Anxiety is never pleasant, but physical symptoms can be a sign you’re experiencing above-normal levels of anxiety. Intense anxiety can lead to stress rashes, trouble sleeping, headaches, fatigue, excessive sweating, and more.
Your Anxiety Is Impacting Your Day-to-Day Life:
If you find yourself continually cancelling plans, avoiding situations you used to enjoy, or dreading essential obligations due to anxiety, it’s fair to say anxiety is negatively impacting your day-to-day life. This is a clear sign you could benefit from CBT.
You Feel Out of Your Depth:
We all experience ups and downs, but sometimes new situations arise that we simply don’t have the tools to cope with. If anxiety feels like an obstacle you can’t overcome on your own, CBT could be a helpful solution.
Other Strategies Haven’t Helped:
Perhaps you’ve tried talking about your anxiety with family or friends or even gone on a doctor-prescribed medication. If other strategies haven’t worked for you, CBT is a targeted approach to dealing with anxiety. It can be highly effective alone or in conjunction with other modalities.
You Want An Effective Long-Term Strategy To Manage Your Anxiety:
One of the best things about CBT is that it’s a life-long investment. The skills you build to cope with your anxiety can serve you well into the future, whether or not you’re still actively working through sessions.
How CBT is a Unique Form of Therapy for Anxiety?
A few key aspects of CBT set it apart from other forms of therapy starting with the very foundation CBT is derived from.
CBT recognizes the significant relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. It uses this framework to create positive mental change by starting with a client’s thought patterns. When thought patterns are changed, emotions follow suit, and behaviours can then become intentional rather than reactionary.
Another key characteristic of CBT that makes it appealing to many people is its pragmatic and structured approach. CBT generally follows a clear plan with a set timeline and specific goals. This means clients have a transparent understanding of the time and financial commitment required to see results upfront.
CBT also focuses on present emotions and behaviours rather than past experiences, so the process of creating meaningful mental changes is often faster than other approaches that delve deeply into a client’s personal history.
A final aspect of CBT that makes it an appealing option is the long-lasting benefits it gives. It equips clients with skills to better manage their anxiety well beyond their therapy sessions. It’s more accurately described as a mental health investment than a temporary fix.
The Benefits of CBT Treatment For Anxiety
Everyone responds to CBT differently, yet many find it brings clear, lasting benefits to their mental and emotional well-being.
The primary benefit clients seeking CBT can expect is improved strategies for managing their day-to-day lives. CBT teaches techniques that empower clients to change their thought patterns and behaviours, leading to positive life outcomes. This can also consequently boost self-esteem, relationship quality, and even work performance.
Another potential benefit from CBT that’s an important consideration for some clients is a reduced need for anxiety medication. For clients who want to limit pharmaceutical medications for financial, personal, or health reasons, CBT can be a valuable alternative.
CBT is a great tool for increasing self-awareness and personal growth. Therapists can help clients better understand themselves and redirect their thoughts towards a healthier perspective
Core Techniques Used in CBT to Treat Anxiety
There are many techniques used in CBT, but a few of the most common ones used for anxiety are cognitive restructuring, behavioural activation, exposure therapy, mindfulness and relaxation techniques, journaling, and thought-challenging.
Cognitive Restructuring:
This technique is all about restructuring the unconscious and anxiety-producing thinking patterns a client experiences. It consists of first identifying problematic thoughts (sometimes called automatic negative thoughts), challenging them, and replacing them with more positive ones.
Behavioural Activation:
Behavioural activation is a broad CBT technique that helps clients take steps towards positive action in their lives. This technique can increase motivation, improve mood, and help clients follow through on personal goals.
Exposure Therapy:
Exposure therapy is a CBT strategy that’s not only helpful for phobias, but also panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and general anxiety disorder. During exposure therapy, a client is gradually exposed and desensitized to fears safely and sensitively.
Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques:
Mindfulness and relaxation techniques are a component of many kinds of therapy including CBT. Techniques like breathwork, meditation, mindfulness exercises and more are great tools to help regulate the nervous system in stressful situations and address the physical symptoms of anxiety.
Journaling:
Journaling is another therapy technique with many variations. Overall, it helps clients self-reflect and identify patterns in their thoughts and behaviours. It can be used as a mental health tool between CBT sessions, as well as a way to enrich therapy sessions.
Thought Challenging:
This specific CBT technique is one of the most effective ways to reveal and correct cognitive distortions. Cognitive distortions give clients a skewed view of themselves or a situation, leading to heightened anxiety.
At-Home CBT Exercises to Help Treat Anxiety
Professional guidance from a therapist is the best way to get the most out of CBT for anxiety, but if that’s not a possibility, there are some helpful CBT exercises anyone can do at home.
One easy place to start is with positive affirmations. Positive affirmations are empowering phrases repeated out loud that challenge negative thoughts and promote a positive mindset. Phrases like “I am capable” or “I am resilient” can be helpful.
Another at-home strategy is to adjust inner self-talk from critical and harsh to a tone suited for speaking to a friend. Giving grace and self-encouragement can be a wonderful way to begin the journey of overcoming anxiety.
Self-monitoring through a journal can also be a good exercise to help manage anxiety. Writing down thoughts, emotions, and behaviours may help highlight patterns and clarify the areas where change is needed.
Mindfulness and breathing techniques are another powerful tool for combating anxiety independently. Techniques like progressive muscle relaxation or guided meditations can easily be done from the comfort of home with audio or video guidance. Breathing techniques are even more accessible since many can be done anytime, anywhere, in just a few minutes.
Finally, self-compassion exercises can be helpful for many people. This could be as simple as taking a small mindfulness break during moments of overwhelm, or perhaps writing a self-compassion letter. Giving oneself compassion can be incredibly freeing and often lightens experiences of anxiety instantly.
Schedule a Free Consultation
We understand finding an in-person CBT therapist isn’t always an option. That’s why we offer online counselling services across Ontario and New Brunswick. To get started, Schedule a free consultation with our Supportive team.
Frequently Asked Questions
The 333 rule is a quick and easy way to reduce anxiety in any uncomfortable moment. All you have to do is notice three things you see, three things you can hear, and move three different parts of your body. This can quickly bring your mind away from racing thoughts and back into the present moment.
CBT has many techniques that help reframe the way you see the world, and yourself. It can provide a more grounded and realistic perspective which displaces the anxious spiraling thoughts you may have experienced before. Although it’s not a total overnight transformation, CBT is one of the most effective ways to change your brain and move toward a more peaceful state of mind.
While CBT has life-long benefits, “a permanent solution” isn’t necessarily a realistic expectation for everyone. CBT gives clients valuable tools to cope with anxiety indefinitely, but there’s always the possibility of unexpected stressful situations where periods of extra support are needed. Either way, CBT is an investment with permanently positive effects.