Anxiety can cause great distress and disability. It could be a factor in diminished educational and career prospects, as well as challenges in familial and interpersonal bonds.
In actuality, anxiety is our body’s response to a danger to our health. We wouldn’t respond in a dangerous situation without anxiety, and we probably wouldn’t be here today. A suitable treatment can help you control your symptoms and even lead to recovery. These are six treatments for anxiety that can help you improve your condition.
1. Cognitive therapy
The goal of cognitive therapy is to alter the thought and belief systems that contribute to and cause anxiety. For instance, a socially anxious person may exacerbate their anxiety by thinking unfavorable things like “Everyone thinks I’m boring.” Cognitive therapy is predicated on the idea that beliefs lead to thoughts, which in turn lead to feelings and actions. Let’s take the situation where you feel, maybe unknowingly, that you need attention and everyone should love you.
You could get nervous if someone walks away from you in the middle of a conversation because you might believe that they despise you. Reasonable “self-talk,” reality testing, attention training, cognitive challenge, and cognitive restructuring are some of the cognitive therapy techniques. This involves checking the facts of negative ideas, confronting unhelpful fears and beliefs, and keeping an eye on your self-talk.
2. Acquiring assertiveness
When you communicate your needs, wants, feelings, views, and opinions to other people openly and sincerely without purposefully offending them, you are being assertive. Because they feel they have no right to speak up or are terrified of disagreement, people with anxiety disorders may find it difficult to be assertive. Passive relationships with others, however, exacerbate anxiety and diminish self-esteem. Building more self-esteem requires learning how to act assertively.
3. Correct breathing techniques
Hyperventilation, which lowers blood carbon dioxide levels and increases oxygen levels, may be the cause of the physical symptoms of anxiety. The modulation of the body’s response to worry and panic is aided by carbon dioxide. To prevent hyperventilation, it can be beneficial for an anxious person to learn how to breathe from their diaphragm instead of their chest. The secret is to let your stomach grow as you inhale.
Putting one hand on your lower belly and the other on your chest will allow you to verify that you are breathing appropriately. The correct way of breathing is to move your abdomen while inhaling and exhaling, not the chest. Slow breathing will help to improve nervous system processing.
4. Dietary adjustment
A magnesium deficit can exacerbate anxiety, sadness, and sleeplessness. Magnesium also aids in the relaxation of muscle tissue. Anxiety symptoms may also be made worse by inadequate calcium and vitamin B intake. A healthy diet should consist of foods like leafy green vegetables, wholegrain cereals, and low-fat dairy products.
It is recommended to stay away from them. Salt and artificial additives like preservatives are among the other things you should stay away from. Whenever feasible, choose for fresh, unprocessed meals.
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5. Boost your self-esteem
Individuals suffering from anxiety disorders frequently have low self-esteem. In many respects, anxiety can worsen when one feels unworthy. It can cause people to engage with others passively and increase their anxiety about receiving negative feedback. The way your anxiety illness affects your life may also be connected to low self-esteem.
6. Medication or professional help
It is crucial to recognize the importance of professional help, as short-term measures are not the cure for anxiety disorders, but rather a temporary treatment.
It is common for people to engage in drugs and alcohol when they have more dangerous anxiety issues.
Drug addiction hotlines are a great help at this stage, as drugs and anxiety combinations sometimes create major concerns.
Final Thought
Being diagnosed with an anxiety illness or experiencing anxiety does not imply weakness. They can overcome their anxieties and enjoy fulfilling lives if given the proper care. Anxious people can experience anxiety over a wide range of situations all the time. While experiencing momentary dread or worry is common, anxiety disorder symptoms may worsen over time if they persist. You can easily control anxiety when you are aware of the symptoms and receive proper care. So it’s crucial to get treatment at the right time.