How Do I Know If I Need Help with My Anxiety?
It is hard when we are feeling symptoms of anxiety. We will avoid situations or endure them with distress. Our quality of life is compromised. You might wonder, how do I know if I should seek online anxiety therapy? There are many great reasons why you might want to begin treatment with an online therapist for anxiety.
Let’s start by reviewing the symptoms you are experiencing. You will want to consider whether your symptoms of anxiety are impacting your daily functioning and quality of life. You might note changes in your ability to function well within your relationships, at school or at work. When symptoms begin to lead to frequent impacts on day-to-day activities, it might warrant a further assessment of whether your symptoms meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder. In order for a proper diagnosis to be made, you should make an appointment with a healthcare professional with professional training.Psychological diagnoses are provided by physicians and psychologists. This can be very helpful before you begin any type of anxiety treatment online.
If you decide to engage with an online therapist for anxiety, they will spend time providing important information about anxiety, why it occurs and strategies to navigate your life with anxiety. Like other emotions, we cannot suppress the experience of anxiety. But, we can learn how to manage it so that it is not interfering in our daily functioning. Our lives look very different after working with a professional clinician during online counselling for anxiety.
In general, anxiety disorders all share features of excessive fear and anxiety and related behavioural issues that can accompany those emotions. We can understand fear as being an emotional response to something that we believe is a real or imminent threat in our world. Anxiety is most often understood as the anticipation of a future threat. Of course, individuals can experience these two emotional states in a manner that overlaps with each other. However, fear is more often accompanied by autonomic arousal (think fight or flight), thoughts of impending danger and escape behaviours. Anxiety can be associated with muscle tension and increased vigilance as someone prepares for future dangers and engages in overlay cautious or avoidant behaviours. During anxiety treatment online, you will learn strategies to manage both anxiety and fear.
According to The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5TR), there are many different types of anxiety disorders. These include Separation Anxiety Disorder, Selective Mutism, Specific Phobia, Social Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder (with or without agoraphobia) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
The focus of the fear is often different within each of the anxiety disorders. For example:
Social Anxiety Disorder
is characterized by an excessive fear of social judgement and negative evaluation, humiliation or embarrassment
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
is characterized by excessive and persistent worrying that impacts one’s daily functioning
Panic Disorder
is characterized by an excessive fear of physical symptoms and the possibility of experiencing a panic attack
There are other anxiety disorders as well, but the above illustrates how they each have distinguishing features from each other.
Nevertheless, treatment for anxiety disorders can often take similar evidence-based approaches. For example, cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety online is a well-researched approach for anxiety that has been found to reduce symptoms and improve functioning. We will discuss what takes place during online CBT for anxiety below.
Overall, it is important to pay attention to your symptoms of anxiety. We all experience anxiety. But if you find these symptoms to be extremely interfering and impact your friendships, relationships, work or school, then it is time to do something to make things better. Anxiety treatment online might be the answer for you!
Should I get Anxiety Therapy Online?
If you have decided that your symptoms of anxiety are interfering in your life, it might be time to look into starting anxiety therapy online.
We have been discussing online anxiety counselling (as opposed to in-person treatment) for a number of reasons. Online anxiety treatment can provide an individual with many benefits as opposed to in-person treatment.
These include the following:
- Increased convenience due to the elimination of commuting and taking time off from work
- Enhanced accessibility for individuals who have mobility issues
- Enhanced access to best-fit therapists given decreased concerns about geographical barriers to treatment
- Ability to engage with anxiety-related triggers in a different manner than attending sessions within an office space
- Ability to engage family members or partners within the home who play a role in supporting you and might find they are lacking skills and knowledge when it comes to your symptoms of anxiety
Online therapy for anxiety and depression using CBT has also been shown to be highly effective, which allows us confidence in providing this to you.
As described, anxiety therapy online allows you to have more options in terms of a therapist to work with. Although online anxiety therapy in Canada is possible, clinicians often do have geographical limitations. At Forward Thinking Psychological Services ®, our clinicians are able to provide services throughout different parts of Canada, including Ontario, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and New Brunswick.
At Forward Thinking Psychological Services ®, we have an experienced team of mental health clinicians who are able to work with you on your symptoms of anxiety. We also have clinicians who work directly with adolescents and teens and can engage in online CBT for anxiety with them.
What Happens During CBT for Anxiety Online?
You might be wondering what cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety online actually looks like. What will I be doing with my therapist?
There are different types of therapies for anxiety. Of course, you want to make sure that the therapy you receive is evidence-based (i.e., research supports its use) and has been shown to be effective for your presenting concerns. At FTPS, we only provide online anxiety treatment that has been found to be effective. Many of our clinicians will use CBT for anxiety online as well as acceptance and commitment therapy.
Let’s focus on CBT for anxiety online and discuss what you can expect.
When beginning online anxiety treatment that focuses on the delivery of CBT, you will learn many important skills and strategies. By engaging in CBT for anxiety online, you will learn a lot of skills that you can use on your own, in between sessions. These skills will help you to change your relationship with your anxiety.
Here are the types of skills you will learn:
- Psychoeducation about anxiety
- The experience of anxiety is uncomfortable, but it is not dangerous
- Connections between thoughts, feelings and behaviours
- How to face situations, thoughts and physical sensations that you fear
- Doing Exposure Therapy – in-session and on your own
- Challenging thoughts that underlie core fears and drive your anxiety and avoidance behaviours
There are also different types of skills built into the different treatments for anxiety, given the focus of the fear is different. For example, when someone engages in online therapy for social anxiety they will want to work on their fears regarding intense fear and judgement from others. This could involve some exposure therapy in which they expose themselves to triggers they might otherwise avoid or endure with distress. This might involve approaching new people instead of avoiding them, reaching out to make plans with friends or speaking up in class or during a work presentation.
During online therapy for social anxiety, you will also be able to engage in exposure therapy. This could involve sending off emails together that you fear you might be judged for, practicing a work-related presentation or role-play having a conversation with someone in your life. This will be in addition to cognitive therapy strategies that will allow you to examine the core fear driving your social anxiety.
During anxiety disorder treatment online, you will also have the opportunity to do cognitive strategies with your therapist. This can take the form of thought record work.
During thought record work you will learn many skills, including:
- Raising your awareness when your mood shifts due to unhelpful anxious thoughts
- Understand the emotions that accompany these anxious thoughts when you experience significant mood shifts
- Understanding the types of automatic anxious thoughts that you experience
- Gaining perspective towards your thoughts by reframing them with evidence that both supports and does not support your anxious thoughts
- Learning more about your core fears that drive your anxiety
Online cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety has been found to be effective for youth, teens and adults. If you engage in this type of therapy, you can be confident that you will be receiving an intervention that has been shown to help individuals with varying types of anxiety disorder presentations. Following your initial assessment with your therapist, you will often then discuss whether you want to begin with cognitive therapy work, such as thought record interventions, or exposure therapy treatment. These are essential discussions to have with your therapist during online anxiety treatment.
How Can I Find Anxiety Therapy Online?
Does FTPS provide anxiety therapy online near me? We provide it throughout Canada, with an ability to treat people within Ontario, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and New Brunswick.
We provide anxiety therapy online for adults, teens, parents, families and couples.
Please contact us to learn more and get started!