Cognitive therapy is a specific method of allowing a patient to focus on changing their thoughts rather than their behavior. This correlation between thoughts and what we physically feel has made huge leaps and strides in recent years, particularly where anxiety disorder and other related problems are concerned. Cognitive therapy is an effective method of fighting anxiety disorder, panic attacks, depression and many more life altering mental health sicknesses. This article focuses on cognitive therapy in a patient that suffers from anxiety disorder.
The basic premise behind cognitive therapy is that distorted thinking leads to physical and mental health issues. When we look at the average anxiety disorder patient, you will quickly find this to be quite true. The average anxiety disorder patient will worry constantly about a heart attack, for example, even when many tests have shown them to be perfectly healthy. What is distorted about that thought?
For one thing, the patient is assuming that every pain in the chest is an imminent heart attack. This distorted thought stems from the fact that the patient is not seeing that they could be suffering from a million benign reasons for their chest pain. Once you have eliminated something as a cause, and even had a second opinion, then the average person would no longer concern themselves with this as an issue. A patient with anxiety disorder is usually quite stressed, and this stress causes much of the pains they feel throughout the body. The patient then worries about a heart attack, and the vicious cycle starts all over again.
Cognitive therapy works on these thoughts and helps the patient to work through them. It is not limited to only heart attack concerns. This applies to depression, stroke concerns, and myriad other physical symptoms that an anxiety disorder patient might experience on a regular basis.
The one overriding symptom in most every patient with anxiety disorder is a sense of impending danger. This symptom is hard to describe unless you have experienced it. It is an overwhelming feeling that they are near death, danger, or some life threatening situation where health is concerned.
Cognitive therapy helps the patient to see what triggers this and other feelings. What were you thinking about just before the episode began? Is what you were thinking rational? Was it a valid thought, or was it a thought that was steered by fear? These and many other cognitive questions can help the patient to see patterns in their behavior. When the patient begins to see the effects that their thoughts have on their well being, they often are able to make lasting changes. Cognitive behavior is a lifelong change, however.
Nobody will change their cognitive thoughts overnight. It takes practice, and lots of leadership from a qualified professional to overcome some of these negative thoughts. If you feel you may could benefit from cognitive therapy, then by all means ask your doctor about it. Even “healthy” individuals could do with some cognitive therapy in their lives. It is a powerful tool in our mental health and well being.
