One of the things that the pandemic has taught us, is that anxiety can be a real and common threat to emotional stability. At the beginning of the pandemic, I saw many clients who came into therapy due to changes in routine, but also saw clients who came in with a sudden rush of anxiety that they’d never felt before.
Ways of functioning in our society, were being dismantled and there were so many unknowns. This type of anxiety is usually situational and short-lived. A few sessions of brief therapy can prove helpful to gain better insight and perspective.
But what about the individual who lives with heightened anxiety through their daily life? Exposure Therapy is a research-proven therapy that can help with anxiety. The use of exposure in therapy, was originally explored in the 1950s and is based on the principle of respondent conditioning (think Pavlov’s dog).
Sometimes I like to explain exercises in exposure therapy as “retraining the brain.” While exposure has other uses in treatment for phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, it’s use for treating anxiety has been empirically proven.
What are some of the steps in Exposure Therapy? The individual will be exposed to a situation, event, or object that triggers their anxiety. Through a series of sessions, the therapist will introduce the stimuli in a controlled manner, gradually using an increased exposure to the trigger.
Over the course of treatment, the brain “learns” to break the association that the situation, event, or object is harmful, and anxiety levels will gradually lessen. There are different ways in which a person may be exposed to the trigger:
- In vivo exposure: this therapy has the client face their trigger in real life.
- Imaginal exposure: this technique employs vivid imagery.
- Virtual reality exposure: this therapy can be used when in vivo exposure isn’t realistic. For example, if someone has a fear of elevators (none are present in the therapy office), or a fear of heights.
Sometimes, a therapist will use another therapeutic modality in combination with Exposure Therapy, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Combining therapies can prove helpful, as well as exploring coping techniques such as deep breathing, muscle relaxation, and meditation.
There is not always a simple, one-answer fix when working through difficult emotions. Using a variety of techniques can prove helpful in finding just the right combination for each individual person who comes to therapy.
An interesting article about exposure therapy gives further details on its use in treatment of anxiety disorders.
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