Medications are only part of a treatment program for worry, and often they are not necessary at all. First, you must understand the pattern of your worrying. Is it based in anxiety, depression, unhealed trauma? Whatever your diagnosis, learn as much about it as you can.

Then develop a treatment plan. One of the most powerful methods to decrease worry is through gradual exposure. If heights make you nervous, you might start by imagining you are standing at a certain height, looking down. Then in your imagination, and in the presence of a therapist, start going up, a few floors at a time. After you feel comfortable being exposed to heights in your imagination, try it in reality, using the same graduated process.

Similarly, a therapist may deliberately recreate the physical sensations accompanying worry, to help you get more comfortable with them. I helped my patient Adrienne recreate the feelings of panic within herself—breathlessness, dizziness, rapid heartbeat. She'd exercise until her heart raced, then talk herself through the feeling, noting that nothing bad was happening. Then we tackled her dizziness: she sat in a chair and I spun her around a few times. In this way, she began to take apart her worried state until she got comfortable with each individual piece. When she experienced them all together, in the stew of worry, she was less afraid of their impact.

This entry was posted by Mandy, on Wednesday, May 13, 2009. You can leave your response.