Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety & Stress
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Anxiety is Manageable with CBT
We all feel anxiety and stress - these emotions are part of the human experience. Anxiety exists to protect us from threats to our physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.
When feelings of anxiety and stress start to interfere with our daily actions, our goals, and what's important in our lives, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can help, and often works rather quickly.
Pronounced “Act,” this “Third Wave” form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) incorporates practical mindfulness skills with value driven behavior.
CBT is a form of psychotherapy that helps with:
Understanding how we process anxiety based on our individual experiences
Offering us new skills to manage anxiety and work through it
Empowering us to make different, more value-based choices in our daily lives
How We Use CBT To Help With Anxiety & Stress
In cognitive behavioral therapy sessions with one of our practitioners, you’ll be encouraged to talk about your anxiety and how it affects you.
Processing Emotions
The thoughts you have when you feel certain emotions
Physicality
How you physically experience your emotions
Anxiety Management Strategies
Strategies you’ve tried to manage or control your anxiety (e.g. behaviors)
CBT Is A Gold Standard Treatment for Anxiety
Research confirms that CBT is a highly effective form of therapy that helps people with anxiety feel better - and often rather quickly. When compared to other common forms of psychotherapy, CBT:
- Is considered the most researched and scientifically effective form of therapy
- Emphasizes problem solving and practical techniques
- Generally focuses on the present
- Doesn't have to be long-term
- Gives people strategies and abilities to cope with issues in multiple areas of their lives
We use CBT to help with a wide variety of issues related to anxiety:
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Trauma (PTSD)
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Chronic Worry (GAD)
- Panic Disorder
- Phobias (e.g. Fear of Flying, Public Speaking, Subways, Animals or Insects, to name a few)
- Rumination and Overthinking
- Perfectionism
- Health Anxiety
- Test Anxiety
- Relationship Anxiety
- Career and Life Transitions
- Anxiety Related to Chronic Illnesses
CBT Helps Us Understand Our Anxiety Responses And Try Something Different
Anxiety is an emotional response that our brains developed to protect us primarily from physical threats. These reactions and responses have been super helpful to our survival. Through our successes at avoiding real threats, we now avoid situations that produce anxiety, but aren’t the same use as that original gift.
For a variety of reasons, the anxiety reactions we have can be magnified or simply not helpful, but they do exist!
Logic and problem solving don’t always fix this and can leave people feeling more hopeless and stuck.
Anxious thoughts and physical reactions can be persistent, overwhelming, and debilitating. They can even affect our relationships, families, jobs, or keep us from living the life we want. They limit our potential, our opportunities for new experiences, and the capacity to attain our goals.
CBT helps individuals who experience ongoing or recurring anxiety develop more helpful ways of dealing with distress - to know what to do next.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy FAQ
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We offer both in person and virtual appointments. Our in person appointments currently take place at our Orlando, FL office.
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Most clients pay for our services out-of-pocket. Please contact our office to verify your coverage. Even if we can’t see you at our practice, we are happy to connect you with additional resources. We feel it is our job and responsibility to help you find the help you need.
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We generally schedule weekly, 45 minute appointments for therapy.
If you are interested in more intensive therapy we offer several options, which can include multiple sessions per week and can range from 60 to 90 minutes or longer.
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Research says that for treating certain anxiety disorders, combining medication and therapy is the quickest and most effective strategy.
If you prefer to begin therapy without medication, that is where we’ll start. If the steps in therapy are too distressing, we can revisit the conversation about how medication might be helpful to you.
Medication is a tool that people use to allow themselves to do the work involved with therapy. It doesn't mean you have to take it forever or that it will numb you from the experience. Medication can help turn the volume down on your distress level.
For example, on a scale of 0 to 10, if your anxiety around public speaking registers at a 9 or 10, medication might bump it down to between 6 - 8, allowing you to try new behaviors.
We refer our clients for medication evaluations and prescribing to Psychiatrists and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners we trust in our community.
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Yes. As CBT clinicians we have a specific way of helping people, but we recognize that it's not the only way. If we feel another form of therapy outside of our scope of practice is helpful, we will refer you to our best resources.
If you want to incorporate other methods of helping or healing, we'll integrate that into your treatment or provide a referral to another provider.
CBT is a collaborative process. Together, our job is to identify if there are patterns to your anxiety.
An important part of Cognitive Behavioral therapy is psychoeducation. Early in the process, we will discuss why CBT is effective and how it works with the brain to minimize distress. With this new insight, you’ll be able to understand some of the reasons why you feel and think the way you do about anxiety and distress.
We develop a plan that reframes unhelpful, negative, or inaccurate thoughts into a more useful set of behavioral choices. It’s about realistic thinking and behaving, not ignoring reality.
CBT will not completely eliminate anxiety, but it will help you to become more tolerant of it within a safe space under the guidance of a specialist. This can then be transferred into real world situations and for the reasons you sought therapy.
The goal of CBT is to provide you with the skills you need to handle distressing situations differently than you normally do so that you can achieve better outcomes. Ultimately, CBT leads people who experience anxiety to feel less distress and spend less of their lives focused on avoiding distress.
CBT of Central & South Florida is a pioneering practice in Central Florida, while providing access throughout the entire state.
Anyone Can Benefit from CBT
Anyone can benefit from CBT for anxiety, even if they:
Have never been in therapy before
Have tried other forms of therapy in the past to varying degrees of success
Are not 100% certain they are “ready”
Have tried CBT with another therapist
Want to try medication in addition to therapy
Don’t want to try medication in addition to therapy
Use alcohol, drugs, and other substances
Therapy Delivered With Respect, Empathy, and Compassion
We view all people as unique individuals who are doing the best they can to cope with the circumstances they are presented with. Although we are CBT specialists that help people manage their anxiety using the most current and effective treatments, we also recognize how privilege, power, unequal access to resources, prejudice, racism, and other systemic issues affect a person’s lived experience. We approach each relationship with the respect, empathy, and compassion that all people deserve.
Our practitioners have also received additional training and supervision in culturally competent practices, and continue to do so as part of participating in our group.
There is no “right time” to seek counseling. Take the next step today.