Managing Panic Attacks With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

panic attackPanic attacks, also known as anxiety attacks, are sudden and intense waves of anxiety that can leave you worried you’re having a heart attack, about to pass out, going crazy, or with any number of other fears that something is seriously wrong with your health. Panic attacks are terrifying in isolation, and panic disorder occurs when panic attacks arise on a regular basis.

The most effective treatment for panic attacks and panic disorder is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT. In the videos below, learn how anxiety escalates into a panic attack, and how you can use CBT to defuse a panic attack and make it less likely you have panic attacks in the future.

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The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Exercise for Panic, Anxiety and Emotions

The 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique is a great coping exercise to calm panic attacks, anxiety, stress, or if we’re feeling overwhelmed. In the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding exercise, we reconnect with the world around us by engaging our senses and looking at five things, touching four things, listening to three things, smelling two things, and tasting one thing.

5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Exercise: Coping with Panic, Anxiety & Emotions

 
 

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Opposite Action and Emotion Regulation Skills in DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy)

Opposite Action is one of the emotion regulation skills from Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, in which we learn how changes in our behavior can change how we feel.

Our moods and emotions tend to dictate how we behave, but acting in these ways tends to intensify what we’re already feeling. With opposite action, we act opposite to the way our feelings and emotions are telling us to act, and by acting in this opposite way, we calm our emotions and can improve our mood and the way we’re feeling.

DBT: Opposite Action Emotion Regulation Skill

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How to Sleep Better & Cure Insomnia With CBT-I

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is the most effective treatment for insomnia. CBT-I teaches you how to sleep better and can often cure insomnia altogether. The main components to cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia are reducing negative sleep thoughts (NSTs), and practicing good sleep hygiene and more effective sleep scheduling, sometimes known as sleep restriction therapy.

The videos below present an overview of the CBT for Insomnia program developed by Dr. Gregg Jacobs at Harvard Medical School. For more detailed information about his online CBT-I program, please visit www.cbtforinsomnia.com.

How To Sleep Better And Cure Insomnia With CBT

 
 

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What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) & How Does it Work?

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, is a mindfulness-based therapy developed by Steven Hayes. The aim of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is to enable us to live a more meaningful life that is congruent with and reflects our values and what is important to us. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps us do this by giving us the tools that allow us to move past whatever barriers we face as we travel along our path towards building a valued life.

To learn more about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, please watch the video below, and check out my post on Cognitive Fusion and Cognitive Defusion.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

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Reversing the Cycle of Depression

6 Tips to Treat and Manage Depression

 

upward spiralIn a previous post, we looked at the cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) model of the vicious cycle of depression involving thoughts, feelings, behaviours, memories and physical symptoms. One of the first steps in overcoming depression is to put and end to this vicious cycle, and gain some momentum that can help you cycle in a positive direction.

Just as automatic negative thoughts result from and contribute to depression, by engaging in more neutral and balanced ways of thinking, we can begin to stop the vicious cycle involving negative thoughts and depression. Cognitive therapy provides an effective tool to help break out of negative patterns of thinking. As our thoughts become less negative, we begin to feel less depressed, and as we become less depressed, our thoughts about ourselves, our lives and our future become less negative, and so on.

We can experience similar reversal in these vicious cycles in other areas of our lives that are affected by, and affect depression. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can help change behaviours that result from and contribute to depression such as reducing level of activity and withdrawing socially. Changes in diet, exercise, sleep habits and self-care can help alleviate the distressing physical symptoms associated with depression and lead to more energy and motivation.

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The Vicious Cycle of Depression

Coping With Depression

 
 

depression cycleIn the cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) model of depression, one of the reasons that breaking out of depression can be so difficult is that depression generates vicious cycles involving a number of aspects of our lives. Once we get stuck in these vicious cycles, they can be hard to break.

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