Month: September 2014

  • 8 Bold Ways To Treat Anxiety (That Work!)

    Common Treatments for Anxiety

    Anxiety is a difficult thing to live with. It can affect your relationships and overall quality of life. The good news is, anxiety tends to respond to treatment. Here are some of the more common treatments for anxiety.

    Behavioral Therapy

    Behavioral therapy is about just that – behavior. It is not designed to delve into the patient’s past or explore underlying causes of the patient’s anxiety.

    It does, however, help the patient identify patterns of thinking and behaving, and how those thoughts and behaviors are connected. The goal is to help the patient manage the problem.

    Cognitive Therapy

    This kind of therapy teaches the patient to have rational responses to stressful situations rather than negative, self-abasing responses.

    Cognitive therapy helps the patient face – and therefore overcome – the irrational thoughts and beliefs that bring on an anxious response.

    Medication

    While there are several anxiety medications on the market, most experts agree that medication should be used in conjunction with some other sort of therapy. Medication is generally considered a short-term help, and, depending on the type of anxiety exhibited, is not a long-term solution.

    Regular Exercise

    This is basic but effective. Exercise causes the brain to release endorphins, the “feel-good” brain chemicals that help you relax and feel happy and content.

    Exercise also uses your muscles and promotes good circulation. Daily exercise is best, but even regular exercise several times a week has proven helpful.

    Meditation or Relaxation Techniques

    Like regular exercise, these treatments need to be practiced regularly. They can help release muscle tension. Meditation and relaxation also promote centered, calm patterns of thought.

    Hypnosis

    While most of us think of a patient lying on a couch with a psychiatrist swinging a pocket watch in front of the patient’s face, modern, legitimate hypnosis is practiced differently.

    Performed by a hypnotherapist, hypnosis puts the patient into a deeply relaxed state. While the patient is in this state, the hypnotherapist suggests techniques and methods for managing the patient’s anxiety.

    Biofeedback

    This treatment basically teaches you how to recognize your body’s anxiety symptoms. It “tunes you in” to your body’s cues so that you can recognize an oncoming episode of anxiety. If you can recognize its onset, you can learn to stop it from getting full-blown.

    Psychotherapy

    This usually involves talking to someone, and is sometimes called “talk therapy.” Therapists help the anxiety sufferer understand and identify what is going on, which then enables the sufferer to manage his or her anxiety.

    8 Bold Ways To Treat Anxiety (That Work!) 2

  • Tips for Dealing with Anxiety at Bedtime in Children

    Tips for Dealing with Anxiety at Bedtime in Children

    Getting children to go to sleep can be a challenge for most parents. However, if your child starts to show anxiety about bedtime, or genuine fear, it’s time to get to the bottom of the cause and take action to help them get a healthy and restful sleep every night.

    How Much Sleep Do Children Need?

    In general, school-aged children need ten to eleven hours of sleep per night. Unfortunately, sleep stealers such as homework, TV, DVDs, gaming, texting, and so on, can all have an impact on their sleep. Even five-year-olds want to stay up late and watch TV. They are anxious that they might be missing out on lots of fun. Even when they are tired, or even over-tired, it can be tough to get them to settle down for the night.

    A calming routine of bath, PJs, and a bedtime story can help them wind down enough to be able to sleep.

    Night Terrors

    Some children are afraid of the dark. A nightlight can help. You can also play games in the dark to make it seem less scary, such as a treasure hunt with a flashlight or hide and seek in dark places like closets.

    Other children don’t like to sleep on their own. Parents will often let the child come in with them, and they all fall asleep and end up sharing the bed all night. This can be a bad idea for several reasons. It can become a bad habit and cause intimacy issues between a couple. A sleeping adult can also cause serious damage to a child by rolling over, or through a misplaced elbow or knee.

    If you wait until the child falls asleep to pick them up and carry them to their room, it might wake them. It can also be very disorienting if they wake in the middle of the night in a different place.

    Nightmares

    Many children have bad dreams. Avoiding scary subject matter in books and movies can help. Limit the amount of news they see on TV and what topics are discussed around the dinner table. If there are family tensions in the house, don’t allow the conflict to spill over to the point where it will make your child anxious.

    Some nightmares are based on reality, like the time a big dog chased them. Deal with real-life events like this at the time by soothing them but not making a huge fuss. Try distracting them instead, so they don’t dwell on it.

    Similarly, if they have a nightmare, don’t make them relive it by telling you about it. This might cause them to dwell on the dream and make it a recurring one. Reassure them that it was only a dream that came from their imagination, and then distract them with talk of more exciting topics.

    Don’t engage with the content of the dream by hunting for “monsters” under the bed or in the closet. This might make them even more scared. Have them picture a safe, happy place, and that should counteract their fear and help them understand that their mind can create both monsters and paradises alike.

    child dreaming asleep
    sad anxious child