You may have heard of the expression to “face your fears”. An integral aspect of managing anxiety is indeed facing feared situations, objects, or places. If you face what you are afraid of then you may realize it is not as threatening or dangerous as you originally believed, providing evidence to disconfirm negative thinking. This is known as exposure therapy, where one must engage in repeated and continuous exposure to the feared situation until there is a significant reduction in anxiety. Over time, repeated exposure helps to reduce adverse reactions to feared objects and situations. It is important to note that exposure therapy is not dangerous. The primary risk of exposure therapy is experiencing discomfort and anxiety while facing feared situations.
There are two ways that exposure therapy is completed, either graded or flooded. In graded exposure, you first gradually expose yourself to a moderately stressful situation and then to incrementally more anxiety provoking situations. This method helps to build confidence while you work towards more challenging exposure tasks. In contrast, flooding is when you initiate exposure therapy with a highly stressful situation. Both processes are effective in addressing anxiety, however it is common for people to select graded exposure because it may be less overwhelming to start. To maximize the effectiveness of exposure therapy, exposures should be prolonged and repeated rather than brief in duration.
When is it time to get help?
If you are noticing that you are avoiding a particular situation, place, or object or enduring it with excessive anxiety, then it might be time to seek professional help. Exposure therapy is effective treatment for generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder.
How can CBT help with safety behaviours?
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based practice that is widely used to help individuals with anxiety by exposure to feared situations to naturally lessen anxiety. Some treatment strategies include:
- Reappraising unhelpful thoughts about feared situations to become more flexible and helpful
- Creating a hierarchy of situations, objects, or places that you fear, which are arranged from least to most anxiety-provoking. For example, if you experience social anxiety at work then lower in the hierarchy list you might include a goal of asking a co-worker what they did over the weekend, while higher in the list is being able to go for coffee with a co-worker
- Completing the exposure goal by remaining in a feared situation long enough to notice a reduction in anxiety instead of avoiding or escaping
- Establishing exposure goals that also align with your values and what is important to you
- Developing coping strategies to help “ride the wave” of anxiety, such as learning diaphragmatic breathing
How can the team at Oakville Centre for Cognitive Therapy help?
At the Oakville Centre for Cognitive Therapy, we have trained psychologists with experience in exposure therapy. If you are experiencing difficulties with anxiety and are interested in receiving evidence-based treatment, please contact us at: 905-338-1397 or admin@oakvillecbt.ca or via our Contact Us page.
