<font color=red><pre>Exposure Therapy </pre>

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Treatment of various anxiety disorders with exposure therapy or desensitization has, over recent years, proven to be the most effective from the viewpoint of lasting success. It is used as part of a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) program in both individual and group formats, but is also quite often self-administered by determined individuals who are highly motivated to master their individual phobias. It is highly effective, with of without medication, in treating agoraphobia and social phobia, statistically reducing anxiety in 75 per cent of all cases, with controlled studies indicating that the effects are generally maintained long-term.

As part of CBT treatment, exposure therapy is preceded by cognitive restructuring, which is subsequently practised along with exposure therapy, to systematically challenge the automatic interpretation of excessive danger that the specific fears have been creating. Cognitive therapy replaces this mindset with interpretation in line with the realistic danger levels of the situation, if there are any.

<font color=purple>Graduated approach </font color=purple>

Exposure therapy is, in itself, anxiety provoking causing anxiety levels to rise - racing heart, shortness of breath, worrying thoughts, unwanted memories, etc. - depending on the anxiety disorder involved. However, it must be faced in order to unlearn the belief that the feared situation will result from the activity, to consistently reduce the habitual emotional reaction and to emphasize the newly learned interpretation of the actual danger level involved in the activity. Naturally all this is very scary, so it is best to start with a situation which currently provokes only mild anxiety, successfully overcome it and move on to one which causes greater anxiety. The ultimate goal is to learn that the feared situations are not the dangerous threats they are expected to be. This means that all the avoidance procedures, the escape hatches and other safety valves, that have been contrived over time too deal with the fear, have to go. This is the only way to ensure that the mind interprets the situation as “not so scary after all” - as opposed to “it wasn’t so bad because such-and-such prevented it”. The fear has to be faced down and escaping or avoiding the peeking anxiety will create cognitive reasoning that the avoidance or escape strategy was helpful when it is really the barrier to success. Remaining in the feared situation and allowing the anxiety to peek allows for the consequent decreasing fear to be experienced so that the next time, there is less anxiety and the next time, even less. The feared situation must be regularly confronted in order to consistently confirm the cognitive restructuring which has put the danger into perspective. Slow breathing and rational thinking techniques must replace the avoidance and escape habits that have developed.

<font color=purple>Virtual reality </font color=purple>

A new variation of exposure therapy is virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) which, understandably, is especially effective for specific phobias. Success is also being reported for social phobia, agoraphobia and panic disorder. As in standard exposure therapy, relaxation techniques and cognitive restructuring need to be mastered before exposure is undertaken. However exposure therapy, in the case of VRET, takes place, in the therapists office - not in a public place, but in a computer generated world of feared situations. A head-mounted display with a television monitor and stereo earphones provide the visual and auditory triggers to the phobic reactions. These are presented using previously agreed upon increasingly more anxiety- producing situations or activities.

<font color=purple>Multi-disorder group therapy </font color=purple>

The current theory that all anxiety disorders are rooted in a similar distorted cognizance of the level of danger that individual situations present and from which consequent avoidance behaviour develops, has led to the development of a cost-effective and resource-coordinating program for treating people with different anxiety disorders in a single group therapy setting. Such an exposure based program has been developed by Peter J. Norton, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Houston and a well-known and published anxiety disorder researcher. His format incorporates education and relaxation, with cognitive restructuring and exposure therapy which is tailored to the specific fear. Limited test studies have been carried out, proving the program to be effective for the study participants, and future studies are scheduled.

<font color=blue>Here is a great website on Anxiety, great articles to read.</font color=blue>

http://designandcopy.ca/lifeline/current.html#exposure

<font color=blue>I personally have done this with anxiety, and still do it to this day, and it does help. </font color=blue>



<font color=red>~Sundance~</font color=red>

<font color=blue>"Never react emotionally to criticism. Analyze yourself to determine whether it is justified. If it is, correct yourself. Otherwise, go on about your business."</font color=blue>

<font color=black>Norman Vincent Peale</font color=black>