What Are the Best Treatments for Anxiety?

In terms of getting professional help for anxiety, the good news is that counseling, “talk therapy” and psychotherapy are all effective.

We all have preferences and biases, based on our personal experiences – and what we’ve heard from friends or what we’ve read on the web. So the kind of anxiety treatment we seek will likely be influenced by these experiences. The important thing is that you’ve made the decision to get help for your anxiety from someone – a psychologist, social worker, or family therapist.

Often, when we believe a particular anxiety treatment approach will work, it does. That’s because the “placebo effect” is real. Research shows that our beliefs and expectations can significantly influence neurophysiological and neurochemical activity in parts of the brain involved in perception, movement, pain, and emotion processing. So, if you think “psychodynamic psychotherapy” – or talk therapy – is the answer for you to reduce your anxiety, it very well may be the best treatment approach for you.

What research shows matters most in terms of being helped is the effectiveness of the person who’s helping you.