Can Cognitive Behavior Therapy Help with Fear?

CBT and Fear: A Closer Look

Are you struggling with some type of fear? Worried about being exposed to a person, object, or thing that will cause fright? Have you heard that cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) may be helpful? If the answer is yes, you aren’t alone. Fear is a human response that is uniquely linked to anxiety.

Many people in the Lakeview and Uptown areas of Chicago contact our counseling offices because they are trying to work through something they dread. It could be something like driving on Lakeshore Drive or walking down Halsted Street.

What’s important for you to know is that in many cases, Fear is nothing more than False Evidence Acting Real. Feelings of fear can become compounded if you have experienced some type of trauma in the recent or distant past. This is where CBT can be helpful.

At its core, CBT is all about looking at your thinking patterns and assessing how they trigger emotional states, deep inside your mind. It may be helpful to think of it as a kind of tape that is inserted into your brain that keeps repeating the same message – over and over.

Using CBT, your counselor will help you observe this tape and identify any unhealthy thinking patterns. Over time, you will discover new ways of thinking about your situation and create new “tapes” to insert. This may seem simplistic, but that’s really a big part of cognitive behavior therapy.

If you assume the root cause of fear is anxiety, it makes sense that disrupting your thinking patterns may offer a different (healthier) outcome. When you combine CBT with mindfulness-based approaches to wellness, you are likely to have a much better outcome.

One thing your fears really dislike is when you confront them. The more you ignore the sources, the more they have power over you. But here’s the thing – you don’t have to confront them alone. When you work with a skills therapist who is trained in CBT to address fears, you give yourself the chance to make a change.

From Edgewater to Andersonville and from Roscoe Village to the Gold Coast, the Calm Anxiety Therapy Clinic wants to be your partner in moving through your fears. Are you ready for the future? If so, please use our contact form.