4 Myths About Therapy for Anxiety and OCD in Santa Clarita

Four myths about therapy for anxiety and OCD in Santa Clarita, California by Nicole Connolly, Ph.D. of the Connolly Psychology Group

When you are already feeling the effects of anxiety in your daily life, searching for the right kind of therapy can become just another source of worry and panic. Especially if you have never seen a therapist before, deciding to start therapy in the first place can be incredibly overwhelming and scary.

On top of that, people have often heard a lot of things about therapy that may make them even more nervous and apprehensive. TV shows and movies that show therapists or people in therapy are often not really all that accurate about how therapy actually happens, especially when it comes to therapy for anxiety.

Additionally, we also find that some people have had not so helpful experiences in therapy in the past. Some people feel that they were pushed into therapy as a child and are hesitant to go back. Some people have tried therapy but found that things didn’t really improve.

When anxious folks come into our office for treatment, these are some common myths that we hear. Identifying any of these myths that you may believe and challenging them can be a great way to push through that initial anxiety and get into therapy.

MYTH: Any kind of therapy will work for anxiety. And all therapists know how to treat anxiety.

REALITY: Not all therapies are created equal when it comes to working on reducing anxiety. This is especially true if your anxiety involves OCD-like symptoms such as having uncontrollable intrusive thoughts or fears. Many therapists do not receive significant training on how to treat obsessive compulsive disorder or more severe forms of anxiety. While most therapists do help people with routine worries, they may not be equipped to manage more severe anxiety and worry. Unfortunately, many standard psychotherapy approaches can actually make OCD and anxiety worse. This is why it is especially important to find a true specialist if you or your child is coping with severe anxiety or OCD.

MYTH: Anxiety therapy is too difficult or traumatic.

REALITY: The key part of successful anxiety treatment is learning to face the things you fear. While this can sound really scary at first, we always make it a priority to help you feel comfortable and confident as you reclaim your life from anxiety. Consent is an integral part of therapy, and we never force anyone to do anything they do not want to do or do not feel ready to do yet. The vast majority of people find that they can do way more than they thought they could do, and we find that facing fears is incredibly powerful rather than traumatizing.

MYTH: Treatment will make anxiety completely go away.

REALITY: Anxiety is actually a pretty important emotion for us to experience. It gives us a lot of important information and helps our bodies prepare for threats. So, we never really want to completely get rid of anxiety, but we can make it more manageable and tolerable. That’s the real goal of therapy for anxiety and OCD - to have a productive, helpful relationship with your fears rather than being ruled by them.

MYTH: If facing fears is all someone needs to do, then I can just put myself or my child into an anxiety-provoking situation and they will get over it.

REALITY: While facing fears is definitely helpful, it needs to be done in the right way, ideally with help from a psychologist or therapist. Practicing facing fears is important, but it’s not the only part of therapy for anxiety. We find that some well-meaning folks end up making the situation worse by trying to force their loved ones into facing their fears without the right kind of preparation.

In anxiety therapy, we start with assessing your unique experience of anxiety and really work to understand it fully before designing a plan to treat it. As we develop a plan, we do a lot of education about anxiety and really try to help you understand how your own anxiety works and what we need to do to make things better. Then we start talking about specific CBT exercises to employ to help face your fears and reclaim your life.

Being intentional about facing fears is a critical part of this process and is something that we really emphasize. When we are surprised by our anxiety triggers, we tend to just react in the same way that we always have. This is why anxiety doesn’t usually improve when we surprise people with situations that scare them. But, when we are intentional about facing fears and go into it with a plan for responding differently, then powerful learning happens that can help decrease anxiety over time.

If you are looking for help for anxiety for either yourself or your child here in the Santa Clarita area or anywhere throughout Los Angeles or the state of California, contact us for a free 15-minute consultation. We would love to hear more about your anxiety and to help direct you toward the right person. If you are looking for an anxiety therapist in Santa Clarita, a child psychologist specializing in anxiety, or a therapist that specializes in OCD, or an autism and anxiety expert, we’ve got you covered.