Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) For Anxiety
Anxiety can make it difficult to enjoy life, maintain relationships, or feel like yourself. Wise Mind Counseling provides CBT for adults coping with anxiety in Green Bay, Door County, and throughout Wisconsin via telehealth.
How CBT Can Help
CBT for anxiety helps you recognize patterns that contribute to chronic worry and develop more effective ways of responding. Anxiety can lead you to avoid situations, seek reassurance, overthink decisions, or try to eliminate uncertainty. While these strategies may provide short-term relief, they can keep anxiety going over time.
In CBT, you’ll learn how to allow yourself to experience anxious thoughts and feelings rather than automatically avoiding, overthinking, excessively worrying, and trying to control every outcome. The goal isn’t to eliminate every anxious thought or feeling, but to help you feel more confident handling anxiety and make choices based on what matters to you.
How CBT Works
CBT for anxiety recognizes the interaction between thoughts, behaviors, and physical reactions. The main components of CBT address these areas and help you develop more effective ways of coping with discomfort.
- Manage overthinking – identify unhelpful thinking patterns and learn more balanced ways of responding.
- Behavioral strategies – take action on important tasks and reduce procrastination, even when anxiety or low motivation gets in the way.
- Skill building – develop practical ways to solve problems, decrease tension, manage stress, and cope with difficult emotions.
- Exposure therapy – gradually approach feared situations, sensations, or experiences to reduce avoidance and build confidence in your ability to cope.
- Practice between sessions – apply what you learn in therapy to everyday situations.
Questions About CBT for Anxiety
What are some techniques to manage overthinking?: In CBT, you will learn how to examine the evidence and develop a more balanced perspective, recognize that a thought is simply a thought, allow unhelpful thoughts without having to solve them, and return your attention to the present moment while thoughts are still there.
What is exposure therapy for anxiety: Exposure-based CBT is among the most well-researched and effective treatments for anxiety-related concerns, including panic attacks, social anxiety, and perfectionism.
The goal is to create new experiences with anxiety and situations that have been avoided. This may include learning that feared outcomes are less likely than expected and discovering that you are more capable of coping than you initially believed.
Types of exposure therapy include:
- Interoceptive exposure – intentionally experiencing physical sensations that you may fear, such as a racing heart or dizziness.
- Imaginal exposure – imagining or describing a feared situation in your mind.
- In-vivo exposure – gradually approaching a feared situation in real life.
Can I do CBT on my own: There are many CBT resources that can be used for mild symptoms. If symptoms are more moderate to severe and interfering in life, it is recommended to seek professional help by a clinician with training and experience in CBT for anxiety.
CBT in Green Bay
Green Bay Location:
321 Saint George Street
Green Bay, WI, 54302
Door County Location:
217 N 4th Avenue
Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235
Cognitive Behavior Therapy Resources
Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
Anxiety and Depression Association of America