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Family Therapy

Sometimes families can meet for a therapy session – this is usually focused on one member of the family and how they relate to the others. It can be helpful in building a support structure for the person, or to identify what roles the members of the family play in the person’s life, and how this can provoke or improve the person’s condition.

Group Therapy

Group therapy tends to be used in day hospitals and involves groups of between six and ten people who are experiencing the same or similar problems. There are several ways the sessions can be run, such as talking about how each person is learning to cope with and deal with the problems they are encountering so that other members of the group can learn or contribute their own ideas, or psychodrama sessions, where people act out distressing situations to the group in order to better convey their feelings.

Relaxation training

This is when the person is taught how to consciously relax, either by relaxing each muscle in the body in turn or by imagining a calm, happy scene that makes them feel safe (these are often called resource anchors). After a few practises at this the person is able to use these techniques when they feel stressed when outside of a session to help them cope with the situation. It is often used to help treat mild anxiety and panic attacks.

Exposure techniques

This involves the person looking at the thing or situation they are scared of and confronting it. It is useful when dealing with simple phobias, such as a fear of spiders, or the dark, but less effective in treating more complex phobias, such as agoraphobia (fear of open spaces) or social phobias.

Medication

Sometimes the GP will prescribe medication to help alleviate the symptoms of the condition, but usually this is in conjunction with some form of talking treatment to help identify and sort out the underlying problems. Medication takes time to work, as it alters the chemical workings of the brain, and cannot be introduced too quickly, so normally they take a period of around four weeks before the person can start to feel the benefits of them. They also often have side effects, such as unusual aches and pains or drowsiness, but normally these will subside as the person becomes used to the medication and adjusts.

Self Help

There are a variety of self help techniques available, especially on the internet, from recognising when you are going to encounter problems and taking steps to ensure you don’t to developing your own coping stategies such as ringing friends or taking up yoga as a form of relaxation.

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