Using Visualization for Treating Anxiety, Panic Attacks, and Phobias

Visualization is the process of using your mind to form pictures of certain events or behaviors, going the way you would ideally have them go. This mental exercise will help your thoughts to pattern this behavior so that the likelihood of the event or behavior visualized will come to pass. The use of visualization has been taught by many who espouse positive thinking - in other words, as you think it, it shall be. By forming the most positive outcome in your thought patterns and truly imprinting these thought patterns, people can change negative beliefs and negative actions.

There have been many studies done that have not only shown proof of visualization's benefits to those with mental disorders but also to those with physical illnesses. Since the mental aspects of the technique help to release the brain's natural chemicals such as endorphins, it's not surprising that visualization would help to calm and relieve anxiety or panic. Studies that have shown the physical changes that visualization can produce are less able to be explained. Patients have used visualization to shrink tumors, increase white blood cell count and improve immune system functioning.

When it comes to treating anxiety, panic attacks and phobias, creative visualization techniques have proven very therapeutic for sufferers. In order for the visualization to be completely effective, the person must involve all their senses in the process. They need to see themselves performing the behavior, hear the sounds associated with it and feel any tactile sensations. In some cases, even the senses of taste and smell will be involved.

Rich Presta, the author of The Anxiety-Free Child Program used for treating anxiety in children states, "The more the individual can really 'be there' when using visualization the quicker results will be seen and ultimately the more effective the treatment will be. What's wonderful is that children are naturally more imaginative than adults so we usually see this form of therapy especially useful when treating child anxiety."

In order for visualization techniques to work, they must be practiced daily until they become second nature. They won't seem natural at first because we are so comfortable with our negative thoughts that we'll feel uncomfortable replacing them with positive ones. That may seem counter-intuitive but that is how the human mind works. As mentioned earlier, these new thoughts must be imprinted upon the mind before they will come to us automatically. Imprinting is done by repetition. Just as negative thoughts were imprinted by repeated events, positive thoughts must also be repeated until a new thought pathway is created.

Particularly when it comes to treating anxiety and panic related disorders, visualization is usually accompanied by relaxation techniques. These not only help reduce anxiety and stress by themselves, but they make it easier to imprint the new thought patterns that we want to practice. Some popular and easy-to-learn relaxation techniques include yoga breathing exercises and meditation. The key is to start with the relaxation techniques and once fully relaxed, then work on the visualization technique.

There are several different types of visualization techniques but the one most commonly used with success for treating anxiety disorders is that of guided visualization. With this technique, the sufferer is to visualize themselves achieving a goal - often, the goal will be to not react with anxiety under certain trigger circumstances. For example, perhaps a person has panic attacks when driving a car and that has escalated to a phobia that keeps them from driving at all.

The person would first reach a relaxed state using the chosen relaxation technique and then visualize themselves going out, getting into the car, starting it up and driving around the block. When a person first starts practicing visualization, they may not be able to imagine the entire process without extreme anxiety. They would do further relaxation exercises to calm themselves again and then proceed with the visualization exercise. After a few weeks of practice, most people can imagine the entire process without any signs of anxiety.

Once the person has become adept at the visualization exercise, they can begin to start attempting the process in real life. At whatever stage in the process that the person begins to feel anxiety, they should be able to easily do a visualization exercise to relieve that anxiety. Soon, the thoughts that have been imprinted during the visualization practices will be second nature and the anxiety will often be completely resolved.