​Denise Mann, an author at Web MD states, “A 12-week course of talk therapy, when used to treat social anxiety disorder, produces changes in the electrical activity of the brain, according to new research. The findings appear in Psychological Science.”
 
The range of symptoms of anxiety includes social phobia or social anxiety disorder, which includes experiencing anxiety and self-consciousness in everyday social situations. The physical signs of this could be symptoms such as sweating, nausea, and difficulty speaking. Some people experience anxiety involved with specific situations like public speaking, and this feeling becomes so overwhelming and incapacitating that the individual feels they can no longer leave the house. A doctor can prescribe many medications to help alleviate these symptoms, yet most medications come with unwanted side effects and are typically used as a band aid for temporary relief.
 
A new study with evidence-based approaches included 25 people with a social anxiety disorder. These individuals completed a 12-week course of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), a time-limited type of psychotherapy or Talk Therapy with goals to alter behavior by changing the way people think about their anxiety and its triggers.
The research did used electroencephalograms (EEGs) to measure brain electrical interactions before treatment, halfway through treatment, and after the final CBT or Talk Therapy sessions. The first test were taken during a resting period. The second were taken during an impromptu videotaped speech, they were asked to give in front of two people. This was to portray an anxiety-producing task for many with social phobias.
 
The individuals who received 12 weeks of Talk therapy produced meaningful changes in the amount of "delta-beta coupling" seen on the EEGs. Delta-beta coupling is described as a particular pattern of brain waves that increase with rising anxiety. After the 12-week course of Talk Therapy, the EEG readings showed low levels of social anxiety! Expressing your thoughts and feeling about your anxiety can be proven to be very helpful for treatment and not just venting!
 
When you’re suffering from panic attacks, obsessive thoughts, unrelenting worries, or an incapacitating phobia, it is essential to know that you do not have to live with anxiety and fear!
Treatment can help, and for many anxiety problems, therapy is often the most effective option. That’s because anxiety therapy—unlike anxiety medication—treats more than just the symptoms of the problem. Therapy can help you uncover the underlying causes of your worries and fears; learn how to relax; look at situations in new, less frightening ways; and develop better coping and problem-solving skills. Therapy gives you the tools to overcome anxiety and teaches you how to use them.
Anxiety disorders differ considerably, so therapy should be tailored to your specific symptoms and diagnosis. If you have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), for example, your treatment will be different from someone who needs help for anxiety attacks. The length of therapy will also depend on the type and severity of your anxiety disorder. However, many anxiety therapies are relatively short-term. According to the American Psychological Association, many people improve significantly within 8 to 10 Talk Therapy sessions.
 
While many different types of therapy are used to treat anxiety, the leading approaches are cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), Talk Therapy, and exposure therapy. Each anxiety therapy may be used alone or combined with other types of therapy. Anxiety therapy may be conducted individually, or it may take place in a group of people with similar anxiety problems. However, the goal is the same: to lower your anxiety levels, calm your mind, and overcome your fears.
 
The Thought Challenging approach used in CBT and Talk Therapy for anxiety
Thought challenging—also known as cognitive restructuring—is a process in which you challenge the negative thinking patterns that contribute to your anxiety, replacing them with more positive, realistic thoughts. This involves three steps:
 
Identifying your negative thoughts. With anxiety disorders, situations are perceived as more dangerous than they are. To someone with a germ phobia, for example, shaking another person’s hand can seem life-threatening. Although you may easily see that this is an irrational fear, identifying your own irrational, scary thoughts can be very difficult. One strategy is to ask yourself what you were thinking when you started feeling anxious. Your therapist will help you with this step.
Challenging your negative thoughts. In the second step, your therapist will teach you how to evaluate your anxiety-provoking thoughts. This involves questioning the evidence for your frightening thoughts, analyzing unhelpful beliefs, and testing out the reality of negative predictions. Strategies for challenging negative thoughts include conducting experiments, weighing the pros and cons of worrying or avoiding the thing you fear, and determining the realistic chances that what you’re anxious about will happen.
Replacing negative thoughts with realistic thoughts. Once you’ve identified the irrational predictions and negative distortions in your anxious thoughts, you can replace them with new thoughts that are more accurate and positive. Your therapist may also help you come up with realistic, calming statements you can say to yourself when you’re facing or anticipating a situation that usually sends your anxiety levels soaring.
 Replacing negative thoughts with more realistic ones is easier said than done. Often, negative thoughts are part of a lifelong pattern of thinking. It takes practice to break the habit. That’s why cognitive behavioral therapy includes practicing on your own at home as well. CBT may also include:
 
Learning to recognize when you’re anxious and what that feels like in the body
 
Learning coping skills and relaxation techniques to counteract anxiety and panic
 
Confronting your fears (either in your imagination or in real life)
Exposure therapy used in CBT and Talk Therapy for anxiety
Anxiety is not a pleasant sensation, so it’s only natural to avoid it if you can. One of the ways that people do this is by steering clear of the situations that make them anxious. If you have a fear of heights, you might drive three hours out of your way to avoid crossing a tall bridge. Alternatively, if the prospect of public speaking leaves your stomach in knots, you might skip your best friend’s wedding in order to avoid giving a toast. Aside from the inconvenience factor, the problem with avoiding you fear that you never have the chance to overcome them. Avoiding your fears often makes them stronger.
 
Exposure therapy, as the name suggests, exposes you to the situations or objects you fear. The idea is that through repeated exposures, you’ll feel an increasing sense of control over the situation, and your anxiety will diminish. The exposure is done in one of two ways: Your therapist may ask you to imagine the scary situation, or you may confront it in real life. Exposure therapy may be used alone, or it may be conducted as part of cognitive behavioral therapy.
 
Systematic desensitization
Rather than facing your biggest fear right away, which can be traumatizing, exposure therapy usually starts with a situation that’s only mildly threatening and works up from there. This step-by-step approach is called systematic desensitization. Systematic desensitization allows you to gradually challenge your fears, build confidence, and master skills for controlling panic.
 
Systematic desensitization involves three parts:
 
Learning relaxation skills. First, your therapist will teach you a relaxation technique, such as progressive muscle relaxation or deep breathing. You will practice in therapy and on your own at home. Once you start confronting your fears, you’ll use this relaxation technique to reduce your physical anxiety response (such as trembling and hyperventilating) and encourage relaxation.
 
You are creating a step-by-step list. Next, you’ll create a list of 10 to 20 scary situations that progress toward your final goal. For example, if your final goal is to overcome your fear of flying, you might start by looking at photos of planes and end with taking an actual flight. Each step should be as specific as possible, with a clear, measurable objective.
 
You are working through the steps. Under the guidance of your coach/therapist, you’ll then begin to work through the list. The goal is to stay in each scary situation until your fears subside. That way, you’ll learn that the feelings will not hurt you and they do go away. Every time the anxiety gets too intense, you will switch to the relaxation technique you learned. Once you are relaxed again, you can turn your attention back to the situation. In this way, you will work through the steps until you are able to complete each one without feeling overly distressed.
 
Making anxiety Talk Therapy work for you!
There is no quick fix for anxiety. Overcoming an anxiety disorder takes time and commitment. Talk Therapy involves facing your fears rather than avoiding them, so sometimes you’ll feel worse before you get better. The important thing is to stick with treatment and follow your Life and Recovery Coach/or Therapist advice. If you are feeling discouraged with the pace of recovery, remember that therapy for anxiety is very useful in the long run. You will reap the benefits if you see it through.
 
Who Can Help Me With This?
What is the difference between a Life and Recovery Coach and a Traditional Therapist?
Coaching tends to focus on the present and future rather than the past. Coaches help people identify their goals and the obstacles they are facing. Like therapy, coaching involves guidance and support but also places a great deal of emphasis on accountability, enabling people to do more than they might on their own.

ReferencesMann, D. (2011). Talk Therapy May Help Treat Social Anxiety. Retrieved from Web MD: https://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/news/20110221/talk-therapy-may-help-treat-social-anxiety#1
Melinda Smith, M. R. (2019). Therapy for Anxiety Disorders. Retrieved from Help Guide: https://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/therapy-for-anxiety-disorders.htm 
 
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This has been the traditional and most common method of coaching. Face to Face or One on One remains to be the preferred option for many coaches and clients.
 
The pros of coaching face to face:
Body language and nonverbal communication can play be a critical role in goal setting and goal success. In addition to this, it can also make life easier with getting folders and processes to and from them, which can be a more natural and always safer method.
 
The Cons of coaching face to face:
Unless the company is in a larger city, this will ultimately place limits on the geographic demographic. Traveling can be stressful for  clients to meet regularly.
 
In addition to this, there could be an add on charge for traveling expenses. 

The pros of phone coaching:
 
It can be possible to connect with your client just as deeply and effectively as having them in the same room by developing excellent listening and phone communication skills. In fact, without the confront of being face-to-face, a client may feel safer and is often prepared to be far more intimate and revealing of actual issues that are going on.
 
 
The con's
 
There are clients, who don’t get or want to get the concept of phone coaching and pass you up, for someone who will do face to face.
 
The best solution is to invite such a client to try a free phone session so they can see how it works.
 
If they don't like it, you can revert to the face to face method or suggest you work within a Skype environment which as you will read below gives you the best of both worlds.
 
Local clients will often want to meet you in person before they commit to coaching, so maybe have the first meeting or even the first session face-to-face, and then switching to telephone with the occasional get together is another way to go.
 

Coaching by Skype - the best of both worlds
​
Since the introduction of Skype and similar computer communication programs into our lives, nothing has been quite the same when it comes to delivering life coaching.  When the clients are computer savvy, you can get the best of coaching face-to-face and telephone contact by using Skype. 
 If you both have a webcam on your computer, you will be able to see each other during the session wherever you both are.  
Also, there is nothing better than Skype compared with the cost of conventional international phoning.
With Skype, you can also use the chat option for 'in-between' session catch-ups, which is almost the same as having a conversation. And it is also possible to share files while you are talking and even share the screen if necessary so that one of you can see what the other is looking at.

Email Life Coaching
Many coaches offer email contact in between sessions, which is extremely valuable to the client if they are suddenly stuck or want to share a win. It is also an excellent way of communicating with clients when they and or you are traveling.
 
Cons
It’s not recommended as the sole method of working with clients.
 
Emails are too one-dimensional, and there is too much room for misunderstandings on both sides because there is no actual conversation with tone and inflection — a bit like social media.
 
So, here are all the options of having a Life and Recovery Coach for personal goal setting, personal goal planning, and goal achievement!

​Evaluation ($25 for 90 min)
Available with Face to Face, Skype, Phone session and Email
 
Evaluate client for services and packages

​60 min Goal Setting 1 hour @ $50 each
 
Available with Face to Face, Skype, Phone session and Email
This session is designed to help you focus on the most critical areas of your life and path. It aimed to provide clarity and a plan of action. This session is the beginning point to include a more in-depth action plan template further.
1 hour $50

3 (60) min Sessions 3 qty 1-hour sessions for $125
Available with Face to Face, Skype, Phone session and Email
 
This Package includes 3 (60)-minute strategy sessions that provide for live coaching sessions, phone sessions, Skype, etc. plus ongoing email and text support. This package includes monthly access to our private support group. The entire package is $150, at the bottom of this listing it states 1-$150. This only means that you can schedule yourself for 1 hr increments at a time. This does NOT mean that 1 schedule visit is $150. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused

3- Month Coaching Package - $300
Available with Face to Face, Skype, Phone session and Email
This session includes an initial 60-minute strategy session with a 90-day action plan including (6) 45-minute coaching sessions (2 live coaching session a month) plus ongoing email and phone support. This package includes monthly access to our private support group. Please feel free to book the first session online for 1 hr!

​Email Coaching Packages
Email coaching is an ideal option if you’d like to work with me, but have scheduling or budget constraints. Now you can enjoy the motivation and accountability of working with a coach, with the convenience of connecting via email.
Some of the topics that I have coached my email clients on:
 
Deciding on a career change
Planning a relocation
Developing a new business
Working through a challenging workplace conflict
Overcoming procrastination on an important goal
 
Package includes:
Up to five email replies per week, Monday-Friday
Personal responses from me within 24 hours
Affordable alternative to phone and in-person coaching
Email when it is convenient for you; no need to schedule an appointment
Perfect for brainstorming and strategizing your career and life questions, decisions and dilemmas
 
Introductory price @ $10 a week for the first month! Regular Price is $25 per week.

Life and Recovery Coaches Vs. Traditional Doctors
 
Limited doctor-patient time
A scheduled visit with a physician seems to be set by a timer. The doctor may ask a few automatic questions, makes a swift diagnosis, and write a prescription (which may not also be necessary). Then to the next patient.
 
Does your doctor have time to chat with you about your health habits, nutrition, lifestyle, and activity level? Probably not. And, they don’t have the time to discuss any added emotional stress.
 
But not so surprisingly, these are meaningful discussions that may keep you well.
Health coaches act as mentors, motivating their clients to make healthier decisions in their diet and exercise routines, and assisting with stress reduction. All of which can lead to better health and fewer doctor visits.
In a hurried medical environment, promoting long-term healthy behavior change (a major undertaking) is nearly impossible, even for the most caring of practitioners.
 
For most individuals, learning to change health habits requires a significant change of mindset.
 
Lifestyle change is difficult to implement because it requires the individual to stop and make conscious, at the moment, decisions about many aspects of life that were once habitual.
 
Contact me today for a Free evaluation!