Morita Therapy : A Positive Approach To Deal With Severe Anxiety Disorder
August 9th 2007 10:36
I got the title of this blog partly from the sub-title of the book "Overcoming Anxiety : A Positive approach To Dealing With Severe Anxiety In Your Life," written by Betty McLellan, a practising psychotherapist. The book focuses on severe anxiety as it is experienced by her women clients in her practice as psychotherapists, and she shares the treatment method for severe anxiety that she finds effective, the Morita therapy.
Anxiety attack or panic attack are terms that describe the sudden appearance, for no apparent reason, of acute anxiety feelings. Symptoms include : Sleeplessness, depression, indigestion, racing heart, banging heart, shaking heart, sweating hands, a choking feeling in the throat, an inability to take a deep breath, a tight feeling across the chest among others.
Morita therapy, as descibed in the book, was developed in Japan around 1920 by professor Shoma Morita, who suffered severe anxiety himself in his teenage years. Devastated by his condition, he decided to study psychiatry at Tokyo University where he began to experiment with various methods of treatment, out of which he develops the therapy which has come to be called Morita therapy.
Morita therapy is a directive therapy. It demands a commitment from the anxiety sufferer to do whatever is necessary to effect the cure. Here's the directives :
1. Accept your anxiety. Stop rejecting it. Stop trying to control it or eliminate it, and stop seeing it as a personal weakness or mental abnormality. It means you have to develop a more positive attitude towards it.
2. Develop a new way of relating to your anxiety. Instead of fighting against it, givein to it, surrender to it, and claim it as an interesting and acceptable part of who you are.
3. Develop an awareness of anxiety as an emotion. The anxiety you have are simply feelings, and like all feelings, they are spontaneous. Emotions come and go as they please, and the only thing to do with emotions is let them be.
4. Develop an undertaking of the true meaning of acceptance. learn about your anxiety. Make it a business to become knowledgeable about anxiety so that you develop a thorough understanding of what is going on in you.
5. Focus on practical actions and productive tasks in the midst of your anxiety. You will notice after a while, the anxiety feelings start to disappear.
6. Get on with your life. When you no longer feel compelled to focus all your attention on your anxiety, to hold yourself back from productive and constructive living because of your constant preoccupation with anxiety, you are free to get on with your life.
Anxiety attack or panic attack are terms that describe the sudden appearance, for no apparent reason, of acute anxiety feelings. Symptoms include : Sleeplessness, depression, indigestion, racing heart, banging heart, shaking heart, sweating hands, a choking feeling in the throat, an inability to take a deep breath, a tight feeling across the chest among others.
Morita therapy, as descibed in the book, was developed in Japan around 1920 by professor Shoma Morita, who suffered severe anxiety himself in his teenage years. Devastated by his condition, he decided to study psychiatry at Tokyo University where he began to experiment with various methods of treatment, out of which he develops the therapy which has come to be called Morita therapy.
Morita therapy is a directive therapy. It demands a commitment from the anxiety sufferer to do whatever is necessary to effect the cure. Here's the directives :
1. Accept your anxiety. Stop rejecting it. Stop trying to control it or eliminate it, and stop seeing it as a personal weakness or mental abnormality. It means you have to develop a more positive attitude towards it.
2. Develop a new way of relating to your anxiety. Instead of fighting against it, givein to it, surrender to it, and claim it as an interesting and acceptable part of who you are.
3. Develop an awareness of anxiety as an emotion. The anxiety you have are simply feelings, and like all feelings, they are spontaneous. Emotions come and go as they please, and the only thing to do with emotions is let them be.
4. Develop an undertaking of the true meaning of acceptance. learn about your anxiety. Make it a business to become knowledgeable about anxiety so that you develop a thorough understanding of what is going on in you.
5. Focus on practical actions and productive tasks in the midst of your anxiety. You will notice after a while, the anxiety feelings start to disappear.
6. Get on with your life. When you no longer feel compelled to focus all your attention on your anxiety, to hold yourself back from productive and constructive living because of your constant preoccupation with anxiety, you are free to get on with your life.
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