How and Why Therapy Prevented Anxiety During the Pandemic

Like numerous other folks about the globe, at the starting of the COVID-19 pandemic, I identified myself overwhelmed with anxiousness. As the founder of a substantial mental wellness practice, I was rightfully worried about the transition of more than 500 people and households to telehealth! Along with the logistical challenges came some extremely genuine issues about how our currently-anxious individuals would fare, offered the amazing strain, uncertainty, and isolation.

To my extremely pleasant surprise, my anxieties did not come to fruition. The clinicians in our offices observed that our individuals seemed to do surprisingly properly with each the transition to telehealth, and in common regardless of the swiftly-evolving globally-uncertain landscape. Our individuals did not encounter decompensations, increases in risky behavior, or other phenomena of concern. In truth, numerous reported feeling far better than ever ahead of.

Recently, my colleague Dr. Steven Pirutinsky and I looked at our clinical information to see if there had been any observable trends. We focused on 764 adult individuals who attended my clinic from October, 2019 to March, 2021, and divided them into 4 groups1 primarily based on when their therapy started: (1) Pre-pandemic individuals who began therapy ahead of 2020, (2) Pandemic-onset individuals who began therapy involving January and March 2020, (3) During pandemic individuals who began therapy involving April and December 2020, and (4) Post-pandemic individuals who began therapy immediately after January 1st, 2021. All individuals completed anxiousness measures at each and every session they attended. We then employed sophisticated statistics to examine adjustments in anxiousness symptoms more than the course of therapy.  

We identified one thing actually amazing: As a group, individuals who had been getting Cognitive and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (CBT and DBT) prior to the pandemic did not encounter an uptick in anxiousness at any point for the duration of 20202. Furthermore, irrespective of when individuals began therapy, they seasoned the similar trajectory characterized by a fast improvement more than the initial 3-4 weeks followed by far more graduate improvement more than the subsequent 2-3 months.

What accounts for these findings? I feel the explanation is rather easy. Those who seasoned anxiousness ahead of the pandemic and came in to get assistance, had tools and capabilities in spot to be in a position to thrive and demonstrate resilience and strength, below stress. CBT and DBT can prepare folks for even the most uncommon stressors – even these that come along when per century! 

1. Patella K. Our Pandemic Year—A COVID-19 Timeline. Yale Medicine [Internet]. 2021 Mar 9. [cited June 16, 2023]. Available from: https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/covid-timeline 
2. Rosmarin DH, Pirutinsky S. Response to anxiousness therapy ahead of, for the duration of, and immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS One. 202419(3):e0296949.