How to calm anxiety

Until a few years ago, it was said that one should distract oneself or take psychotropic drugs to calm down from anxiety. Special breathing techniques, progressive muscle relaxation or psychotherapeutic methods in which you learn to face your fears were also frequently recommended. But how up-to-date are all these methods?

The fact is: A lot has happened in the treatment of anxiety disorders in recent years. New insights into the structure and functioning of the human brain have led to entirely new treatment approaches. Instead of psychotropic drugs and confrontation therapy, new mental techniques are becoming increasingly essential to retrain a brain in which fears have become entrenched. These new methods are gentler and significantly more effective than previous treatments. A pioneer in this field is a form of therapy developed in Germany. It has been used successfully there for many years. It is known in professional circles as the Bernhardt Method because it was created by Daniela and Klaus Bernhardt, the two directors of the Institute for Modern Psychotherapy in Berlin.

Anxiety disorder treatments, according to the latest brain research

When Klaus Bernhardt presented this new method for combating anxiety in his international bestseller “The Anxiety Cure“, a jolt went through the professional world. Until then, it was assumed that treating anxiety disorders was complex and, above all, lengthy. But this changed when Bernhardt discovered how the neuroplasticity of the human brain can be stimulated with simple exercises in such a way that pathological anxiety is literally unlearned. Special mental training is used, which should be applied for 20 to 30 minutes daily directly before going to bed. Consistently applied, this training leads to a significantly reduced feeling of anxiety after only a few days, even in the case of long-term anxiety patients with severe courses of illness. How long it ultimately takes to completely overcome an anxiety disorder varies, of course, from case to case. But even complete cures within a few months are not uncommon. In the following video, you will learn why this new form of psychotherapy, also available as self-therapy, is so successful.

The Bernhardt Method: Hope even for long-time anxiety patients

Especially long-term patients are sceptical when it comes to fast healing. In Germany, too, many psychiatrists and psychotherapists were convinced that such immediate therapeutic successes were impossible. And if so, then only with the help of medication and consistent confrontation therapy. But it is precisely these two therapy methods that the Bernhardt Method dispenses with completely. So how can it be that it nevertheless helps quickly and sustainably?

Classical psychotherapy is based on old ideas about the brain

For decades, the doctrine was that one must face one’s fears. Furthermore, many assumed that early childhood traumas must first be discovered and worked through before healing is possible. The view that pathological anxiety can only be permanently overcome if psychotherapy is supported by medication was and is also widespread. But thanks to new findings in brain research, we now know that our brains function quite differently than was long assumed. In fact, until the late 1990s, it was thought that the adult brain hardly changed. Today, however, we know that precisely the opposite is the case. Every new experience, even every single thought, causes new synaptic connections to grow into old age. In addition, the more thinking is accompanied by emotions, the more efficient the brain becomes at evoking these emotions more and more frequently. This applies to negative emotions as well as positive ones.

Confrontational therapy can increase anxiety

The more pronounced an anxiety disorder is, the more difficult it is for those affected to put themselves in situations fraught with fear. If a therapist succeeds in persuading the person concerned to do so, the predominant feelings during the therapy are tension and anxiety. From the point of view of brain research, thousands of connections are formed in the brain during this time in which precisely these two negative emotions are neurally anchored. Once the confrontation therapy has been successfully completed, there is also a moment of relaxation and perhaps even pride. Still, these positive feelings are not as intensively neurally networked as the negative ones. Suppose you ask anxiety patients what confrontation therapy has brought them. In that case, you will usually hear that they can now bear the anxiety. But the fear is still there subliminally. If that is enough for you as a therapy goal, you can continue to face your fears. But suppose you don’t want to feel unfounded fear anymore and instead want to do all the things again with ease that people without an anxiety disorder can do. In that case, you should take a different path.  

Classical therapy against anxiety vs Bernhardt method

Just because something has been done forever doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right and good. Many methods used to combat anxiety are now considered outdated and sometimes even harmful. Here are a few studies by renowned scientists that prove that a rethink in psychotherapy is long overdue:

How brain-based anxiety therapy works

Now that you have read several studies on what anxiety patients should avoid, the question arises: What must change in psychotherapy so that anxiety patients can quickly find their way back to a life without anxiety and panic? There are already numerous studies on this, too, of which I have compiled a few for you here:

The Bernhardt Method takes an entirely new approach based on these recent studies. Without medication, without confrontation therapy and without painful digging in childhood, it gently changes the neuronal structures in the brain that have so far led to automated fear reactions. After just a few days, those affected notice clearly that they are no longer victims of their anxiety disorder but can actively do something about emerging fears and even panic attacks. How long it ultimately takes to completely overcome an anxiety disorder varies, of course, from case to case. It can last from a few weeks to a few months. However, a reduction in perceived anxiety by at least 50% usually occurs after 3 weeks if the Bernhardt Method is applied correctly. In the following video, you will learn how you can actively do something against anxiety and panic with the Bernhardt Method, also in the context of self-therapy.

How to use the Bernhardt method correctly

People suffering from an anxiety disorder for years or even decades can hardly imagine that there should finally be a method with which they can end their suffering. And the fact that this is even supposed to be possible as self-therapy doesn’t make the doubts any smaller. And yet this is what has long been the reality. There are countless examples of it in Germany, where this form of psychotherapy was developed and has been used more and more since 2015. And not only with people who have only recently started to suffer from an anxiety disorder but also with long-standing anxiety patients for whom every other form of therapy has failed so far.

To give as many sufferers as possible quick and easy access to the Bernhardt Method, the Institute for Modern Psychotherapy in Berlin has developed a comprehensive online video course. With it, you will learn within 7 hours how to correctly apply the Bernhardt Method. With the help of special mental techniques with which the brain can unlearn pathological fear, you will go from being the victim of your thoughts and emotions to the creator of a new, fear-free life. So stop learning to tolerate your fear and come to the next level with us. Our goal is to completely overcome any anxiety disorder so that you can fully enjoy your life again.

Another important note: The Bernhardt Method is an entirely new approach to reprogramming a fear-trained brain. That is why there are NO breathing exercises, NO tips on how to distract oneself when anxious and NO progressive muscle relaxation exercises. Instead, there are individually adapted approaches for every type of anxiety disorder, which have already been used successfully by thousands of sufferers. The online video course “THE ANXIETY CURE” was designed so that a significant reduction in perceived anxiety can be achieved after just a few hours. And this is independent of age or level of education. 

What is the difference between the book and the video course?

We are often asked what the difference is between Klaus Bernhardt’s bestselling book “The Anxiety Cure” and the online video course of the same name. While the book, published in 2018, mainly explains the basics of the method, the online video course, published in 2022, was developed from the beginning as a self-therapy option. In addition to the basics, it also explains concrete procedures for various anxiety disorders using numerous examples. This applies to panic attacks and agoraphobia, emetophobia, hypochondria, generalised anxiety disorder or social phobia. In addition, the video course answers the most frequent questions readers of the book have asked by email over the years. This has ensured that everyone affected can start actively doing something about their anxiety disorder. And all this WITHOUT medication, WITHOUT confrontation therapy and WITHOUT stirring up old traumas.

Panic attack treatment 

Commonly, a combination of medication and psychotherapy is used for panic disorder. However, this widely used type of treatment is far from the best. This is because it often only treats the symptoms such as dizziness, palpitations or trepidation, while the real causes remain untreated.

Those who do not recognise and eliminate the true causes of their panic attacks but instead only suppress the anxiety symptoms with antidepressants and tranquillisers (benzodiazepines) for years make several mistakes at once. On the one hand, this can lead to anxiety disorder becoming chronic. On the other hand, a dependence on psychotropic drugs develops. Even during exposure therapy, what is really behind the automated, anxious thoughts is rarely explored. This therapy primarily serves to dull the fears. You learn to tolerate fears and even panic attacks. We imagine a real cure differently.

Panic attack treatment at home

Is it possible to successfully treat panic attacks at home? Yes, it is possible! When we started developing our online video course, THE ANXIETY CURE, a few years ago, that was precisely our goal. And our users’ enthusiastic comments confirm that we have achieved this goal. You probably don’t have 15 minutes to see how innovative and easy this treatment is to use at home. But if you do, we will make the first episode of our online video course, THE ANXIETY CURE, available to you here free of charge.

A panic attack is caused by:

Another important note: Panic attacks are often nothing more than a labour of love by the psyche. When people avoid overdue decisions or changes for too long, panic attacks can be an urgent warning from the subconscious. The message is: “Stop this harmful behaviour, or I will force you to do it with more anxiety attacks.”

Generalised anxiety disorder treatment

For a long time, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) was considered the most effective treatment for GAD. Especially when combined with pharmacological therapy. But thanks to new findings from brain research, there is now a faster and, above all, gentler alternative. With the Bernhardt Method, sufferers can completely overcome generalised anxiety disorder without psychotropic drugs. This has several advantages because antidepressants and tranquillisers (benzodiazepines) are known to have numerous undesirable side effects. 

The Bernhardt Method takes an entirely different approach. Thanks to new anxiety-stopping techniques developed based on the latest neuroscientific studies, those affected often manage to completely stop burgeoning anxiety within seconds. Especially anxiety patients for whom conventional therapies have not been successful so far are often amazed at how easy these techniques are to apply and yet how effective they are. If you want to experience this for yourself, we recommend our online video course, THE ANXIETY CURE. In it, those affected can learn the Bernhardt Method so that it can also be used for self-therapy without any problems.

Agoraphobia treatment

The best treatment for agoraphobia is said to be confrontation therapy, which is usually carried out in the context of cognitive behavioural therapy. If agoraphobia is diagnosed at a very early stage, good healing results are possible. However, if the diagnosis has been present for some time, confronting fearful situations can make the agoraphobia even worse. In this case, those affected are well advised to choose a therapeutic approach that changes the automated fear impulses at the neuronal level. You can find the most suitable method for this via THIS LINK.