Anxiety reduction techniques

Definition

Anxiety reduction techniques are skills that are taught by a therapist to help an individual overcome anxiety, stress, and tension. Anxiety can be experienced in a variety of ways including tension, worry, and nervousness, and can occur in thoughts or experienced as bodily senations. The techniques to reduce anxiety can include relaxation, visualization and imagery, diaphragmatic breathing, stress inoculation, and meditation.

Relaxation or progressive relaxation

This anxiety reduction technique is based on the premise that anxiety and stress are associated with muscle tension. When one achieves deep muscle relaxation, muscle tension is reduced, and this relaxed state is incompatible with anxiety.

Visualization and imagery

This anxiety reduction technique aids the person in making a mental image of what he or she wants to accomplish. For example, a person might wish to release worries or concerns, or create a relaxing image to escape momentarily from a stressful event.

Diaphragmatic breathing

This technique involves teaching a person to breathe sufficient amounts of air to help the person's blood be purified properly and filled with oxygen. In this technique, the individual breathes deeply from the diaphragm, which is located low in the chest, near the abdomen.

Stress inoculation

Self-talk, or the things that people tell themselves about stressful situations, can be habitual. For example, a person may take an ordinary event and automatically magnify its importance. Stress inoculation training is a type of therapy that trains clients to cope with anxiety and stressful situations by learning more functional patterns of self-talk.

Meditation

In this anxiety reduction technique, a person is trained to focus his or her attention on one thing at a time.

Purpose

The goal of learning and implementing anxiety reduction techniques is to help reduce the intensity of anxiety that a person feels. These techniques are also helpful in teaching people how to relax and manage stress. Many of the techniques are used in combination with each other. For example, a person may be taught diaphragmatic breathing while also engaging in relaxation techniques, a visualization and imagery exercise, and/or meditation.

Relaxation or progressive relaxation

Relaxation has been used to help women during childbirth and people with chronic pain. Relaxation has also been used to treat muscle tension, muscle spasms, neck and back pain, and to decrease perspiration and respiratory rates. Furthermore, relaxation can help with fatigue, depression, insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome, high blood pressure, mild phobias, and stuttering.

Visualization and imagery

Visualization and imagery techniques have been helpful in treating general or specific anxiety, headaches, muscle tension and spasms, reducing or eliminating pain, and in the recovery from illnesses and injuries. Visualization and imagery techniques have also been used by athletes to help them achieve peak performance.

Diaphragmatic breathing

Diaphragmatic breathing has been found to help people reduce anxiety, depression, irritability, muscle tension, circulation, and fatigue.

Stress inoculation

Stress inoculation has been helpful in reducing interpersonal and general anxiety. For example, these techniques may be used when a person has an upcoming job interview, speech, or test. Stress inoculation has also been used to treat phobias, fear of heights, and chronic anger problems.

Meditation

Meditation has been used to treat and prevent high blood pressure, heart disease, strokes, migraine headaches, immunization diseases, obsessive thinking, attention problems, anxiety, depression, and anger difficulties.

Description

These various techniques are often practiced and demonstrated in therapy sessions with a trained professional. In addition, the person learning the techniques would need to continue to practice them on a regular basis, outside of the therapy sessions.

Relaxation or progressive relaxation

In progressive relaxation, a person is instructed to tighten and then relax various muscles. A person either lies down or sits in a chair with his or her head supported. Each muscle group (such as face muscles, arm muscles, leg muscles, etc.) is tensed for five to seven seconds and then relaxed for 20 to 30 seconds. This helps the person recognize the feeling of tense and relaxed muscles. This entire procedure is repeated one to five times, and usually starts with the face muscles and moves downward to the foot muscles. When relaxation is used with chronic pain and childbirth, the techniques focus the person's attention on breathing and relaxing muscles as a distraction from the pain. For mastery, relaxation techniques are typically practiced every day for one to two weeks. A person may engage in these techniques anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour per session. Sometimes, a person will record and replay instructions on tightening and relaxing various muscle groups until the person becomes familiar with the muscle groups and establishes a routine in which he or she is comfortable.

Visualization and imagery

The basic premise behind visualization and imagery is that one's thoughts become reality. For example, if one thinks anxious thoughts, then he or she will become tense. The principles behind visualization and imagery maintain that a person can use his or her imagination to be persuaded to feel a certain way or do anything that is physically possible to do. There are three basic types of visualization: programmed, receptive, and guided visualization.

In programmed visualization, the person creates a vivid image including sight, taste, sound, and smell. The person then imagines a goal he or she wants to attain or some type of healing that is desired. In the visualization, the goal is achieved, or the healing occurs.

An idea underlying both receptive visualization and guided visualization is that the person is seeking an answer to a life question or resolution to an issue, and the answer or resolution is within the person, but is buried or inaccessible to him or her because of fear, doubt, or anxiety. These techniques are similar to dream interpretation and free association techniques used in psychoanalysisor psychodynamic therapy. For example, an individual wonders whether he should remain in his current position. A proponent of these techniques would maintain that "deep down," below the level of conscious thought or subconsciously, the man knows what he really wants to do, but he is not allowing himself to listen to his desires or to act—he is blocking the message his subconsciousness is sending him. The goal of these techniques is to enable the person to relax and focus enough to receive that message, so that the person can do what needs to be done. In receptive visualization, the person creates a peaceful scene in his or her mind. For example, the person might imagine being on a beach. After the

image is formed, the person asks a question and waits for the answer. To continue the example above, the man imagines a beach, and he asks himself the question, "Should I leave my job?" He continues to relax and remain in the scene, and he may "hear" an answer blowing in the breeze or "see" a boat sailing away, which may be symbolic of his wish to leave his job.

In guided visualization, the person creates a very vivid image, as in programmed visualization, but omits some important elements. The person then waits for the subconscious to supply the missing pieces. For example, a computer programmer may wonder if she should stay in her present job or return to school for an advanced degree. In engaging in guided visualization, she may visualize her cubicle at work, the pictures on her desk, the feel of her desk chair, the sounds of people outside her cubicle typing and talking, but she will omit an element from the scene. In this case, she may omit her computer. She will then wait to see what her subconscious uses to replace her computer. This woman may find in her visualization that her computer has been replaced by books, which may represent her desire to return to school.

Visualization and imagery exercises work best when a person is relaxed. Visualization and imagery exercises are typically practiced two to three times a day for 10 to 20 minutes at a time. How quickly a person will see results can vary. Many times people report immediate symptom relief. However, the goals a person sets for him or herself, the power of a person's imagination, and the willingness to practice can all influence how rapidly benefits can be obtained. Some people find it helpful to tape record and replay detailed descriptions of what they want to visualize or imagine.

Diaphragmatic breathing

Diaphragmatic breathing can typically be learned in minutes; however, the benefits may not be recognized until after several months of persistent practice. When breathing from the diaphragm, clients are often told to lie down on a rug or blanket, with their legs slightly apart, arms to the sides, not touching the body, and eyes closed. Attention is brought to the client's breathing by placing one hand on the chest and the other hand on the abdomen area. The client is then instructed to breathe through the nose and exhale out the mouth. Each time the client breathes in, he or she should try to breathe deeper. This should be practiced for a minimum of five minutes once or twice a day. Over a few weeks of practice, the time period engaged in diaphragmatic breathing should be increased to 20 minutes and the activity can be performed while lying down, sitting, or standing.

Stress inoculation

As people go about their daily lives, they often have thoughts in which they are talking to themselves. Stress inoculation involves this self-talk in helping clients decrease their anxiety and stress. Stress inoculation therapy works on the basis of turning the client's own thought patterns into a "vaccine" against stress-induced anxiety. The first step is to develop a list of stressful situations and arrange them from least to most stressful. Once anxiety-producing situations are identified, the client is taught to curb the anxiety-provoking thoughts and replace them with more positive coping thoughts. Once these new thoughts are learned, they can be tried out in real situations. The time it takes to replace old habitual thoughts with new thoughts can vary depending on the amount of practice and commitment to make this change.

Meditation

There are various forms of meditation. Depending on the type used, the person focuses his or her attention in slightly different ways. For example, Zen meditation focuses on breathing, whereas in transcendental meditation, the person makes a sound or says a mantra selected to keep all other images and problems from intruding on his or her thoughts. With practice, a person can reach a meditative state and obtain its benefits within a few minutes.

Aftercare

After a person has learned and practiced anxiety reduction techniques, he or she may need additional instruction from a trained professional. Having a trained professional review these techniques with a person can help reinforce what the person has already learned and been practicing. Furthermore, the person may identify aspects of the techniques that he or she is doing incorrectly, areas that need more attention or focus, and alternative methods of engaging in the techniques.

Risks

There are minimal risks associated with these techniques, but some physical problems have occurred. For example, precautions should be taken when doing progressive relaxation and tensing the neck and back. Excessive tightening can create muscle or spinal damage. Additionally, tightening various muscle groups, such as the toes or feet, could result in muscle cramps. If physical problems occur, such as difficulty taking deep breaths, unusual muscle pain, or an increased level of anxiety, then the individual should seek assistance from a physician.

Normal results

In general, after engaging in these anxiety reduction techniques, many people report an increased sense of wellbeing and relaxation. People have a greater sense of control, and confidence in their coping abilities. This results in a decreased need to fear or avoid stressful situations.

Relaxation or progressive relaxation

Progressive relaxation can be useful in reducing muscle tension. Engaging in relaxation may help to improve a person's energy level, depression, and anxiety, as well as a person's ability to retrieve information from memory.

Visualization and imagery

By engaging in the positive thinking often associated with visualization and imagery, a person can create a clearer image of what he or she wants to accomplish. By repeating the image again and again, the person comes to expect what he or she wants will occur. As a result, the person will often begin to act in a way more consistent with accomplishing the goal.

Diaphragmatic breathing

Sufficient amounts of air reach the lungs, which purifies and oxygenates the blood. Waste products in the blood are removed, and organs and tissues become nourished.

Stress inoculation

A person will have more realistic views of stressful and anxiety-producing situations in his or her life. The person will be able to relax away tension by effectively thinking useful coping thoughts rather than negative interpretations of situations.

Meditation

As people learn to meditate, they often discover that they have some control over the thoughts that come to their minds, as opposed to feeling as though thoughts "pop" into their heads. Many people begin to recognize dysfunctional patterns of thought and perceptions that have influenced their lives. Additionally, many people report a greater ability to manage their emotions and gain a greater sense of stability. When a person meditates, he or she often suppresses the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, the part of the nervous system that activates the body for emergencies and activities. Meditation also lowers a person's metabolism, heart, and breathing rates. Additionally, meditation decreases the chemical in the body often associated with stress.

Abnormal results

Once a person begins to implement these anxiety reduction techniques effectively, he or she may discover old or hidden psychological pain. The person may feel angry, frightened, or depressed, and it may be beneficial for him or her to talk to a friend, mental health professional, or meditation teacher.

Some individuals have difficulty with various aspects of the different techniques. For example, people may feel restless when first learning how to meditate, or they may feel as though a thousand thoughts are running through their minds. However, with practice and assistance from a trained professional, these difficulties will subside. People who feel frustrated or discouraged may simply need to find ways to make the practice of these techniques more comfortable. As is the case with many other skills, effectively reducing anxiety with these techniques requires patience and practice. If an individual does not consistently practice these techniques, the benefits will probably not be obtained.

Resources

BOOKS

Bourne, Edmund. The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook. 3rd ed. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger, 2001.

Davis, Martha, Matthew McKay, and Elizabeth Robbins Eshelman. The Relaxation & Stress Reduction Workbook.5th ed. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger, 2000.

Fanning, P. Visualization for Change. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger, 1988.

Huffman, Karen. "Stress and Health Psychology." In Psychology in Action. 6th ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2002.

Meichenbaum, D. Stress Inoculation Training. New York: Plenum Press, 1985.

Meichenbaum, D., and R. Cameron. "Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy." In Contemporary Behavior Therapy: Conceptual and Empirical Foundations, edited by G. T. Wilson, and C. M. Franks. New York: Guilford, 1982.

McKay, Matthew, Martha Davis, and Patrick Fanning. Thoughts & Feelings: Taking Control of Your Moods and Your Life. 2nd ed. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger, 1998.

Morris, Charles, G. and Albert A. Maisto. Psychology: An Introduction. 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.

ORGANIZATIONS

American Psychiatric Association. 1400 K Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20005. .

American Psychological Association. 750 1st St. NE, Washington, D.C. 20002. (202) 336-5500. .

Anxiety Disorders Association of America, Inc. 11900 Parklawn Drive, Suite 100, Rockville, MD 20852. (301) 231-9350. .

The National Institute of Mental Health, 5600 Fischers Lane, Room 15C05, Rockville, MD 20857. (301) 443-4513. .

The National Mental Health Association. 1201 Prince Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-2971.

Keith Beard, Psy.D.

The Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders
Copyright © 1999 by The Gale Group.
Published by The Gale Group. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

Cost Control and Reduction

Cost control and reduction refers to the efforts business managers make to monitor, evaluate, and trim expenditures. These efforts might be part of a formal, company-wide program or might be informal in nature and limited to a single individual or department. In either case, however, cost control is a particularly important area of focus for small businesses, which often have limited amounts of time and money. "In a small business, you are so busy serving your customers, you tend to get lackadaisical about what you're buying," business owner John Clark noted in Jane Applegate's Strategies for Small Business Success. Even seemingly insignificant expenditures—for such items as office supplies, telephone bills, or overnight delivery services—can add up for small businesses. On the plus side, these minor expenditures can often provide sources of cost savings.

PLANNING AND CONTROL

Cost control refers to management's effort to influence the actions of individuals who are responsible for performing tasks, incurring costs, and generating revenues. First managers plan the way they want people to perform, then they implement procedures to determine whether actual performance complies with these plans. Cost control is a continuous process that begins with the annual budget. As the fiscal year progresses, management compares actual results to those projected in the budget and incorporates into the new plan the lessons learned from its evaluation of current operations. Through the budget process and accounting controls, management establishes overall company objectives, defines the centers of responsibility, determines specific objectives for each responsibility center, and designs procedures and standards for reporting and evaluation.

A budget segments the business into its components, or centers, where the responsible party initiates and controls action. Responsibility centers represent applicable organizational units, functions, departments, and divisions. Generally a single individual heads the responsibility center exercising substantial, if not complete, control over the activities of people or processes within the center, as well as the results of their activity. Cost centers are accountable only for expenses. Revenue centers primarily generate revenues. Profit centers accept responsibility for both revenues and expenses. The use of responsibility centers allows management to design control reports and pinpoint accountability. A budget also sets standards to indicate the level of activity expected from each responsible person or decision unit, and the amount of resources that a responsible party should use in achieving that level of activity.

The planning process, then, provides for two types of control mechanisms: feedforward, which provides a basis for control at the point of action (the decision point); and feedback, which provides a basis for measuring the effectiveness of control after implementation. Management's role is to feedforward a futuristic vision of where the company is going and how it is to get there, and to make clear decisions coordinating and directing employee activities. Management also oversees the development of procedures to collect, record, and evaluate feedback.

CONTROL REPORTS

Control reports are informational reports that tell management about a company's activities. Control reports are only for internal use, and therefore management directs the accounting department to develop tailor-made reporting formats. Accounting provides management with a format designed to detect variations that need investigating. In addition, management also refers to conventional reports such as the income statement and balance sheet, and to external reports on the general economy and the specific industry.

Control reports need to provide an adequate amount of information so that management may determine the reasons for any cost variances from the original budget. A good control report highlights significant information by focusing management's attention on those items in which actual performance significantly differs from the standard.

Managers perform effectively when they attain the goals and objectives set by the budget. With respect to profits, managers succeed by the degree to which revenues continually exceed expenses. In applying the following simple formula, Net Profit Revenue-Expenses, managers realize that they exercise more control over expenses than they do over revenues. While they cannot predict the timing and volume of actual sales, they can determine the utilization rate of most of their resources; that is, they can influence the cost side. Hence, the evaluation of management's performance and the company's operations is cost control.

STANDARDS

For cost control purposes, a budget provides standard costs. As management constructs budgets, it lays out a road map to guide its efforts. It states a number of assumptions about the relationships and interaction among the economy, market dynamics, the abilities of its sales force, and its capacity to provide the proper quantity and quality of products demanded. An examination of the details of the budget calculations and assumptions reveals that management expects operations to produce the required amount of units within a certain cost range. Management bases its expectations and projections on the best historical and current information, as well as its best business judgment.

For example, when calculating budget expenses, management's review of the historic and current data might strongly suggest that the production of 1,000 units of a certain luxury item will cost $100,000, or $100 per unit. In addition, management might determine that the sales force will expend about $80,000 to sell the 1,000 units. This is a sales expenditure of $80 per unit. With total expenditures of $180, management sets the selling price of $500 for this luxury item. At the close of a month, management compares the actual results of that month to the standard costs to determine the degree and direction of any variance. The purpose for analyzing variances is to identify areas where costs need containment.

In the above illustration, accounting indicates to management that the sales force sold 100 units for a gross revenue of $50,000. Accounting's data also shows that the sales force spent $7,000 that month, and that production incurred $12,000 in expenses. While revenue was on target, actual sales expense came in less than the projected, with a per unit cost of $70. This is a favorable variance. But production expenses registered an unfavorable variance since actual expenditures exceeded the projected. The company produced units at $120 per item, $20 more than projected. This variance of 20 percent significantly differs from the standard costs of $100 and would likely cause management to take corrective action. As part of the control function, management compares actual performance to predetermined standards and makes changes when necessary to correct variances from the standards. The preparation of budgets and control reports, and the resulting analysis of variances from performance standards, give managers an idea of where to focus their attention to achieve cost reductions.

COST CUTTING FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

A variety of techniques can be employed to help a small business cut its costs. One method of cost reduction available to small businesses is hiring an outside analyst or consultant. These individuals may be independent consultants or accountants who analyze costs as a special service to their clients. They generally undertake an in-depth, objective review of a company's expenditures and make recommendations about where costs can be better controlled or reduced. Some expense-reduction analysts charge a basic, up-front fee, while others collect a percentage of the savings that accrue to the company as a result of their work. Still others contract with specific vendors and then pool the orders of their client companies to obtain a discount. Some of the potential benefits of using a consultant include saving time for the small business owner, raising awareness of costs in the company, and negotiating more favorable contracts with vendors and suppliers.

In his book One Hundred Ways to Prosper in Today's Economy, Barry Schimel suggested a variety of simple ways for small business owners to reduce costs, including printing or photocopying on both sides of the paper whenever possible, locking the office supply cabinet to prevent employee theft, and canceling insurance on unused equipment and vehicles. Schimel went on to outline an internal cost-cutting program that small business owners can apply. He recommended that small business owners set aside time to review several months' worth of checks and invoices and make a detailed list of all their monthly expenses. Then they should decide upon a few areas that might benefit from comparison-shopping for better prices. If the small business owner is not inclined to undertake the comparison-shopping personally, a responsible employee can be assigned to the task.

It may be helpful to compare the prices in office-supply catalogs to those offered by local stores, and to purchase supplies in bulk at a discount if possible. Some small businesses are able to form purchasing cooperatives with other small businesses in order to buy in larger quantities and negotiate better prices. After comparing the various options available and finding the lowest prices, Schimel suggested that small business owners take those numbers back to their original vendors and ask them to meet the lowest price. Many vendors are willing to do so in order to avoid losing business.

Despite the importance of cost control to small businesses, and the potential for cost savings, Schimel still warned small business owners that cost reduction alone cannot guarantee success. "You can't cost-cut your way to prosperity," he stated. "To improve profits, you also need more sales and adequate margins." In fact, overzealous cost cutting can sometimes reduce a company's potential for growth. "Only the most exceptional leaders of the most exceptional companies avoid getting sucked into a period of heady growth followed by desperate cutbacks," Alan Mitchell wrote in Management Today. "These companies have learned the hard way that cost cutting alone doesn't guarantee customer preference."

Mitchell went on to explain that every business reaches a point in its growth when management recognizes a need to cut costs, usually in the face of a crisis. "Over time, you get a cost cutting culture," consultant Paul Taffinder told Mitchell. "Once you have, the types of people who are good at building things—creating new values, new products, new services—are driven out of the business because it is unpleasant for them to work there. Then, once boom time arrives again, the organization piles on capacity but doesn't solve the problem of creating innovative potential. It has to hire talented new people again." Many companies repeat this process of inefficient growth several times.

Instead of blindly trying to cut costs in the face of crisis, Mitchell recommended that managers embrace cost cutting as a strategic issue and approach the task from a marketing perspective. "If you are going to talk about waste, you need to define what value is, because the opposite of waste is value," business school professor Dan Jones told Mitchell. "And you can only define value from the end customer's perspective. If you can really do this—if you really know what it is that doesn't add value to the customer—then you can start asking 'How can we get rid of that?' Otherwise, we are just saying 'Let's cut costs.' "

FURTHER READING:

Applegate, Jane. Jane Applegate's Strategies for Small Business Success. Plume, 1995.

Cooper, Robin, and Regine Slagmulder. "Introduction to Enter prise-Wide Cost Management." Management Accounting. August 1998.

Horngren, Charles T., George Foster, and Srikant M. Datar. Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis. Prentice Hall, 1999.

Meigs, Robert F., and Walter B. Meigs. Accounting: The Basis for Business Decisions. 8th ed. McGraw-Hill, 1990.

Mitchell, Alan. "Corporate Dieting Can Make Your Company Fat." Management Today. May 1998.

Schimel, Barry. One Hundred Ways to Prosper in Today's Economy. Acropolis Books, 1994.

Encyclopedia of Small Business
Copyright © 1999 by The Gale Group.
Published by The Gale Group. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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