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Let us begin by saying it is never easy. It is something you will want to run away from to begin with. Why? Because you are been asked to do things you avoid as a rule. Anxiety is nothing but a load of feelings. Mainly bad feelings. People with anxiety have learned there is fear in places were there is no fear at all. That is what causes their anxiety. They see fear. Their anxiety kicks. CBT tries to get you to face your fears. Change how you view things. Not to see them as fears. So it like learning how to live all over again. Forget everything you know today. Start over. Don't fear what you have been fearing for so long. Not easy at all. Hence I said people can want to run away from it. It exposes you to things you might fear the most. The whole idea is not to run away. But in doing that you will be hit by feelings you hate. It is when, over a period of time, we begin to accept they are only feelings and they can't actually harm us, that the feelings become weaker. Easy way of putting it is that it is trying to make you change how you think about a lot of thing. Change how you react when a certain feeling or thought hits you. Does it work? Yes. If you are willing to put in all the hard work. Accept you will probably have a few rough days in doing the hard work. Days when you want to run and scream and just get away from it all. When you don't run the fear does become weaker. You are no longer feeding it. Just my take on it. Works for some. Others give up far too easily.