>>> Treatment for Anxiety Disorders <<<

Anxiety disorders usually strike without any signs or warnings and they leave their victims frightened and confused. In most cases people don’t realize what is going on and they might think that whatever is causing them to feel scared, worried and anxious is just something temporary and if given enough time it will go away itself. People tend to ignore the symptoms of anxiety disorders at first and they blame them on too much stress at work, bad financial situation, working too hard etc.

Many sufferers try to deny that something is wrong with them and they are reluctant to share their feelings and thoughts with others, sometimes even with their spouses and the closest family members. Admitting that something is wrong with their minds might look like an embarrassing prospect for some of them. They are concerned about the possibility of being labeled as weak or emotionally unstable by other people. That’s why people usually postpone seeking medical advice until the situation is already out of control or after they go through the horrors of their first panic attack.

Early detection and adequate treatment are the crucial elements in the process of overcoming anxiety disorders. These elements are also very helpful for the prevention of common secondary conditions such as depression and alcohol or drug abuse. Patients have to understand that anxiety disorders can't be treated immediately. The curing process takes time and its success greatly depends on patient’s cooperation and his/hers willingness to accept the therapy prescribed by their doctor.

Anxiety disorders can be cured by several different therapies and methods but according to the numerous worldwide researches and studies the best results are achieved by using the combination of medication and some kind of psychotherapy. For the majority of psychotherapists Cognitive-Behavior Therapy would be the first recommendation.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy has been proven to be the most effective treatment for overcoming panic attacks and anxiety disorders with a success rate of around 80%. It is actually a combination of two different psychotherapeutic approaches. Cognitive part of the therapy aims for changing the way of patient’s thinking and the other part, as its name would suggest, deals with changing of the behavioral patterns by encouraging the patient to face the situations or objects which are the causes of their anxiety or fear.

The whole concept of the Cognitive-Behavior Therapy is based on the idea that our fears, worries, anxieties and all the rest of our emotions (positive or negative) are nothing more than products of our own minds and if we train ourselves to think in the right way in every given situation, no external things (other people, situations or objects) can influence or change the way our body will respond.

To make this theory easier to understand here is an example. Imagine you are driving in your car down the local road and suddenly out of nowhere comes another car, running the red light and smashes into you. If your instant thoughts were: “What was that idiot thinking? He almost killed me. Look at my car! I’ll teach him/her a lesson right now.” This attitude will immediately release a lot of adrenaline; you will feel furious and almost certainly make the whole situation even worse.

From the other hand, if you were an extremely calm and reasonable person or if your mind was somehow prepared (trained) for the situation in question your reaction to that accident would result in thoughts like: “OMG that was close. Lucky I wasn’t hurt. Let me check on the other driver. Hope he/she is fine too.” You would be still shaken by the whole experience but the level of your emotional distress wouldn’t be even close to the one in the fist case scenario.

Apart from being the most effective therapy for anxiety disorders Cognitive Behavioral Therapy also appeals to the patients for its ability to produce the satisfactory results in a relatively short period of time. Depending on the type of the anxiety disorder and its severity the treatment usually requires 5-20 visits (the average is 16).

To achieve the best possible results sooner it is a common practice for patients to be prescribed some kind of medication while undergoing Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment, especially at the early stages. Medication relieves the symptoms and suffering of the patients while the psychotherapy teaches them how to control and overcome anxiety and fears and decreases the possibility of their reoccurrence.

Although medications can’t cure the anxiety disorders they can, to a great degree, relieve the symptoms and reduce their occurrences. Prescription drugs which are commonly used in treating the anxiety disorders may include Benzodiazepines (group of medications with calming effects known as Anxiolytics) and several types of Antidepressants, especially those from the group of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI). Beta-Blockers or Beta-Adrenergic Blocking Drugs, to be more precise, could also be prescribed for reducing the peripheral symptoms such as palpitations and tremors. They have the longest history of use in treating the Social Anxiety Disorder or also called Social Phobia.

Benzodiazepines such alprazolam (Xanax), clonazepam (Klonopin) or diazepam (Valium) are used in short-term therapies only, usually no longer than 6 weeks because of their dependence potential.

Like all medications, anxiety disorder drugs may produce some unwanted side effects which are sometimes, ironically, almost identical to the actual symptoms of the disorder being treated.

As already mentioned, these treatments and their combinations are the ones most commonly used worldwide and their success rates are quite impressive but, like with almost everything in life, there is no guarantees they will work for everybody. For sufferers who from whatever reason fail to achieve an expected outcome using these therapies there is a whole bunch of other, completely different approaches, treatments and methods available out there. Programs like “Vanquish Fear and Anxiety”, “The Linden Method” and “Panic Away” have helped thousands of people to overcome panic attacks and anxiety disorders of any kind.

Some alternative therapies such as hypnotherapy, yoga, meditation etc. are also showing very positive results in treating anxiety and anxiety disorders.

Treatment of Anxiety Disorders

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Drug Treatment for Anxiety Disorders