Treatment Options for Anxiety Disorders

Nearly 20 million people in the United States alone suffer from some form of anxiety disorder. From panic attacks to post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias to general anxiety, the mental illness of anxiety has myriad symptoms, many forms and numerous victims. For most people, this mental illness strikes in childhood or early adulthood, though anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more common in adults. Genetic predisposition is believed to be the most significant contributing factor towards a person developing this mental illness. However environment and experience can also play a role, again especially in the case of PTSD. For some patients, anxiety disorder is a mental illness that will plague them for a lifetime, taking away from their quality of life in a profound way. But for many, there are treatments that can be successful.

There are three main ways of treating anxiety disorder: relaxation techniques, psychotherapy and medication.

Relaxation Techniques

Relaxation techniques can be excellent for combating daily stress and helping one to lead a generally less anxious life. For people with an actual anxiety mental illness, it can be more challenging, but relaxation techniques can help. If a person feels calm and relaxed, it is not possible to also feel anxious at the same time. Thus, trying to achieve a state of relaxation through meditation, visualization and breathing techniques can help a person with this mental illness to prevent, or minimize the severity of, panic attacks and phobia reactions. Such techniques have seen great success with controlling fears of crowds, small spaces and other non-dangerous fears

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is essentially counseling. Many patients have used counseling to significantly lessen the impact that the mental illness of anxiety has on their life. With counseling, patients can learn to put their fears into the proper perspective and even discover underlying issues that might be causing their excessive anxiety. A trained counselor can also help an anxiety sufferer find ways of dealing with their anxiety.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a specific type of psychotherapy that works by making new mental associations between the anxiety provoking stimulus and the patient’s attitude. In this therapy, patients with this mental illness learn to think of stressful situations in a new light and make more positive attitudes about them.

Medication

While science cannot really pinpoint exactly what physical issue causes various types of anxiety mental illness, it is known that some medications which work on various parts of the brain and brain chemistry can help. Antidepressants are commonly used to combat anxiety. Some antidepressants, such as serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) work on the neurotransmitters in the brain, which help brain cells communicate with one another. Some anti-anxiety medications act on the central nervous system, relaxing it to alleviate the symptoms of anxiety mental illness, which of course are those opposite to relaxation. Beta blockers are another common anti-anxiety drug, that while usually prescribed for heart issues and high blood pressure, are also used for anxiety because they block norepinephrine, which is a stress hormone.