by quinn.anya

Modern Methods For Treating Anxiety Disorder

Article by J. Michael Key

Treating anxiety disorders can be a complex process requiring one or more of several different therapy approaches. Only sufferers of recurring anxiety attacks know the impact of anxiety on their lives and how badly they want and need treatment. The long-term psychiatric process of exploring a patient’s past experiences to discover the cause is expensive and in most cases not justified. Today there are several proven successful methods for treating anxiety disorders, many of which can achieve results in as few as 5 visits (sometimes even fewer).

Relatives and acquaintances can be cruelly non-supportive of anxiety sufferers. Telling a sufferer ‘you’re imagining it’ or ‘get over it’ probably is not going to be at all helpful. Such comments actually deepen a sufferer’s misery and make it harder to take the step toward treating anxiety disorder with professional help. With this non-support from other people the anxiety sufferer begins to feel there are no real options. They may believe that treatments are expensive, time consuming and relatively ineffective. This is not true. The miseries of anxiety are avoidable. Treatments take many forms and results can be rapid in many patients. There are some effective self-help programs available for minimal cost.

Most sufferers of anxiety try to treat their anxiety by self-medication, commonly with alcohol, or by avoiding the situations that trigger attacks. Avoidance can actually lead to an increase in anxiety issues and alcohol has its own consequences. As long an anxiety trigger can be well defined and avoiding it has limited impact on day-to-day life the avoidance can have limited success. When anxiety is not focused on a well defined trigger or when quality of life is being degraded professional help is recommended.

The opportunities for resolving anxiety issues are readily available and the success rates are excellent. There is no reason to avoid treating anxiety disorders. In today’s medication-prone society the pharmaceutical approach is too frequently the first or only treatment. Drugs are good for symptomatic treatment and as an adjunct to other treatments but shouldn’t be a long-term solution. Behavior-based treatments can provide long-term (or permanent) relief without the side effects of drugs.

Two basic forms of behavior treatment are in common use. Cognitive-behavior anxiety treatment revolves around teaching the sufferer to recognize both the detonators of their anxiety and the thinking that inevitably lead to the anxiety attack. The patient can develop (on their own or with professional guidance) strategies to break the thought chains and move beyond the anxiety.

Exposure therapy is probably the better known of the two primary behavior-based treatments. The misconceptions surrounding exposure therapy often prevent anxiety sufferers seeking this form of help. Naturally, if you are plagued by an irrational fear of snakes, you do not want to pay someone to place a snake in your hands. This is not the way exposure therapy operates. In professionally controlled environments and with full support of a therapist the exposure is increased gradually over successive treatments until the patient is able to recognize, understand and control the fear responses that turn into anxiety.

Medications have excellent results when added to early stages of behavior therapy. This is especially true with exposure therapy where the drugs help the patient enter the treatments with out an existing anxiety level. Non-specific anxiety disorders are difficult to treat with exposure therapy – for obvious reasons. This type of anxiety requires a more intense cognitive therapy with longer duration medication therapy.

Since anxiety disorders affect so many people, doctors and therapists are always looking for new and more effective ways of treating anxiety disorders. Recent successes have been reported using exercise, relaxation methods, hypnosis and bio-feedback. There are numerous options available to sufferers and even if the first or second approach is not 100% successful there are many more treatment strategies available.