Dealing With Severe Anxiety Disorder
Symptoms of anxiety often interfere with everyday life. It is important to seek treatment and get relief.
Trauma, such as emotional or physical abuse, as well as neglect, increases the risk of anxiety. Certain life circumstances like chronic health conditions and stressful situations also increase the chance of experiencing anxiety.
Counseling (also referred to as psychotherapy) helps you change negative thoughts that trigger a variety of anxiety and stress. Cognitive behavioral therapy is the most common form of psychotherapy for anxiety.
Medications
For many people, medication can be an effective option to reduce symptoms, along with therapy and lifestyle changes. There isn't a single medication that works for everyone. It is crucial to choose the right medication for you. Your MDVIP provider will discuss your anxiety-related symptoms, medical history, and goals with you to determine the best treatment option for you.
Benzodiazepines are fast-acting drugs that target gamma-aminobutyric acids (GABA) in your brain, assisting to calm the over-excited part of your brain, and promote peace. They are typically prescribed for short-term use, like in the event of a panic attack or another intense anxiety episode. Examples include Xanax, Klonopin and Valium.
Antidepressants can treat depression, but they're often used to manage anxiety disorders as well. They work by regulating the levels of chemicals in your brain--or neurotransmitters--like serotonin and norepinephrine. These drugs are used to treat anxiety disorders of all kinds, but more frequently GAD, PDA, and SAD.
A different type of antidepressant can be prescribed to treat anxiety, specifically selective serotonin receptor inhibits (SSRIs). They are prescribed for mild-to moderate anxiety disorders and have shown to be effective using randomized controlled studies.
You might require stronger medication to treat a severe anxiety disorder. This could be an SSRI or a tricyclic. These are typically prescribed for patients who haven't responded to other treatments. depression and anxiety disorders should be closely to be monitored for depression or sedation as a side effect.
If you aren't able to find relief from an SSRI or an SNRI, your doctor might consider adding a monoamine oxidase A inhibitor. They are usually prescribed when other treatments have failed. They can be extremely effective in reducing the symptoms of SAD. Quetiapine, and agomelatine are two common examples.
Be aware that a medication is not a cure. It should only be taken under the supervision of a doctor. It is important to discuss with your physician the potential risks and benefits of any medication. This includes possible side effects. It is important to inquire with your doctor about scheduling follow-up appointments prior to your first visit. Regular check-ins are essential to control anxiety-related symptoms in the long run.
Counseling
Talk therapy (or psychotherapy) is an important part of treatment for anxiety disorders. A trained therapist will teach you how to alter negative thoughts, emotions and behaviors that cause your symptoms.
There are many types of psychotherapy that include cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). This method is extensively researched and is the most effective method for treating anxiety disorders. Your therapist might suggest additional treatments, such as mindfulness-based acceptance and commitment therapy or exposure therapy.
Cognitive therapy focuses on your negative thinking patterns that contribute to anxiety. It teaches you to challenge these negative thoughts and replace them with more real, positive thoughts. Often, these thought patterns originate through childhood experiences and can be difficult to break on your own.
If your symptoms are severe, they may affect your daily routine and make it difficult to complete your work or engage in social activities. Your therapist will determine how often you experience anxiety-related symptoms, how long they last, and how intense they can be. They will also check for other mental health problems that may be contributing to your symptoms, such as depression or substance use disorders.
Talk therapy sessions are generally conducted face-to-face with a health professional, such as a psychologist or psychiatrist. Your therapy therapist will observe your facial expressions, body language and other signals to better discern how you react to specific situations. This will help them determine if your symptoms may be related to a specific cause that is ongoing, like a stressor or traumatic event.
Anxiety is a prevalent condition that can affect everyone. Finding the right diagnosis and starting the right treatment plan will alleviate your symptoms and enhance your quality of life. Be aware that conquering anxiety disorders takes time and commitment, but the effort is worth it in the end. Your treatment plan for anxiety disorders should include a solid network of support and healthy lifestyle choices, and relaxation techniques. The more you use these techniques, they will improve their effectiveness.
Exposure Therapy
If you are suffering from a fear or phobia, you tend to identify certain things or situations with negative consequences. Your mental health professional may use exposure therapy to break the association and stop avoiding things that trigger anxiety. This approach exposes you things or situations that trigger anxiety for a set amount of time in a controlled environment. In time, you'll learn that the feared situation or object is not risky and you are able to deal with it.
Your therapist will begin with the items or situations that don't trigger extreme levels of anxiety. Then, they'll gradually progress to more difficult ones. This process is called "graded exposure." In the initial session, for example, if your therapist knows that you are scared of snakes, they will show you pictures of them. In subsequent sessions, they will ask you to look at an image of a snake in glass and then touch a snake. For some people the type of exposure is not suitable, so therapists may opt for interoceptive exposure instead. This involves deliberately triggering physical sensations such as shaking or pounding heart, and teaching that these feelings, while uncomfortable, aren't harmful.
It's important to work with a mental health professional who is experienced and trained in the use of this therapy. You may end up staying away from things that cause anxiety, which could cause your symptoms to get worse. Instead your therapist can help you confront the anxieties and fears that hinder you from living life to the fullest.
Your therapist may also employ cognitive behavioral therapy to address the underlying beliefs that fuel your anxiety. If you think that your anxiety is a sign of weakness, the therapist will help you discover these beliefs and confront them. Your therapist will also instruct you on breathing and relaxation techniques, along with other coping mechanisms to reduce the negative effects these thoughts have on your life. They will also provide you with information on the physiology of the fight-or-flight reaction and how it can be activated in anxiety disorders.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a meditation practice dating back thousands of years that promotes an openness to all experiences, even unpleasant ones. It isn't a religious or secular system of belief and can be practiced by anyone. Although mindfulness is often associated with Buddhism, leading practitioners note that the technique has its roots in a variety of ancient contemplative traditions.
Research has proven that mindfulness meditation can improve mood, self-regulation and ability to recognize maladaptive patterns of thinking and reacting. It has also been shown to change the brain's structure and circuits involved in emotion processing. These changes are correlated with decreased activity in the Default Mode Network, which is implicated in the aetiology and causes of anxiety.
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction are the most common secular mindfulness programs. These types of clinical interventions typically involve eight weekly classes lasting around two to three hours each. Recent research has focused on shorter, less intensive mindfulness classes. These short-term interventions can be taught by a trained psychotherapist without the assistance of a meditation instructor or group leader.
These studies have found that short mindfulness exercises can have an immediate effect on ruminative thoughts. In particular, short mindfulness classes can reduce arousal and cut down on the time it takes to think about thoughts that are ruminative. This research supports the view that mindfulness training could be beneficial in treating GAD.
Mindfulness has been proven to decrease depression, improve positive moods and well-being in addition to its direct influence on emotional reactions. This is due to the effects of mindfulness on negative thinking patterns and the reduction of symptoms such as the shaming and rumination.
A small study carried out at the University of Waterloo suggests that 10 minutes of meditation can help to disrupt the patterns of ruminative thinking that contribute to anxiety. In the study, 82 people who were suffering from anxiety were assigned to work on the computer, which was constantly interrupted by interruptions. Half of the participants were able to listen to a 10-minute meditation audio and the other half were listening to an audio book.
The study's results showed that participants who were listening to the mindfulness audio had significantly lower levels of anxiety than those in the two other groups. This suggests that GAD can be treated using mindfulness training, however more research is needed to determine which techniques are effective. Future studies should also examine the effects of mindfulness-based therapy with other psychotherapeutic treatments.