Factors Responsible for Anxiety Disorder

According to researched in the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), three brain areas of a patient with panic disorder lack a key component which is a chemical messenger system that regulates emotion. Following a series of brain scans done on panic disorder patients to find anxiety medication, it is revealed that a type of serotonin receptor is reduced by nearly a third in three structures straddling the center of the brain. The finding published in January 2004 in the Journal of Neuroscience, is the first in living humans to show that the receptor, which is pivotal to the action of widely prescribed anti-anxiety medications, may be abnormal in the disorder, and may help to explain how genes might influence vulnerability. This research was conducted by Drs. Alexander Neumeister and Wayne Drevets of the NIMH Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program.

Statistics show that about 2.4 million Americans have panic attack strikes suddenly, and experience feelings of intense fear and physical symptoms sometimes confused with a heart attack. If these symptoms go unchecked, the disorder often sets in motion an unbearable psychological syndrome of agoraphobia, which is avoiding public places. Researches have long suspected that panic disorders are genetic components since it runs in families but the new finding suggests that genes might increase the risk of disorder by coding for decreased expression of the receptors. These findings have evidence in recent animal testing. In 2002, Dr. Rene Hen and her colleagues from Columbia University reported that a strain of gene “knockout” mice, engineered to lack the receptor during a critical period in early development, exhibit anxiety traits in adulthood, such as a reluctance to begin eating in an unfamiliar environment.

Due to the numerous researches conducted, medical experts are finding more and more improved ways of anxiety help. Most anxiety help are often used to control the symptoms panic attacks, reduce their number and severity, and reduce the anxiety and fear associated with having another attack. Most of these medications work better along side other methods of cure such as counseling and home treatment, therapy and relaxation courses. Medication choices to treat panic disorder come in the form of SSRIs which are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil. Apart from SSRIs, prescription is also given for benzodiapines such as Xanax, Valium, Ativan and Klonopin. Doctors and medical practitioners also administer antidepressants with mixed neurotransmitter effects, such as venlafaxine but this type of medication is only given in later stages. Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), such as Tofranil, Norpramin, or Anafranil and Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), such as Marplan, Nardil, or Parnate are also given at a certain level to treat panic attacks.

Most doctors however would prescribe medicine with other approaches such as counseling and therapy. The best help with anxiety comes in the form of cognitive-behavioral therapy, which focuses on they way a person thinks and altering certain behavior patterns. CBT makes a person to be more optimistic and teach them to handle crises and problems with a clearer mind instead of getting all panicky and stressed out. When these two therapies are combined, relapses of panic attacks occur far less frequently than when only one treatment is used. By using a combination of anxiety medication, symptoms should start to improve within a few weeks. Doctors usually provide a higher dosage of medication and more therapy is the symptoms do not improve within 6 to 8 weeks after beginning medicines.

Overcoming anxiety takes quite awhile as it depends on the severity of the case. Normally, medication is continues for a year or longer and then decreased gradually over several weeks. In some cases, panic attacks tend to occur after medication is stopped; hence doctors will continue the medication for a few more months for you just so that you can keep the symptoms under control. Most medical practitioners would advice and recommend patients to seek help with anxiety  through therapy and self-relaxation techniques before administering medication to them. This is because once medication is given; the patient might be depended on the drug. Self relaxation methods come in the form of yoga and pilates. A walk on the beach and even jogging can help cope with panic attack and stress.

Apart from that, patients are advised to join a group therapy in order to talk their feelings out and share with one another as well as help other people overcome their problems.