The Various Ways in Treating Anxiety

Panic attacks are the experience of having overwhelming, uncontrollable dread as if you are about to lose your mind of about to die. These attacks drastically change the function of the body’s major glands as well as the major organs such as the heart, lungs, stomach, bladder, eyes as well as the largest muscle groups. Because anxiety attacks change these functions greatly, the organs and glands react to the attack by simultaneously flood the body through the bloodstream, making the condition even worse and resulting in the impulse to run, get out or hide. Anxiety attacks happen after several weeks or months of stress and thus, anxiety medicine should be administered on the patient.

Whether or not the threat is real, those that suffer from anxiety attacks believe that they are trapped and helpless by some overpowering threat. Anxiety attacks normally happen to people who are constantly worries, a perfectionist, socially avoidant or those who have encountered some form of abuse in childhood. Not only that, heredity plays apart in these attacks as well.

An anxiety attack also disguises itself as other medical disorders and thus, this can be hard to diagnose unless a series of thorough tests are done to identify the disorder. Some of these medical conditions are hypoglycemia, complex partial seizures, and heart arrhythmia and hyperventilation syndrome.  Some anxiety attacks can be confused with asthma, irritable bowel, colitis, vertigo, mitral valve prolapse, hypertension, postural hypotension, post concussion syndrome, and hiatal hernia.

Panic disorder is quite common as 7.2% of adults or 1 in 15 have anxiety attacks with about 1/3 American adults having at least one episode of an anxiety attack at least once in their adult lives. Panic attacks are serious problems as it can result in severe live changing habits. About 10% of people who have been experiencing anxiety attacks for a few months down the road end up housebound or unable to leave home alone.  After a few years, 30% have either lost their job, their salary or certain responsibilities. Another 17% end up with some alcoholic problem whereas 40% are at the risk of chronic depression as life opportunities are cut off one by one. Some other effects of chronic anxiety attacks are marital problems as well as reduce in travel and social life. To most sufferers, life is like a prison.

Since diagnosing anxiety attacks are quite hard, a medical practitioner or doctor will conduct a series of test to properly identify any signs of physical of psychiatric illness that may be causing the anxiety. When you visit a doctor, he or she will listen to a description of your symptoms and the carry out relevant physical examination. At some points, blood will be drawn from your body to test if you have a thyroid disorder or some other physical illness that causes the reactions of anxiety.

Anxiety treating can also be treated on your own or with a family member. Self help can be done to improve your symptoms by undergoing relaxation techniques, exercise or by talking to people in support groups. The key here is to channel all that negative energy and build up in your mind into something positive such as talking to people, going for your favorite yoga classes and even Pilates.

Frequent counseling sessions are also part of the treatment for anxiety attack as talking through your problems with a counselor can help you focus on what you want and how to achieve it. Your counselor can help you set a target and work towards accomplishing this target so that your mind doesn’t stray. Counseling helps in short term anxiety treating.

Another treatment that is frequently used for anxiety attacks are Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).  CBT is a form of psychotherapy carried out by trained therapists and it involves assessing the reasoning behind a patient’s thinking. This is based on the idea that abnormal thinking is a direct result of abnormal reactions. The goal of this therapy is to change this abnormal behavior.

Anxiety medicines such as benzodiazepine tablets help give the sufferer short term relief due to stress related anxieties. These medications however shouldn’t be taken for prolonged periods as the patient might be at risk of addiction. Buspirone is another type of anxiety medication that can help relieve anxiety and this is commonly taken as it is not as addictive. Antidepressants are also taken to treat certain anxiety disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder, OCD, social phobia, and anxiety associated with depression.

Beta-blocker is also another type of antidepressant as they relieve many of the physical symptoms of anxiety such as palpitations and tremors and may be helpful for some people. This medication does not affect psychological symptoms, but some people find they can relax more if their physical symptoms are relieved.