Anxiety Disorder – How You Can Be In Control

Being diagnosed with anxiety disorder is just like being diagnosed with any other disease – it is not something that anyone would want and look forward to.  Having to live with this disorder is highly disruptive to normal, everyday activities.  Anxiety attacks can happen anytime, anywhere and, as its name suggests, is totally unexpected.  Imagine having the attacks while you are driving or crossing the road – you become a danger to yourself and those around you.

This is probably why patients diagnosed with the ailment are willing to be committed to a permanent cure.  And indeed, a long-term approach to treating anxiety disorder may be your only choice.  When agreeing to this, you must be willing to be patient as whatever treatment for anxiety attacks you prescribe to will require some time before their effects can be seen.

Anxiety disorder covers a range of anxiety-driven medical conditions.  These include:

-    Anxiety or panic attacks

-    Phobias

-    Agoraphobia, which is the fear of not having an exit in sight

-    Obsessive Compulsive Behavior

-    Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

-    Social Anxiety Disorder

-    Generalized Anxiety Disorder, which normally affects older adults and is often characterized by an unfocused, unexplained anxiety

Treating anxiety disorder may need a lot of time – some patients have been known to undergo treatment for many years in their adult life – and requires a lot of commitment on the patient’s part to be permanently cured.  Some people have gotten used to living with the anxiety and feel inept without it (ironically, so it seems, one should feel inept with such a disorder) and this may be a stumbling block to their progress.

More acute cases actually have people who refuse to get cured of their anxiety disorder – this may indicate severe paranoid behavior.  In serious cases like these, the patient is truly a danger to him or herself and others.  What is certain is that whether or not it is deemed an acute case, the patient must consult a licensed psychiatrist who may prescribe pills to help alleviate the condition to a more manageable level.

The most effective treatment for anxiety attacks does not have to be elaborate.  Some psychiatrists recommend very simple, regular forms of control like deep breathing exercises while chanting simple, positive mantras.  These exercises are believed to be able to control the physical responses during an anxiety attack while the positive chants help channel the mind to believe that there is nothing to be anxious about.  These chants can be anything along the lines of “there is nothing to fear but fear itself” or “I am in control and fear nothing that I am in control of”.

Another simple yet powerful treatment for anxiety attacks is yoga.  The act of getting into a pose and holding it is said to help aid the mind into a more external focus while the physical act is a form of exercise that improves blood circulation and flexibility.  While it does not directly impact on the disorder per say, its impact on the physical symptoms of an anxiety attack is undeniable.

Psychiatrists may also prescribe pills as part of the treatment for anxiety attacks.  These pills are designed to help calm a patient down and should be taken religiously as prescribed.  Dosages exceeding or less than the prescribed amount can bring on undesirable results – patients may be more hyper, which means their anxiety levels may be heightened during an attack.  Taking too little of the prescribed medicines may have them end up being overly dependent on the medication for control, resulting in potential drug abuse.

Some psychiatrists prescribe to what they call exposure treatment.  This means facing your anxiety head on in a controlled, “safe” environment.  More liberal persons may even go ahead with hypnotherapy – hypnosis with the intention of delving into a person’s past or previous life to find out the source of the anxieties and fears.  Some patients swear that this is a short cut through the healing process while others pooh-pooh its efficacy.

Treating anxiety disorder is a long term commitment, if a permanent cure or manageability level is what you are looking for.  Living with an anxiety disorder of any kind is possible, albeit a little troublesome.  The most important thing for a person with anxiety disorder is not to be overwhelmed by his or her emotions at any point in time.