Anti-Anxiety Medication:
Is Anti-Anxiety Medication the Answer for You?

You've been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, and have already worked your way down the list of the APA-recommended therapy treatments. You've been gradually exposing yourself to threatening situations, trying to increase your stress tolerance a little at a time. You've tried the recommended natural supplements, both vitamin and herbal, and you're learning the art of meditation.

But your progress is painfully slow, and you're wondering if it's time to turn to anti-anxiety medication. You are, in fact, feeling stressed about it.

So before you get too much further, take a step back and talk to the doctor who is overseeing seeing your anxiety disorder treatment. What you learn may surprise you.

First, there is no one-pill-fits-all anti-anxiety medication that will work for every sufferer of anxiety disorder. The type of anti-anxiety medication which will work best for you depends entirely on the type of anxiety disorder from which you suffer.

Your doctor will know if you are a victim of generalized anxiety disorder, or GAD, which may be the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain. Or you may have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder of a different type, like obsessive compulsive disorder, panic attacks, or phobia.

You might even be one of the many thousands suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, triggered when you experience physical conditions similar to those of an overwhelmingly painful past experience.

So the anti-anxiety medication which you doctor will prescribe is the one most likely to be effective on your particular type of anxiety disorder.

The anti-depressants Paxil and Effexor have been approved as anti-anxiety medications for GAD sufferers; Luvox, Paxil, Zoloft, Anafranil, and Prozac are the anti-anxiety medications most often prescribed for obsessive-compulsive disorder; and Paxil, which seems to be the most widely effective anti-anxiety medication, is often used to treat phobia, and panic attacks as well. Zoloft, as an anti-anxiety medication, is the one most often used by post-traumatic stress disorder victims.

Benzodiazepines are a class of anti-anxiety medications which include, among others, Xanax, Valium, Ativan, and Librium. They treat the symptoms of anxiety attacks by slightly depressing the central nervous system, and are even used together with the "SSRI" class of anti-anxiety medications, like Zoloft, when those medications are first prescribed. The benzodiazepines can help anxiety attack sufferers overcome the nausea and jitters they may at first experience while their systems adjust to the SSRIs.

If you have decided to explore your anti-anxiety medication options, there are some issues you should discuss with your doctor.

Be sure to make clear to your doctor what other medications, and even vitamins or herbs, you are taking--even if they are not a part of your anxiety disorder treatment.

Ask your doctor about the side effects of the anti-anxiety medication he is recommending. Even better, study the manufacturer's literature on them.

Learn the correct way to both take, and stop taking, your anti-anxiety medication, and if you can expect your symptoms to return when you discontinue it.

And make sure you begin with the lowest recommended dose, letting your doctor know your reaction to it. In this way you will arrive at the best dose, with the least chance of side effects, for your particular condition.

With your doctor's help, you'll be much more comfortable about deciding if anti-anxiety medication is the answer for you!

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