Anxiety Treatment: Looking at Anxiety Treatment Options
Anxiety disorders, if left untreated, will run rampant in their
victims' lives. They can leave people unable to function at
school or in the workplace, and test their sufferers' families
and friends to the utmost.
But there is hope. There are both prescription and natural
remedies which have proved effective as anxiety treatments, when
used in conjunction with a therapeutic anxiety treatment.
Prescription and therapeutic anxiety treatment will, of course,
require that you consult with a doctor before beginning their
use. You can, if you prefer, forego the prescription medicines
while you try various herbal or nutritional supplements.
Valerian is one of a number of herbs proven effective as an
anxiety treatment, and GABA--Gamma Amino Butyric Acid, a
neurotransmitter found naturally in the human brain--is also
available as a nutritional supplement and has its strong
supporters as an anxiety treatment.
But neither prescription nor natural supplements will do more
than alleviate your anxiety disorder symptoms, and as anxiety
treatment should be accompanied by cognitive or behavioral
therapy.
Cognitive therapy anxiety treatment works on the assumption that
your anxious thoughts spring from your beliefs. If you are among
those who believe that their value as human being relies on
being right all the time, you mau find that being caught in a
mistake a mistake may precipitate a full-blown anxiety attack.
Cognitive therapy anxiety treatment challenges your beliefs, and
teaches you to test the negative things tou are thinking about,
or saying to, yourself by paying attention to what is really
happening around you.
Behavior, or exposure, anxiety treatment will require you to
expose yourself, for slowly increasing amounts of time, to those
situations which normally trigger your attacks.
At first you will have to force themselves not to panic, but the
proper medication will help you keep your symptoms under
control. And each harmless experience you have in what used to
be a terrifying situation will help build your confidence and
allow your brain to learn not to signal that danger is near.
Relaxation techniques and meditation are more anxiety treatments
which will give those who practice them lifelong skills to cope
with anxiety and panic attacks.
Both progressive muscle relaxation, in which you start with the
facial muscles, tensing them for a few seconds and then letting
them relax, and proceed to tense and relax every muscle in
succession, and abdominal breathing, which teaches you how to
breathe with your diaphragm, are anxiety treatments which have
the added benefit of reducing blood pressure.
Finally, regular exercise of a sort you enjoy will take your
mind off your worries and give your body a chance to work off
some effects of the adrenaline rush which accompanies
over-anxiety.
Anxiety treatment is effective, but takes time, and requires a
commitment!
Related Articles: