Medication For Generalized Anxiety Disorder
The stresses of everyday life in 21st century America seem to have reached the
point of disrupting the lives of younger and younger people.
The National Institute of Mental Health, in fact, says that three-quarters of
those Americans who become victims of anxiety disorder had their first anxiety
attack at an average age of twenty-one. That’s quite an introduction to
adulthood. As the frequency of anxiety disorders increases, so does the need for
medication for generalized anxiety disorder. There are currently three classes
of medication for generalized anxiety disorder, and each of them performs
differently.
Medication for generalized anxiety disorder, in order to be fully effective,
should alleviate all the symptoms of anxiety attacks from restlessness,
insomnia, and excessive perspiration to more serious conditions like heart
palpitations, increased blood pressure, and shortness of breath.
Medication for generalized anxiety disorder should also improve the anxiety
sufferers’ mental states enough that they are motivated to undergo cognitive or
behavioral therapy to eliminate their anxiety disorders.
Significant research has been done to determine which medication for generalized
anxiety disorder optimizes both of these effects. The tree classes of drugs
which performed best in the research studies were antidepressants,
benzodiazepines, and SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. They are
often prescribed in combination.
Tricyclic antidepressants were developed over
fifty years ago, and the ones most often prescribed as
medication for generalized anxiety disorder are Imramine, or
Tofranil, and clomipramine, or Anafril.
Tofranil has been shown to benefit between three-quarters and
four-fifths of the patients for whom it is prescribed. It both
lessens the intensity of anxiety attacks and relieves depression
in those anxiety suffers afflicted with it. It does not cause
dependency.
Benzodiazepine medication for generalized anxiety disorder
includes the widely prescribed drugs Valium and Ativan. They are
sometimes combined with the anti-depressants amitryptiline and
doxepin. And the benzodiazepine alprazolam, or Xanax , is known
to act almost instantly.
SSRI medications for generalized anxiety disorder operate by
increasing brain levels of serotonin, which is known as the
“feel good” neurotransmitter. The most common of these are
Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft.
SSRIs can cause withdrawal symptoms. And no matter what
medication for generalized anxiety disorder you may be
considering, it is essential that you begin with the lowest
possible strength and have your doctor monitor its effects until
the proper dose for you has been determined.
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