anxiety Treatments

Information on anxiety Treatments

Anxiety disorders are most common forms of mental disorders and it is quite possible that they are usually underestimated. There are different forms of anxiety disorder and each has its own causative factors and requires a different approach for its treatment. They include panic disorder, agoraphobia, social anxiety, and obsessive compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. Treatment involves application of both psychotherapy and medication.

All of these disorders have these common features; fear; excessive anxiety, evasion, worries and compulsive rituals, some of them may be more prominent in certain forms of anxiety disorder. The common medical factors are depression, substance use disorder, vague pains, insomnia and similar somatic symptoms.

Diagnosis of Anxiety Disorder

When the anxiety levels are perceived to impair the societal behavior, leading to impairment of occupational or interpersonal functioning, the condition can be considered as a disorder, because the anxiety in itself not a medical condition. Other important factors are the presence of unexplained physical symptoms and obsessions and compulsive behavior that are considered as abnormal. The risk factors that are associated for the disorder are family history of mental disorder, events and trauma in the history of the individual causing acute stress and personal history of anxiety in childhood or adolescence and history of abuse and cruelty suffered. It is very important to get accurate diagnosis before choosing the line of treatment.

Line of treatment

Before planning the line of treatment it is essential to review and assess the state of the patient by ascertaining the degree of the disorder; whether there is associated physical disorder to a significant extent, or the anxiety is symptom of a physical disorder or any physical cause has triggered the anxiety disorder. Treatment should consist of review of prescribed medicines, alcohol use, over the counter drugs, illicit drug usage etc.

Treatment options for anxiety disorder involve psychiatric treatment or pharmacologic treatments or the combination of both. It helps greatly if the patients are informed about their condition and treatment choices. The choice of pharmacologic or psychiatric treatments depends on factors like the ability or efficiency of particular treatment on the patient. For example certain conditions of the patients rule out some medication.

Psychological treatments have very high effectiveness in the treatment of anxiety disorder. One such therapy is called Cognitive Behavior Therapy which is usually effective with most of the patients. Even if the patient does not prefer psychological treatments, it is essential that they must be encouraged to deal with their fears. People afflicted with SAD (social anxiety disorder) must be encouraged to participate in their feared situations till they overcome the exaggerated fears. There is single cognitive behavioral therapy that works in all cases. One may have to choose different formats like group therapy, individual therapy and minimum intervention therapy.

Pharmacologic therapy also has to be designed based on the factors known to have caused the anxiety disorder. There are many proven drugs for the treatment of anxiety disorder; the most prominent among them are Selective Serotinin Reuptake’ Inhibitors, antidepressants, monoamine oxidase inhibitors and reversible monoamine oxidase inhibitors.