Anxiety is a condition that often affects more people than we can imagine. Many people who suffer from anxiety think that they are a minimal group of people who suffer from this but in actuality, there are many. In USA alone, there are over 4 million people who suffer from anxiety.
Some of the effective methods of anxiety disorder treatment:
Psychological Treatments:
Psychological treatments are the most popular and preferred modes for anxiety. They form the initial treatment and can be categorized under two approaches:
- Techniques to decrease physiological arousal: Relaxation techniques and biofeedback are used for this purpose.
- Cognitive Techniques to help the patient view their worries more realistically, enabling them to make better plans to manage their anxiety:
CBT (Cognitive behavior therapy) involves a therapist working with the patient to understand how thoughts and feelings influence behavior.The goal is to change negative thought patterns that lead to the patient’s anxiety and replace them with positive and more realistic thoughts.
Cognitive therapy helps patients to limit cognitive distortions by teaching patients to record their worries, listing evidence that justifies or contradicts the extent of their concerns. Through CBT patients learn that “worrying about worry” worsens anxiety and they are taught to take a proactive approach to solve their problems instead of practicing avoidance or procrastination.
Cognitive therapy has received a lot of positive review from research experiments, it has been found that cognitive therapy is more effective than behavior therapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. however these findings need to be further established by large-scale studies.
Pharmacotherapy:
Patients with generalized anxiety disorder may respond to psychological or pharmacologic therapies or a combination of both approaches.
Mode of Pharmacologic Treatment:
Benzodiazepines: Benzodiazepines are the preferred anxiolytics in anxiety disorders , although they are known to cause sedation, problems in concentrating and problems with memory.
Benzodiazepines lower anxiety by decreasing vigilance and by reducing muscle tension and thereby eliminating physical symptoms.
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Patients can develop tolerance to the sedative effect of BDZs within a few weeks and
SSRIs
Pharmaceutical treatments include selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which are antidepressants that influence brain chemistry to block the re-absorption of serotonin in the brain.
SSRIs are mainly indicated for clinical depression, but are also very effective in treating anxiety disorders. Common side effects include nausea, sexual dysfunction, headache, diarrhea, constipation, among others. Common SSRIs prescribed for GAD include:
- fluoxetine (Prozac, Sarafem)
- paroxetine (Paxil, Aropax)
- escitalopram (Lexapro, Cipralex)
- sertraline (Zoloft)
Venlafaxine SR (Effexor) is the first medication to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as an anxiolytic and as an antidepressant; thus, it is used for the treatment of patients with major depression or GAD, or when they occur comorbidly.
TCA’s:
Imipramine is known to be effective in controlling the worrying that is associated with GAD.
Other alternatives include, Trazodone,Pregabalin, Nefazodone, Desipramine (Norpramin) and nortriptyline (Pamelor).
Two herbal remedies that are often used for anxiety disorder treatment are Valeriana officinalis (valerian), a root extract, and a beverage made from the root of Piper methysticum (kava-kava). However their effectiveness profile and side-effects have not been researched thoroughly and hence their usefulness in treatment of GAD is not yet established but there are couple of best treatment methods which have been approved by medical experts and is being used now everywhere.
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