Just type “anxiety cure” into Google – you will come up with 343,000 hits. Typing in “panic attack cure” gets you 782,000 hits. The top of Google’s search results and the sidebar will be filled with advertisements for “cures” for Anxiety Disorder and panic attacks.
These “cures” claim to make Anxiety Disorder and panic attacks go away for good in much in the same way they might offer to cure hookworm. A cure by definition is an elimination of a disease and its symptoms. These companys’ advertisements imply that the sufferer is never going to have symptoms again, that once they have gone through their regimen, Anxiety Disorder and panic attacks will be gone permanently.
Anxiety and panic attack sufferers are desperate people, and I fear that too many of them are taken in by such dangerous claims.
These highly-advertised “cures” reek of snake oil to me.
Please do not think I’m being negative, or trying to dash your hopes for some sort of relief from Anxiety Disorder and panic attacks.
I am just being realistic. I firmly believe that a permanent “cure” for Anxiety Disorder and panic attacks is impossible. I am not saying that their symptoms cannot be controlled and managed successfully. I am not saying that you cannot reclaim your life and function normally. I am saying that the physical conditions that cause Anxiety Disorder and panic attacks will always be with you.
And I am saying that a constant awareness of this fact will help you lead a happier, more successful life.
I read more and more each day of scientific research showing that, like depression or diabetes, there are definite physical anomalies in the body and brain associated with Anxiety Disorder and panic attacks. And physical anomalies do not go away. They cannot be “cured.”
For example, just a few days ago I posted a report of a study that found evidence showing that sufferers of Social Anxiety Disorder have an abnormality in the brain’s dopaminergic system that can cause the condition. And every one of the informational references for Anxiety Disorders listed in the left column of this this blog cites numerous physical causes of each Anxiety Disorder and for panic attacks.
If the brain of an Anxiety Disorder or panic sufferer has physical abnormalities that contribute to her mental illness, then her Anxiety or panic attacks can never be “cured,” plain and simple. She can learn coping strategies to manage the symptoms. She can control the symptoms to the extent that they have minimal impact on her life. But that physical abnormality will never simply go away.
I object strenuously to, and regard as cynical hype, claims that Anxiety Disorder and panic attacks can be cured. It not only is wrong, wrong, wrong, but it raises false hopes in the Anxiety or panic attack sufferer. It implies an inoculation, something like a smallpox vaccination.
It replaces the very real hope of Anxiety Disorder and panic attack control and management with an unrealistic expectation that it can be banished permanently.
Even if the “cure” works for a while, what happens when, later on, one suffers a serious setback? Does that mean that one is “un-cured?” Unfortunately, most would see such an un-curing as a personal failure, just another instance of weakness of character. In my opinion, this would make the situation worse than it was in the first place!
And are these “permanent cures” permanent enough to give the sufferer the tools to build their lives again? I rather doubt it.
How many of us have had our hopes crushed by a relapse after what we hoped and prayed was a just such a permanent cure? Did the help you received give you the emotional and practical tools to rebuild your life again? I’m afraid most of these loudly trumpeted quick fix-it’s being advertised will do nothing of the sort.
It may be true that these “cures” may seem to give you relief for a while, as likely from a placebo effect as any real, lasting help.
However, any reputable practitioner, whether a layperson or a licensed mental health care professional, will never say that they are “curing” you of Anxiety Disorder or panic attacks. They will tell you they are giving you the coping tools to manage and control your symptoms on a long-term basis.
I believe a far, far better and more realistic attitude is to regard Anxiety Disorder and panic attacks as a permanent, physical state that can be managed effectively with a combination of a healthy lifestyle, professional counselling and medication.
It can be controlled, and controlled to the point that the former sufferer has few if any of their formerly disabling symptoms. You can regain your functionality and live a successful, normal life.
Do not be duped by these snake-oil salesmen! You know that reputable mental health care professionals can give you reliable, long term relief from your symptoms. Do not waste your money, your hopes, your emotional well-being, or your mental health on anything less!
Have you tried any of these “cures?” Have they been successful? For how long? What do you think?
What can you do now?
Your comments are always welcome, and are important to this blog’s community! Leave a comment now.
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Well Mike Nichols, the problem with your ‘article’ may lay in the wording. As a long time sufferer of anxiety, I accept that I may always be prone to it. However, I have made huge strides with CBT. When I have a ‘relapse’, I can always trace it to negative thoughts and ideas that I allow myself to digest!! Your ‘article’ makes me want to cut my throat. In one fell swoop, you have kicked the chair out from under me! Thanks.
This is a good piece of article. Keep up the good work….
This was certainly a depressing article. Thanks for sharing.
I can’t say this article provided me with any new information, though it still is a tad depressing. I’ve been having panic attacks on a regular basis since last December, and have been in the emergency room over fifty times just from the intense feeling that I’m having heart attacks. I lost my grandma on June 1, 2010 to a combination of heart disease and attacks, and cancer. At only twenty-three I’ve already been subjected to highly stressful situations, such as the loss of my well-paying job and my divorce from my partner of three years because of my panic/anxiety disorder. I’ve been through a month-long mental health day treatment program to learn to cope with the disorder, and was doing really well until I decided to taper off the benzodiazepines I was on two months ago. I’ve had IBS-D from anxiety since I was ten, which has led to crohn’s disease from damage to my digestive system, and have just recently been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, also caused by the anxieties; this was after a bout of pericarditis and costochondritis, which as you can imagine made the feelings of heart trouble more intense. I currently have no outlet for any of my troubles or emotions, which I think is why I’m posting all of this here.
It’s very frustrating waking up every morning feeling like I’m dying of a heartattack. I know going into the emergency is a waste of time, as they check my vitals, do an ECG, then when they say it’s all in my head and try to make me take more benzos they just tell me to take Benadryl, painkillers, and anything else to shut me up. I’ve never been one faced with drug dependence or addiction, but in a short while I’ve powered through a family sized bottle of aspirin, as well as ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and countless bottles of Benadryl and Gravol. It’s really becoming a problem for me.
My best friend just committed suicide over similar panic attacks she was experiencing which was a shock as she always seemed so brave and strong, more so than I’ve ever been. I just worry that I’m too emotionally weak to live through what she could not.
I’ve had panic attacks as well. it’s in my family. I think has a lot to do with rest and the nervous system. The cold shower therapy is helpful and free. you gradually go from warm to a little colder and then a little more and so on as much as you can take it. Don’t do it all of a sudden. Anyways, I know the debilitating feeling that comes with panic disorder, but it’s not worth suicide ever. For me it came on because of overloading stress throughout the years. I’m young (27) but i’ve been through a whole lot of stress and i’m not surprised. I’m just glad my body is healthy and with God I will be victorious through every stumble of the way. Tony, I will pray for you. God bless all of you.
Mike Nichols
thanks for brightening everyones day..
thank god you’ve saved me money on that snake-oil i was thinking of buying..
and mann, seeing as you don’t have all the answers.. don’t blast everyone with the idea that you Cant and never will be able to fully recover from anxiety illnesses…
you should think more about who will read your words.
jeeez..
I would delete this post if I were you.
tony you have wrong concepts about anxiety and panic attacks they are learned behaviours and they can definately be conquerd the condition is 100% curable. thankyou
Pathetic article. Please do everyone a favour and cease your attempts at writing any further, uneducated, depressing drivel.
Mr. Tosser and Matt,
You are certainly welcome to your opinions and Mike has not “moderated out” anyone’s comments on this or other articles. However, this article as well as several others over the years has led to countless conversations between those who have a share in the fight against this issue in their or their loved ones lives.
And in fact, the posting of this particular article brought forth several people who provided their experiences of seeking help – both successfully and unsuccessfully.
So, speaking from experience ( http://anxietypanichealth.com/2009/01/08/conquering-your-panic-daves-success-story ) , I believe that this site has provided much good and many resources for a great many people in need.
Take care,
Dave
After 32 years exipode of Anxiety and Depression I must say that this is geniune Article . DOCTORS Make fool of a lot of people by hiding facts and telling them this is curable when they even don’t know what is causing this .
I went to a doctor who adviced me that I have a chronic Anxiety and I must take medicines for a long Period . I asked him What is causing this issue ?. He says that they can’t say for sure . I also asked him how many years I have to take medicines . He says he can’t say for sure. BUT HE WAS QUIET SURE THIS CAN BE PARMANENT CURED. WHAT A STUPID DOCTOR.
Think of a Car mechnic who says that he can repair your Car for sure when he do not knew what is causing the problem also he can’t tell you how many days or months it will take to repair.
“Your Brian and heart is much much important than your Car engine because they can’t be replaced.”
Good News:
Until now I have survived only on following meditations.
These are very effective and can cure my 50-60% symptoms.
1) Osho No-Mind meditation
2) Mindulness Meditation ( half eyes closed) (Also called Chinmay Lions meditation
3) Tratak mediation on Candle.
Feel free to comment on my comments. :-)
I’m not sure if I agree with this article.
I’m 34, and have been experiencing on and off anxiety for the past 17 years. There have been months and years when I haven’t had any anxiety-related problems! No panic attacks, no obsessions, no fears. I have to say that these weren’t necessarily best years of my life in terms of what was happening, but somehow my anxieties didn’t appear. I was sure that I got rid of them for life!
Now, assuming that this anxiety thing is caused by a congenital brain defect, then how come they sometimes disappear for such a long time?
I’m a scientist and a firm nonbeliever in pseudoscientific BS that sometimes finds its way to psychology, but saying that – I also have to agree that there might be so that brain has some plasticity and some pathways can change due to life events. We all know that it is possible to make someone’s life miserable and it has been proven that people that survived bad treatment tend to be anxious, aggressive and irritable. This is a learned behaviour, so maybe there are ways to learn something that alleviates it almost completely?
I lived with anxiety for the past 20 years, and I think that I’m ready to start therapy now. In the past I found this impossible, because I firmly believed that anxiety/ocd is purely a brain function.
For a first time in my life I have talked with a friend about my problems: she asked me about my childhood (which I thought that was amazing) and I had to acknowledge that I’m covering bad experiences with good ones: for example I consciously remember loving my father and being proud of him, but I had repressed the memories of him throwing me on the floor and kicking there or me being afraid that he’ll hurt us when he’s drunk!
Yeah, I think that one can easily make an adult wreck by doing bad things to a kid. Maybe this changes the brain too, but I can’t prove that it’s not possible to make a happy, responsible adult out of this wreck by psychotherapy or psychoanalysis.
Whew, sorry for lengthy post and (possibly) my so-so English (not native lang.).
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