Anxiety Disorders cause severe distress and disrupt the lives of individuals suffering from them.
The frequency and intensity of anxiety involved in these Disorders is often debilitating. Fortunately, with proper and effective treatment, people suffering from Anxiety Disorders can lead normal, productive, and happy lives.
Many people think of treatment for Anxiety Disorders as being solely medication. While drugs can be effective, their remedy is temporary; they work only as long as you take them. And some medications for Anxiety Disorders are habit-forming and cannot be taken for more than a few months at a time.
But there is an equally effective treatment for Anxiety Disorders that will teach you how to manage and control them for the rest of your life: psychotherapy. Although psychotherapy requires more time to work than a pill, it is the best use of your time you will ever experience.
This article discusses the role of psychotherapy in the treatment of Anxiety Disorders under the following headings:
- Avoidance is at the core of Anxiety Disorders
- Why is it important to seek treatment for Anxiety Disorders?
- Are there effective treatments available for Anxiety Disorders?
- How can a qualified therapist help someone suffering from an Anxiety Disorder?
- How long does psychological treatment take?
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Agoraphobia,
Anxiety Disorder,
GAD - General Anxiety Disorder,
Medical Health Professionals,
Medications,
Panic Attack,
Panic Disorder,
Social Anxiety Disorder,
Therapy
I keep a folder for interesting articles and tidbits that my readers might find fun to read and instructive. It has been growing fat!
Usually, I post a selection of these every couple of weeks or so, but have neglected to do so for quite some time. Though today’s post will not even begin to clear out the folder, at least it’s a good start!
Today’s topics cover a broad range of topics, as shown by the subject list:
- Therapy by Telephone
- Battle of the genes determine mental illnesses?
- Seven habits that could transform your life
- Is there a way to get rid of unwanted memories?
- Why we overeat when we’re stressed
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Genetics,
Memory,
Overeating,
Research,
Stress,
Therapy
A reader named Dave left a comment on the post, “I’m Dying: What a Panic Attack Feels Like” that told the story of how he overcame his panic attacks.
It tells how he had panic attacks for many years, but has not had them now for 11 years! He conquered them with therapy — and without medication. I thought that Dave’s story should not remain buried in the comments, so I asked Dave to expand his comment into a post.
Anxiety Disorders cause us to turn inward, to focus on our woes. We tend to believe that no one else has the same problems, and that there is no hope for ever becoming fully functional again.
So it’s doubly reassuring to hear Dave’s story: it lets us hear that we are not alone, and that there are effective treatments that can help us learn to control and manage our symptoms for a lifetime!
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy,
Panic Attacks,
Therapy
by Mike Nichols on September 24, 2008 · 6 comments
Drugs are commonly used in conjunction with therapy to reduce the effects of Anxiety Disorders.
One of the purposes of psychiatric medications is to relieve a person’s symptoms enough to allow therapy to be effective. This has been a standard approach for years.
A radical new approach to drugs and therapy has been proposed by researchers and published in the June 15, 2008, issue of Biological Psychiatry.
Instead of using drugs to relieve symptoms, they propose using certain drugs to enhance learning during therapy sessions, improving the effectiveness of behavioral therapy treatment for Anxiety Disorders.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Anxiety Disorder,
Exposure Therapy,
Medications,
OCD - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,
Panic Disorder,
PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
Therapy
Over and over I see the same things in the comments on the blogs and forums I visit.
People say that they want to reduce or eliminate their dependence on psychiatric drugs. Yet they are not doing anything to do so.
They complain that they are being enslaved by their reliance on the drugs to keep symptoms under control. But they do not take advantage of the single most effective, proven help that could liberate them.
Americans have been trained for over a century to rely on drugs to cure their ills, from the first marketing of aspirin in 1899 to the latest wonder-drug touted on tv. Have a headache? Take an Advil and it will go away. Depressed? You need Prozac. Bipolar disorder? Abilify for you.
Madison Avenue has helped the pharmaceutical companies imply instant and permanent relief from your problems just by popping a pill. And we have swallowed this advertising hype whole! It has made us the most drug-taking nation in the world today.
Pills have become a silver bullet for Americans seeking relief from their woes. They expect drugs to solve their problems quickly and easily, without any extra effort on their part.
No wonder there are so many bitter and disappointed people who feel enslaved by their psychiatric drugs!
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Agoraphobia,
Anxiety Disorder,
Medications,
Panic Disorder,
Therapy
It is a universal truth: We all lie to our therapists!
We wouldn’t lie to our auto mechanic about the funny noise under the hood. We wouldn’t lie to our hair stylist about wanting to cover our bald spot.
Then why lie to our therapists, wasting money, time and emotional energy?
There are many reasons, both complex and simple. Click continue to see the top 10!
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Denial,
Psychiatrist,
Psychologist,
Therapy
Too often, we read self-help books on Anxiety Disorders written by people who have never experienced them.
The same could be said about many therapists: How can they really understand a panic attack if they have never had one?
Harriet Lerner, in her Fear and Other Uninvited Guests, speaks from her own personal experience with fear and Anxiety. Her words have the ring of truths hard-won through her own personal experience.
Lerner is also the author of New York Times bestseller, The Dance of Anger. She is the author of ten highly acclaimed books and two audio series. She was a staff member at the Menninger Clinic, and now practices with her therapist husband in Lawrence, Kansas.
Written in an easily-read conversational style, this is not a self-help book per se. It is more a recounting of her personal experiences in a number of situations common to people with Anxiety Disorders. Her advice is wise, practical and uncomplicated by psychiatric jargon.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Anxiety Disorder,
Book Reviews,
Therapy
We usually think of psychological therapy as a one-on-one proposition, just you and the therapist.
But many find group therapy to be just as — even more — effective than individual therapy.
How do you know whether group therapy is right for you? What exactly is group therapy? How does it compare with individual therapy? Does insurance cover group therapy? These are all valid questions you may have.
This post will explore what group therapy is and is not so you can make a good, informed decision.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Anxiety Disorder,
Group Therapy,
PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
Therapy
