What is the best anxiety treatment?
Anxiety can be treated in numerous ways. Some of them are good, productive, and others are not.
A very frequent example of contra productive way of treating anxiety is self medicating with alcohol. Unfortunately there are many people that use and abuse alcohol without knowing that in the end alcohol abuse will always make them suffer even more.
The best anxiety treatment is psychotherapy alone or combined with medication. In psychotherapy you will be educated about your disorder, and you will be provided with coping tools that will help you overcome your anxiety. Also, you will be provided with support, guidance and understanding all of which are essential for successful treatment.
What medication should be used in anxiety treatment?
First thing you should know is that medication is not always necessary or needed in treatment of anxiety. Second thing you should know is that if you decide to take anxiety medication you should be very disciplined and under the health care professional's supervision.
The reason for this is that if anxiety medication is misused or abuse in any way it can intensify your symptoms of anxiety and depression, thus causing you more suffering and needless pain.
Medication that is used in treatment for anxiety is depression medication (antidepressants) and anxiety medication (anxiolytics).
What is the safe treatment for anxiety in children?
Safe treatment is psychotherapy alone without medication. Parents need to be extra careful when considering giving their child antidepressants or anxiety medication. Before making this decision they should educate themselves about the effects and side effects of medication as well as whether the use of medication is necessary or not.
In the majority of cases medication is not necessary in treatment of anxiety disorders in children or adults. However, there are some severe cases of anxiety when medication should be used, but only for a certain time period, and along with intense psychotherapy where the real healing process takes place.
Is there alternative anxiety treatment?
There is not really alternative anxiety treatment per se but there are alternative therapeutic tools that can help during the treatment of anxiety disorder. Just as anxiety and depression medication is a therapeutic tool whose purpose is to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, there are natural supplements, meditation and acupuncture that serve the same purpose as medication.
It is important to emphasize that anxiety medication, natural supplements, meditation or acupuncture are not a cure for anxiety. They are "only" therapeutic tools that can reduce your symptoms or in some cases relieve you from them. Cure for anxiety and other mental disorders is in psychotherapy.
What type of psychotherapy is most successful with treating anxiety disorders?
Cognitive-Behavioral psychotherapy has very good results in treating anxiety disorders in general. Behavioral techniques are used by many psychotherapists when treating phobias because they are giving great results. On the other side cognitive part of therapy is used to help the client with irrational thinking and problems it causes while at the same time client is educated how to think rationally.
Can anxiety disorder be solely treated with psychotherapy?
There are many cases of anxiety that can and should be treated only with psychotherapy. However there are also severe cases of anxiety when medication should be considered but only for a certain period of time and when in intense psychotherapy.
What is an average duration of anxiety treatment?
It is difficult to talk about the average duration of treatment for anxiety because it depends from case to case. Sometimes for mild anxiety treatment can last for years whereas for moderate anxiety it can last six months. It al depends on the individual that is suffering from anxiety and his or her psychotherapist.
What is far more important than the duration of the treatment is that you get cured and stay cured. This you will accomplish by choosing the right therapist for yourself and by working hard on getting better.
Your therapist can help you a lot but nobody can hand you a cure for your anxiety on a silver plate. In order to get better and cured, you need to want it and more importantly you need to be prepared to work for it.