According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 40 million Americans suffer from anxiety-related disorders every year. The disorder usually presents itself in childhood or adolescence, but can occur in adulthood as well. Anxiety also effects all people regardless of race or national origin. More information continues to emerge linking stress and heredity to potential factors that make some people more prone to anxiety than others. Anxiety's symptoms can at times be overwhelming. However, there are treatment options to help those suffering from the disorder cope and improve.

Symptoms

The symptoms of anxiety range from psychological to physical. Psychological symptoms include chronic excessive worrying, stressing, insomnia and irritability. Physical symptoms include tightened muscles, trembling, hot flashes, chronic fatigue and headaches. Symptoms must usually be present for at least 6 months before considering an anxiety diagnosis.

Medication

Once an anxiety diagnosis has been made, one of the first treatment options that many doctors turn to is medication. The most popular form of these medications are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). An SSRI takes the chemicals in your body responsible for thinking and mood, mainly serotonin, and helps the body increase the amount of those chemicals in your brain. This allows you to think clearer, and helps to control some of the emotions and stress that are closely related to the feeling felt during anxiety. Medications may also include muscle relaxants and other sedatives to help the body relax.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

The idea behind cognitive behavioral therapy is to teach basic cognitive skills and coping mechanisms. This rewires the way that someone suffering from anxiety thinks and reacts to the things around them. This can be done in either one-on-one sessions with a therapist, or in a group setting. Having the correct coping skills to deal with whatever is triggering the anxiety can dramatically help treat the disorder.

Relaxation

Many people suffering from anxiety disorders have triggers related to stress. Unfortunately, many people in today's society have forgotten the important of relaxation in relieving stress and helping the body heal and cope with the stimuli around them. This is why many treatment plans include teaching the person suffering from the disorder relaxation techniques. Breathing exercises or activities such as yoga help anxiety sufferers have additional ways to cope with the pressures contributing to the disorder.

Biofeedback

Biofeedback involves hooking patients up to special equipment that can measure everything from heart rate to muscle tension. This allows people to view in real time when their bodies are going through an anxiety attack. The goal of biofeedback is to get the patients to focus on using mental and coping skills to lower the feedback down to normal levels. This allows people to physically see what techniques work for them to reduce anxiety and then mimic them later when they are not hooked up to the machinery.

This entry was posted by Mandy, on Wednesday, May 13, 2009. You can leave your response.