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mental health

Panic Disorder Treatment Options

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Anxiety is a serious medical problem. Panic attacks, which are one of the effects of Anxiety disorder, must be treated or they will often become much worse. It is not uncommon for anxiety attacks to spin out of control until they have taken over a person’s life. Getting help to stop panic attacks is essential, so that they are not allowed to worsen.

With any medical condition, the right treatment will often depend on the patient. Treatment must be chosen based on what the patient and his or her doctor both feel is right. Even if one of the below approaches fails, there will be another that will work for you.

Feeling positive and hopeful in regards to your treatment is a good indicator of the level of success it will have.

Here are the main options for the treatment of anxiety:

Medications Prescribed for Anti-Anxiety

A large number of medications are designed to treat anxiety. These drugs are primarily found in the benzodiazepine family, and include such medications as Xanax, Valium, and Ativan. Some other drugs are not designed exclusively for the purpose of treating anxiety or panic attacks, but do have the side effect of reducing anxiety levels, such as anti-depressants. Generally these drugs are taken as needed, but sometimes are taken on a regular schedule so as to reduce constant anxiety problems.

Using medication to treat anxiety can be effective, but it is not really a long term solution. These drugs can be very addictive, and should not be taken for extended periods. Additionally, such medications are not able to stop the core causes of anxiety, they just deal with the symptoms.

Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy for Anxiety

Many patients consider hypnosis an excellent drug free option for the treatment of anxiety. Hypnotherapy fights anxiety by using deep relaxation to allow a person to be open to sharing the causes behind the anxiety. Hypnotic suggestion is then used to make the brain respond to those causes in a different way.

Unfortunately, anxiety tends to prevent hypnosis from working in many cases. Anxiety sufferers have a hard time allowing themselves to be “put under”, due to the fear of losing control. Hypnotherapy does not tend to have a high success level in dealing with panic attacks. Hypnotherapy will usually not be enough to combat panic attacks unless it is accompanied by another aggressive method of therapy, such as CBT, aimed at eliminating the panic attacks.

Self-hypnosis exercises practiced in the safe and familiar environment of home can provide some relief from anxiety but again, does little for acute anxiety expressed as panic attacks.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is often used in anti-anxiety treatment and is one of the more popular treatments today. CBT based programs help the patient to respond differently to their anxiety and panic attack triggers. CBT looks for the faulty thought patterns that allow anxiety to occur,and help the patient to change these patterns.

While CBT is a highly effective way to treat anxiety and panic attacks for many people, it does take time. Usually, the patient will need to commit to brain exercises, done on a schedule. If the patient is willing to put forth the effort, however, this is a way to stop anxiety and panic attacks for good.

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How Much Do You Think Curing Panic Attacks Would Help You?

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by Riley A. West

You know that panic attacks and anxiety wreck the quality of your life, don’t you?

Just picture this. You find that curing panic attacks isn’t hard and that you can live like others do….

1. Planning holidays or travel without fear of anxiety.

2. Not being afraid to leave your house anymore.

3. Being confident you weren’t going to be ambushed by panic again.

4. Anticipating meetings with people without the fear that it would go badly.

5. Going about your day without worrying that there might be a sudden interruption.

6. Giving a speech or presentation without any concern of having a panic attack.

7. Seeing your personal relationship blossom as your behavior improves.

8. Waking up refreshed from a good nights sleep.

9. Doing the one thing you love that panic attacks may be stopping you from doing, be it hill-walking to square dancing.

10. Feeling free once more, like a kid. And not being overwhelmed with bad feelings.

Listen, it took me SIX YEARS to get over my panic attacks and anxiety. SIX YEARS! That was a hard stretch in my life. My life that is generally wonderful. My life was fine until day one of the panic attacks.

My life became a continuous struggle with worry. One of the things I have noticed is that everyone’s experiences have a lot in common.

One day I caught on to a thought that made it possible for me to never fear or even have a panic attack again.

I remember that day like an old favorite movie.

I was sitting at a red light in my car, listening to a self improvement tape.

Something triggered this thought in my head and I realized I was free from panic attacks. No fear. No more.

At that moment, the light turned green and the sun came out! I drove away positive I had left the panic attacks in the street and that they would never come back.

Blew me away. I knew it was for real. It felt like a religious experience.

it can be just like that for you, too! In one sudden move you’ll go from fearing panic attacks to curing panic attacks…your own!

Youll get your life back!

I found out later that the method by which I got cured my panic attacks is VERY similar to the method for curing panic attacks used by Mr. Joe Barry. He can certainly explain it to you better than me.

He is a panic attack and anxiety disorder coach and I think he’s the best there is.

You’re on your way! Freedom’s just around the corner. It always was. You just didn’t know how to get it! But now you will! Just imagine your life without panic!

Depression Versus Normal Sadness? -Do You Know The Difference?

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Do you ever wonder if you have depression? Many of us will have feelings that fit the definition of depression, but is it really depression? Clinical Depression is a mental disorder that affects millions of people. Disrupting lives, weaving itself into all aspects of our life, yet the feelings of depression can also be normal. Confusing? Let’s look at some of the criterias for depression.

First of all, having days when you feel down, or sad, is normal. We all have days when we feel blue, or down. It is just part of life. If those sad, blue feelings become your most predominant feelings however, like a dark persistent cloud, your emotions may not be just a “mood” but depression.

Depression is an illness, a mental disorder that overwhelms your mind and body. It is not a transient mood that can be dismissed. The victim of depression is powerless to command it to leave. It changes how you think and how you feel. It essentially changes who you are and affects how you interact with others.

So how can you tell the difference between actual clinical depression and normal feelings of sadness. Essentially it’s about intensity and time. The feelings associated with depression are much more intense. Your character and your ability to cope with reality become severely affected. It becomes almost impossible to function on a daily basis.

The threshold for diagnosing depression in terms of time seems to be about two weeks. Being sad and withdrawn for a short period of time is a normal human reaction to significant negative events. However, if your personality and interaction with others fails to return to normal after about two weeks time, then you may have entered a major depressive episode. Depression can last for weeks, months or even years–without treatment.

How is depression treated? The good news is that depression is very treatable. Combining therapy with medication is usually quite effective. Investigating some of the newer “Energy Therapies” such as Emotional Freedom Techniques or Tapas Acupressure Technique can bring some impressive results and can be done in conjunction with traditional methods.

No one is immune to the effects of depression. It is not an indication of weakness or failure. If you suspect that you or someone you know may be suffering from depression, it’s important to get professional advice as soon as possible.

How to Overcome Anxiety When It Is Overwhelming

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by Jack Spencer

One of the more difficult things that we might have to deal with in our lifetime is anxiety. Although it is perfectly normal for us to be anxious every once in awhile, there are times whenever the anxiety seems to build up and it is difficult for us to be able to think about anything else because of the overwhelming power of it. If you are feeling this way, you may be dealing with anxiety attacks.

Anxiety attacks are certainly nothing that is new to many people and as a matter of fact, most people that you talk to are going to be able to understand how you are feeling because of being through it themselves at some time or another. Some people only have them once or twice but for some of us, it can become a chronic situation where the anxiety attacks recur regularly without ever seeming to go away.

Many people that deal with anxiety attacks tend to look for a pharmaceutical cure in order to overcome them. The unfortunate thing about this is, many times they are subjecting themselves to a lifetime of medication that may have side effects which are almost as bad as the anxiety that they are feeling. It can cause a never-ending cycle where the medicine is constantly being changed, but the only thing that isn’t changing is the fact that they are still having to deal with anxiety from time to time.

The fortunate thing is, you are not left without natural options whenever it comes to anxiety attacks. The first thing that you need to do, however, is to figure out why you are having the anxiety attacks so that you can treat it from that perspective. One thing that many people have to deal with which tends to give them the anxiety is a vitamin deficiency. If this is something that you are dealing with, supplementing with the vitamins that you need may be able to help you to overcome it.

Of course, a vitamin deficiency is not always going to be the problem that you are dealing with which is causing your anxiety attacks. At times, it may be necessary for you to learn how to cope with them successfully in order for you to overcome them to the best of your ability. Having dealt with anxiety attacks myself, I found that allowing them to wash underneath me and to ride on top of them until they were finished helped me to be able to come out on the other side without feeling as if I had just been beaten up.

Of course, you are going to have to figure out why you are having the anxiety in the first place so that you can successfully deal with it. There are a number of different natural cures and coping techniques that can really help, provided you put them into practice in your own life. By doing so, you may be able to get rid of the anxiety altogether and that would be something that all of us would welcome.

Anxiety – Therapy and Counseling

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by Gordon Dalwood

As any sufferer can attest to, having to deal with anxiety and panic attacks can be notoriously difficult and because this condition can virtually destroy the quality of a person’s life, seeking professional treatment is vital. In this case, the most common approach is to seek counseling and therapy from a duly qualified mental health professional.

Therapy and counseling are utilized to get to the psychological roots of the anxiety. The goal here is once the root of the problem is discovered it can be possible to reverse the ravages of the problem. However, one needs to have realistic expectations about these sessions in order to get the most out of them.

First of all, you need to realize that a counseling session is simply not able to deliver an immediate cure for anxiety. Strangely enough, many seem to think that a counselor will somehow reveal magic secret that will eliminate anxiety once and for all. To the contrary, it simply doesn’t work that way. Instead, a counseling session will attempt to reverse any problems which are associated with anxiety and this will be done in different steps. Given enough time and patience, a phenomenal amount of progress can be achieved with regards to excessive anxiety.

One should also bear in mind that while there are standardized psychological tests, the specific questions asked and also the actual approach will vary from one mental health professional to the next. Of course, each mental health professional will have their own methods for administering these tests in order to make a diagnosis. As such, there’s no “one-size-fits-all” approach with regards to counseling or therapy sessions.

Another aspect to the testing is there are no correct or incorrect answers to the therapist’s questions. The questions should be answered to the best of your ability. It is very important to be completely honest with your answers and do not keep anything to yourself. This will interfere with the success of the sessions.

You also need to bear in mind that counseling sessions are a two-way street. In other words; it’s not only your councilor that should be asking the questions but instead, you should be asking them questions as well in order to learn more about the condition. These are highly qualified people with plenty of experience so don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Keeping a journal of how the anxiety is affecting you and what you have done to deal with this problem since the beginning of the therapy is another thing you may do when you are not in the sessions. This may help to show you what it is that may cause the attacks to start. Through keeping this journal you may better understand your behavior and see if you think the sessions are helping.

Counseling remains probably the most common treatment of anxiety. For many, these sessions not only help reduce anxiety, they can also reverse various other psychological problems that are discovered during the session. As such, the process is highly recommended to those looking to gain control of their life once again.

End Your Panic Attacks

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by Rich Russell

Many people believe that there is no way to prevent panic attacks. They have suffered for years and believe they have tried everything. Psychiatric therapy and drugs have not worked for them. To prevent panic attacks, a new approach is required.

What is the cause of panic attacks? It may be a chemical imbalance, but there is no recognized way to test for this chemical imbalance, so it remains no more than a theory.

Other experts like to blame panic attacks on repressed emotions but all of us probably have repressed emotions at one time or another. We don’t all suffer from debilitating panic attacks though.

It could also be caused by exhaustion.  The exhaustion could be caused by mental, physical or emotional conditions, that lead to a state of general anxiety. This could leave us more sensitive to potential triggers. A strange bodily sensation or a dark thought may also cause us to spiral towards panic.

We only feel worse when it is given a label called “Anxiety Disorder”. Anxiety Disorder just confirms that there really is something we need to worry about.

Eventually, you go into a full panic attack. Your blood is suffused with oxygen and adrenaline and prepares itself to deal with oncoming threats. This may cause strange sensations but it is just the body’s way of protecting yourself.

It is out of your control, but why do you need to control it? You are able to breathe without having to think about it. Everything is fine but it doesn’t feel like that. You have the urge to fight this feeling, but fighting it only makes it seem worse.

In trying to end your panic attacks by fighting them, you are trying to control what can’t be controlled and giving energy to it. But there is no need to control it. As terrible as it feels, it can’t hurt you, any more than your blood pumping in your veins can hurt you. In normal circumstances, once the perceived danger is past, a second automatic system kicks in to restore everything to normal. It is just a question of waiting for that to happen.

If you want to prevent panic attacks, a different mental approach is needed when you feel the early signs. Then you have to deal with the underlying anxiety. And you have to make the change permanent. There may be setbacks but they are a necessary part of the healing process. Anyone can prevent their panic attacks with some simple techniques.

The first part of this plan seems totally counter intuitive. It involves embracing your panic attacks rather than fighting them. Approaching them with interest and exploring them. It takes work but it is not at all difficult to do. And you will be surprised how quickly that fear of another attack falls away. An end to panic attacks is possible for anyone.