How Are Anxiety Disorders Treated?

Anxiety disorders most often are treated with medication or therapy or a combination of both. Additionally, some people look to self-help techniques, lifestyle changes, and alternative medicine for relief and wellness. It's important to realize that there are numerous treatment methods for anxiety disorders, and if one doesn't work, another one most often will. Keep track of what does and doesn't work (especially medications) so that if you change doctors or return to treatment, you may tell your doctor what you have already tried.

Medications

Medications generally work best when combined with therapy, research has found, but some people do find significant relief with medication alone. Antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications are prescribed more often, but doctors sometimes will use other types of medication as well, including beta blockers, anticonvulsants, and antipsychotics. If you're looking for information on specific medications, check the A-Z Anxiety Medication Index.

The antidepressants fall into several categories:

• Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors or SSRIs
• Tricyclic Antidepressants
• Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors or MAOIs
• Miscellaneous Antidepressants (These include newer antidepressants that are not SSRIs.)

Although these often are called antidepressants, it's important to understand that many of these medications have been shown to help different anxiety disorders, in research studies. Some of the newer antidepressants have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of different anxiety disorders. The drugs may have been developed for depression initially, but they may help anxiety as well.

The anti-anxiety medications include benzodiazepines and buspirone. The benzodiazepines are fast-acting and have few side effects for many people who take them. If taken for several months or more, benzodiazepines usually lead to physical dependency. It's important for doctors to prescribe the least possible dosages necessary of these medications, and to avoid increasing the dosage over time (a sign that tolerance may have developed). There is much debate over whether or not these medications should be used for the long-term or even at all, as well as how much people should take. If you are taking benzodiazepines, it's important for you to understand these medications and how our bodies react to them. To further understand physical dependency, you may want to read Addiction vs. Dependency: Benzodiazepines & Anxiety Disorders.

Medications may be used individually or in combination. A psychiatrist with experience treating anxiety disorders will be able to find the right dosage and combinations of medications, if necessary, for each individual.

The following resources may help you understand medications further:

• Anxiety Medications - A to Z Index

• How to Talk About Your Medications

• Medication: A Difficult Decision

Therapy

Psychotherapy is the process of talking to a trained mental health professional: psychologist, counselor, social worker, or psychiatrist. (Note that psychiatrists generally prescribe medication with little therapy. They usually work closely with the therapist as a treatment team.) The goal of therapy is to learn how to cope with the anxiety disorder. Research has shown that cognitive-behavioral therapy or CBT is an effective treatment for anxiety disorders. To learn more about CBT, see An Introduction to Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.

Other kinds of therapy used with different anxiety disorders are: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy or EMDR, exposure therapy (a kind of behavioral therapy), rational emotive behavioral therapy or REBT (the basis for CBT), and virtual reality exposure therapy or VRET.

For more information about therapy, please see our Therapy Resources.

Other Treatment Methods

Self-help techniques (including lifestyle changes) and alternative medicine involve many different coping skills and techniques that may be tried alone or along with professional help. Support groups, online and offline, are helpful as well. Be sure to let your treatment providers know what methods you are using, and always let them know if you are taking any herbs, vitamins, or other supplements.