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Psych Central’s Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S., wrote a comprehensive post about anxiety disorder and how to treat it. She also lays out four common misconceptions about anxiety disorder that I thought was worth excerpting here.
1. Anxiety disorders aren’t that serious.
This myth persists because “anxiety is a universal and normative emotion,” said Risa Weisberg, Ph.D, Assistant Professor (research) and Co-Director of the Brown University Program for Anxiety Research at Alpert Medical School. However, anxiety “can be a hugely distressing and impairing symptom.”
2. “I can overcome this on my own.”
In her research on anxiety disorders in primary care, Weisberg found that nearly half of primary care patients with anxiety disorders weren’t taking medication or attending therapy. When asked about their reasons for not engaging in treatment, one of the most common answers was that they didn’t believe in receiving these treatments for emotional problems. Anxiety disorders have a chronic course and “the bottom line is that good treatments exist, so there is no reason to suffer on your own,” Weisberg said.
3. Anxiety disorders are a character defect.
“Anxiety has a genetic and neurological basis,” said Tom Corboy, MFT, Director of the OCD Center of Los Angeles.
4. “I need medication in order to improve.”
Though medication can be effective in treating anxiety disorders, “research suggests that in many cases, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is better or just as good as CBT plus medication,” said Jon Abramowitz, Ph.D, Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Director of the UNC Anxiety and Stress Disorders Clinic. CBT teaches patients the skills for lasting benefits.
To read her entire post click here.
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posted July 2, 2009 at 11:53 am
My anxiety disorder has taken on many forms since it made its dramatic appearance in 2003. It has *matured* and mostly takes the form of chronic and acute dyspnea. Kindly understand that I have undergone a battery of “physical” tests and the heart and lungs are, all things considered, in good shape.
But my walking pace is maybe have what it used to be and going up and down stairs in not nearly as much fun as it used to be. One item which caught me off guard was an inability to sing. I was never a great singer but had always been able to sing along in church. And so far, and so far I can’t ride my bicycle. I can’t pedal fast enough to maintain a balance.
Sometimes it resorts back to the traditional anxiety manifestations of intense fear, shaking of the body and even teeth chattering. Medication helps but it is mostly a short term fix. My anxiety demon has made itself at home and doesn’t appear to be leaving.
posted July 2, 2009 at 2:00 pm
An anti depressant is a miracle cure for my social anxiety. It worked when nothing else did.
posted September 3, 2009 at 8:30 am
Great post. Some natural anxiety remedies to look into are St.John’s Wort, SAMe, L-Theanine, and Tryptophan. There’s also cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and programs like Panic Away and The Linden Method, to name a few. Hope this helps!
posted March 10, 2010 at 8:38 am
When I was first diagnosed as suffering from Anxiety and Depression in 2006 my doctor prescribed Tryptophan. I found that it didn’t really help but my aunt told me about Chamomile tea which is a natural calming drink that alleviates the symptoms of stress. It worked and to this day I swear by it.
Gemma
posted June 23, 2010 at 10:41 am
There is definitely a lot more details to take into consideration, but thanks for sharing this publish.
posted August 19, 2010 at 7:22 am
Another big myth is the contention that exercise is one of the best solutions for all stress related disorders such as anxiety and depression. It has been proven that exercise has its own merits. But it is not useful for treating depression. On the contrary, some types of exercise treadmill can have adverse consequences.
http://www.thebrainhealth.com/generalized-anxiety-disorder.html
posted August 28, 2010 at 11:54 am
thank you for a wonderful post. I too used to suffer from panic attacks
and anxiety disorder. I used to be a healthy woman so I never thought it could happen to me, but one awful evening, it did, and if it happened to me, it can happen to any one, at any given moment. to handle and overcome panic attacks and anxiety disorder I used the revolutionary “panic away” system, and it really helped me allot, and made my life better. and today I no longer suffer from panic attacks and I have gained back the control over my life
posted October 14, 2010 at 3:18 pm
1. Anxiety disorders aren’t that serious.
Yeah I got that too when I had anxiety. Everyone kept telling me to stop making sucha big deal out of it.
2. “I can overcome this on my own.”
They want to first tackle with it themselves and only then resort to help. You know, saving the ace…
3. “Anxiety has a genetic and neurological basis,” said Tom Corboy, MFT, Director of the OCD Center of Los Angeles.
I don’t really agree. My anxiety came clearly from being locked from the outside world with only stories of my father of how
dangerous it is.
4. “I need medication in order to improve.”
People don’t have the discipline to go through CBT, and so, they choose medicine.
posted January 31, 2011 at 8:56 pm
I didn’t realize that anxiety disorder has a genetic basis – neurological basis, yes – but genetic? Very interesting.
I suffer from anxiety disorder but know of no other family member that has or had it. I am eliminating this debilitating disorder naturally, without drugs.