Each of us experiences anxiety or stress now and then. Every-day events, such as speaking in public, meeting tight deadlines, first dates, as well as being caught in rush hour traffic can cause us anxiety and stress.
Nevertheless, modest stress or anxiety isn’t really bad. On the contrary, they can be helpful and evolutionarily beneficial, as these types of anxiety and stress can make people focused and alert when faced with intense or threatening events.
Yet, as opposed to the short-lived stress and anxiety people experience on account of normal life events, individuals who suffer excessive and ongoing stress or anxiety disorders suffer from distress over long periods of time that usually interferes with their lives and their abilities to function.
Thankfully, with appropriate and effective treatment, individuals plagued by acute stress or anxiety disorders are able to learn how to cope, improve, and once again lead normal, healthy, well-balanced, and fulfilling lives.
Can anxiety and stress disorders be treated effectively without medications?
Absolutely! Psychotherapy – also referred to as psychological counseling and “talk therapy” – can be an extremely effective treatment for stress and anxiety, especially if you’re hesitant to commit to taking pills throughout your life in order to overcome the conditions you’re experiencing.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, researchers have demonstrated that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is particularly helpful in the treatment of anxiety disorders.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy works by helping people learn the necessary techniques to detect, examine, and modify unhelpful beliefs and behavior patterns, and replace them with positive ones.
This helps you minimize anxiety and stress, and gain more control in life, by changing the way you react to the circumstances you encounter, regardless of the situations themselves.
Furthermore, because cognitive-behavioral therapy is usually a short-term process, it is not uncommon for individuals to begin feeling improvements within 12 to 16 weeks of beginning treatment.
While cognitive-behavioral therapy has proven to be an especially effective type of anxiety therapy, a number of other treatments have also been found to help:
- Exposure Therapy – A form of CBT, exposure therapy gradually exposes you to an object or situation you’re afraid of, helping you to lessen your sensitivity over the course of time. Exposure therapy is often particularly effective in helping people overcome obsessive-compulsive disorders or phobias.
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) – Integrating cognitive-behavioral processes with knowledge from Eastern meditation, dialectical behavioral therapy brings together acceptance and change. DBT very often includes individual and group therapy to help you learn mindfulness techniques and skills to enhance interpersonal ability, better tolerate distress, and regulate emotions.
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) – Under various situations, eye movements may actually lessen the intensity of disturbing emotions. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing seems to have a direct influence on the way the brain processes information, helping individuals experience disturbing memories and feelings with less trauma. While research has proven EMDR to be an effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, many therapists have experienced success when using it to resolve panic attacks and phobias.
In addition, family therapy and group therapy can also be beneficial for those dealing with phobias, excessive amounts of stress and anxiety, or panic attacks.
Even with the success of psychotherapy in helping men and women deal with and overcome a multitude of anxiety disorders, if you or your therapist believe that medications can benefit you, your therapist should refer you to a licensed psychiatrist for an assessment.
While anti-anxiety medicines may have a role in your treatment, it’s important for you to understand that there are side effects to virtually any drug, which need to be monitored very closely by the prescribing medical practitioner.
Should you get anxiety therapy?
If left untreated, overwhelming or persistent anxiety and stress may have serious and debilitating consequences. As an example, people who undergo overwhelming or recurring panic attacks usually avoid putting themselves in any scenario which may bring about a new attack. This sort of avoidance commonly conflicts with professional obligations, family relationships, and many day-to-day tasks.
Not only are acute anxiety and chronic stress incapacitating in their own right, but, when unaddressed, they can quickly lead to other behavioral and emotional problems such as depression, alcoholism, or substance abuse.
It is important to understand that no one anxiety or stress treatment works for all people, and none of them deliver results instantly. Anxiety therapy has to be customized to each individual and you should have an understanding of, and be at ease with, the therapist and treatment being proposed from the beginning.
Having said that, there is little question that a number of kinds of psychotherapy can help you address, and recover from, severe stress and anxiety disorders.
If you’re regularly suffering from anxiety or stress, suffer panic attacks or unresolved phobias, or are struggling with other anxiety disorders that are impairing your professional and personal responsibilities and relationships, you owe it to yourself to search for the most effective treatments available.
Anxiety therapy, irrespective of whether it’s used in conjunction with medications, can help you restore balance, regain control, and move forward in life with confidence and optimism.