The general approaches to anxiety disorder treatment
Anxiety disorder treatment presupposes using various methods depending on patient’s individuality and diagnosis. Anxiety is a condition of all-encompassing apprehension that may be caused by particular surrounding or individual factors. Anxiety is usually associated with emotions of disturbing lines such as fear, anger, or depression. When apprehension is grave and unbearable, the patient may need anxiety disorder treatment with medications and psychotherapy.
The principles of anxiety disorder treatment
What to take for anxiety? When adequate methods of therapy are used anxiety disorders show good recovery. For their treatment the following approaches are used:
Social and environmental methods of patients’ training:
? Pedagogical and didactic methods.
? Family therapy.
? Groups of the self-help.
? Special literature for patients.
? Mass media.
Methods of psychotherapy:
? Relaxation training.
? Biological feedback.
? Cognitive psychotherapy.
? Behavioral psychotherapy.
? Other kinds of psychotherapy.
Methods of pharmacotherapy:
? Benzodiazepine anxiolytics.
? Non-benzodiazepine anxiolytics.
? Tricyclic antidepressants.
? Inhibitors of monoamine oxidase.
? Inhibitors of serotonin recapture.
? Beta-adrenergic blocking agents.
Psychotherapeutic approaches
Psychotherapy is treating of anxiety disorders, adjustment problems, or psychological distress by means of special techniques, which are performed by a psychotherapist. The psychotherapy can be carried out individually, in the groups or in the family. The forms of psychotherapy include dynamic, humanistic and existential, behavioral, cognitive, and interpersonal approaches. Dynamic approach is based on psychoanalysis and pays attention to interpreting the symptoms and revealing the emotional internal conflict leading to anxiety and dread. Humanistic and existential approaches presuppose the active co-operation between doctor and patient to discover emotions of disturbing lines and internal psychological disagreement by means of compassion and mutual help. Behavioral therapy is based on theory of learning. The aim is to change detrimental behavior of the patient. The behavioral psychotherapy helps the patient to replace self-destructive behavior with more positive one, reduce the level of strain and tension, and manage the stress. Cognitive therapy identifies and modifies the inefficient thinking producing the symptoms. Cognitive psychotherapy helps the patient to distinguish ideas and feelings causing symptoms of anxiety and react effectively to the stressors. Interpersonal therapy concentrates on the problems that occur in communication with others in a particular social situations. Cognitive and behavioural methods of psychotherapy are successfully combined with each other and can be applied in parallel. Frequently, the best way of treatment is the combination of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy with pharmacotherapy. However, a significant part of anxiety disorders can be cured without pharmacotherapy. The medicamentous treatment is recommended when non-pharmacological methods did not give result, for rendering the urgent help and in the beginning of the course of psychotherapy.
Antianxiety medications
Drugs that are used to suppress anxiety are usually called tranquilizers. They are able to reduce anxiety and help the patients manage more effectively their problems. The benzodiazepines are now the drugs of choice for various kinds of phobia and anxiety. Another group is represented by buspirone. This medication has some advantages over the benzodiazepines. The most important advantage is the absence of the potential for abuse, which makes these drugs safe in the long-term treatment.