Finding a Depression Treatment That Works for you

November 23, 2009 by · 21 Comments
Filed under: Anxiety Treatments 

Anxiety and depression seem to be on the rise in many parts of the world. The increased anxiety after September 11 has caused many people to look fondly at the past well hoping for a better future. In the meantime, it is necessary for many to seek treatment for anxiety and depression if only to be able to continue to function.

While anxiety is a term used to mean excessive worry or fear and depression is considered feelings of sadness and hopelessness, they’re both very closely related with very similar treatment plans. Although there are a number of options available, it’s important to get an accurate diagnosis from a qualified psychological counselor. It’s also critical that you visit your medical doctor, if only to eliminate physical causes that may have triggered the anxiety depression.

Here’s a few of the strategies that have been successfully used to treat anxiety and depression. Understand that while all have been shown effective to some degree, they don’t all work for all people.

Medications:

Certain types of medications known as SSRI or Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors work to increase the serotonin levels in your brain. These antidepressant meds have been able to be used successfully to treat many of the more common anxiety disorders. Although depression is generally recognized as being caused by low levels of chemicals in the brain, it seems to respond well to medication regimen. This in turn can help with various anxiety symptoms even though anxiety is more closely related to phobias and fears.

The Therapeutic Counseling:

Some of the most effective counseling is known as cognitive therapy. This behavior therapy is a type of psychotherapy that helps a person to recognize the thinking patterns that may have caused the anxiety disorder or depression. Psychotherapeutic counseling is especially effective with various phobias also.

Natural Anxiety and Depression Treatments:

There are many products on the market that all claim to cure various illnesses, disorders and disease. The reality is that many of these claims have not or cannot be verified through independent research. This means that even though it product claims to be the “miracle cure” these claims are based on testimonials. This isn’t to say that there are not some natural mood elevating strategies that one can use.

These mood elevating strategies include getting more sunlight. It’s no secret that in the winter when the days are shorter, there are more of us suffer from depression. I purposely going out into the sunlight for a least 30 minutes a day, it’s possible to help raise your mood level and fight off depression.

Another effective method to change your perspective and elevate your mental state is to exercise. A brisk walk or other exercise program lasting at least 30 minutes can elevate the endorphins. These chemicals in the brain can give you an almost positive euphoric feeling that is also an effective treatment for depression.

Although there are many other treatment methods, these have been found to be the most effective. Many anxiety and depression sufferers find that a combination of treatment strategies is required to effectively feel better and function.

Abigail Franks
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/finding-a-depression-treatment-that-works-for-you-82135.html

How To Find Effective Anxiety Disorder Treatments

October 31, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Anxiety Treatments 

Anxiety disorders are suffered by more than forty million Americans. Examples of these disorders are panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, phobias, and generalized anxiety disorders. Many of these disorders are debilitating to the sufferers, interfering with both their personal and professional lives. Thankfully, there are many anxiety treatments out there.

If you think that you suffer from an anxiety disorder, the first person you should see is your family doctor. Tests are necessary to make sure that there isn’t another medical condition responsible for the symptoms. Once it’s determined that the symptoms are the result of an anxiety disorder, the next step is to seek out a mental health professional.

Anxiety treatment can include medications. While medications are not enough to cure anxiety disorders, they can help the sufferer deal with the symptoms. Antidepressants alter the chemistry of the brain. Most begin to work on some indicators of anxiety disorder immediately; however, it can take up to six weeks for the full effects to be felt.

SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, are also antidepressants. They help brain cells communicate with each other by increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is involved in the regulation of learning, sleep, and moods. They have been shown to be very effective in anxiety treatment. Beta-blockers, usually used to treat heart conditions, can also be prescribed for anxiety treatment. They can help prevent the physical conditions which accompany most anxiety disorders.

Medications are used to help control the signs of anxiety disorders while the patient receives psychotherapy. Cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT, helps anxiety disorder sufferers change the way they think and how they react to anxiety-inducing situations. For example, a person with OCD who is anxious about germs and ritualistically washes his or her hands many times a day is taught to wait for longer periods of time in between such activities.

Those with other phobias or disorders learn how to face their fears through this anxiety treatment. The CBT therapist accompanies the anxiety disorder patient through role-playing to actual encounters. CBT therapists also teach relaxation techniques such as deep breathing.

CBT only works when the anxiety disorder sufferer is ready to undertake the challenge of facing his or her fears. It must be specific to their individual anxiety disorder. This anxiety treatment usually lasts about three months. It may incorporate group therapy.

Anxiety treatment is often more effective when it includes support groups. These groups may include resources from the internet or your local member of the clergy. These should not be a replacement for a certified therapist.

Exercise can be a great addition to anxiety treatments. It boosts the brain’s natural creation of serotonin. Meditation has also been found to enhance anxiety treatments, as it helps calm the physical symptoms of anxiety disorder.

Finally, family is a very important factor in anxiety treatment. Families should never trivialize the disorder of the sufferer. They can offer support but need to be careful not to enable the anxiety disorder patient.

Sammy Kay
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/how-to-find-effective-anxiety-disorder-treatments-103346.html

Social Anxiety Disorder Causes Symptoms Information With Treatment

August 1, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Other Anxiety Related Articles 

Many people with social anxiety disorder feel that there is “something wrong,” but don’t recognize their feeling as a sign of illness. Physiological effects, similar to those in other anxiety disorders, are present in social phobics. Social anxiety disorder can be so debilitating that it interferes with work, school and other routine activities. Social anxiety disorder may be linked to other mental illnesses, such as panic disorder , obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression. Signs and symptoms of social anxiety disorder can fluctuate over time. Physical symptoms include “mind going blank”, fast heartbeat, blushing, stomach ache. Cognitive distortions are a hallmark, and learned about in CBT. Thoughts are often self-defeating and inaccurate. Some sufferers may use alcohol or other drugs to reduce fears and inhibitions at social events. Social anxiety disorder may co-occur with other anxiety disorders as well as depression. Additionally, people with social anxiety may develop problems with substance abuse or dependence when they use drinking or drugs to “self-medicate” their symptoms. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a class of antidepressants, are considered by many to be the first choice medication for generalised social phobia. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) may be helpful in the treatment of social anxiety disorder. MAOIs and benzodiazepines may require more monitoring than other medications. Beta blockers are sometimes used with performance anxiety, a specific kind of social anxiety.

Causes of Social Anxiety Disorder

Common Causes and Risk factors of Social Anxiety Disorder

Genes.

Biochemistry.

Fear responses.

Cultural factors.

Environmental factors.

Neurochemical and neurocognitive influences.

New social or work demands.

Signs and Symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder

Common Sign and Symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder

Blushing

Trembling

Nausea

Stomach upset

Confusion

Palpitations

Diarrhea

Treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder

Common Treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a class of antidepressants, are considered by many to be the first choice medication for generalised social phobia.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) may be helpful in the treatment of social anxiety disorder. It teaches people with social anxiety disorder to react differently to the situations that trigger their anxiety symptoms.

MAOIs and benzodiazepines may require more monitoring than other medications.

Beta blockers are sometimes used with performance anxiety, a specific kind of social anxiety.

Benzodiazepines are a short-acting and more potent alternative to SSRIs. The drug is often used for short-term relief of severe, disabling anxiety

By: Juliet Cohen (Download Free Anxiety Treatment)

About the Author:

Juliet Cohen writes articles on diseases and conditions and skin disorders. She also writes articles on herbal home remedies.


Anxiety and the neurotransmitter Serotonin

July 25, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Panic Relief 

By any chance, do the following have a familiar ring: Lexapro, Cymbalta, and Paxil? Odds are you’ve heard of at least one, and perhaps are using one or know a person who does. They are compounds for curing anxiety, and are all among the top 100 selling pharmaceuticals in the world. Medication for anxiety forms a large fraction of the portfolios of the major pharmaceutical firms. Countless patients have discovered that these drugs mitigate the debilitating symptoms of anxiety disorders, as well as those of depression in others. A high number of these drugs are found in a class of molecules referred to “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors” (SSRIs), which operate by reducing the reabsorption of the neurochemical serotonin. Serotonin, when careening between neural junctions, seem to mediate processes that result in anxiety and depression. Learning about how SSRIs work, their off-label uses and what sort of side effects they exert is vital, as these compounds form the most popular class of pharmaceutical products ever prescribed.

Basic and applied research in clinical depression led to a large number of SSRIs utilized for reducing anxiety. In depression, peple also exhibit reduction in levels of interneural serotonin. Administration of SSRI increases these amounts and brings down the symptoms of depression. Interestingly, SSRIs have also found usage in treatment of symptoms as diverse as fibromyalgia and diabetic neuropathy. The neurotransmitter serotonin seems to govern a number of biological functions not restricted simply to psychiatric processes.  Thus it is not unexpected that SSRIs, despite their wide usage, also impose a disperse range of side effects. More commonly, patients who take SSRIs may feel nausea, sleep-walking or dizziness. Less usual, side effects may also describe problems such as tiredness during the period of treatment, blurry vision, or a strange condition known as “depersonalization.” The side effect that has gained much scrutiny recently, especially in the matter of a Lilly Co. drug, is the increased risk for *******. A retrospective study by the FDA (done by pooling data from many studies ) led it to raise the likelihood that in youths 25 or under, the medication can increase the rate of *******. However, the benefits of SSRIs in alleviating otherwise threatening symptoms of anxiety and depression is what leads most to take them anyhow.

A more common but ultimately strange side effect is the one known as “depersonalization”. In depersonalization, the person seems to become removed from daily life and people. The sense of clarity in these subjects also weaks, a fact which is the source for the name of the condition.  Life situations seem dream-like and hazy.  Ending of medication reduces depersonalization, but at the disadvantage of speedy reacquisition of feelings of anxiety and depression.

These adverse reactions are tolerated by patients due to the great benefit conferred by SSRIs.  Because SSRIs are broadly used, their mixing with other drugs has also been well documented. One prominent example is the natural supplement St John’s wort. In a strange turn, the supplement has frequently been claimed as a natural cure for depression or anxiety. But unfortunately, it turns out that intake of St. John’s wort inactivates a function of the liver, in charge of catabolizing SSRIs in the body and eliminating them from the body. Because St John’s wort compromises liver activity, the SSRIs stay in the body for longer and at greater dosage, leading to worsened side effects.

SSRI drugs have assisted a countless number of people who experience anxiety. The informed patient benefits from recognizing the subtleties and complexities of these drugs, their side effects, and how these drugs potentially can have deleterious consequences when taken simultaneously with other substances.

By: David Cambria (Download Free Anxiety Treatment)

About the Author:

David Cambria has been doing basic science in a related field to biochemistry of neurotransmitters, and often writes about stress relief from anxiety. He also presents information on natural relief from anxiety.


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