Showing posts with label anxiety. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anxiety. Show all posts

10 October 2008

Anxiety Treatment With Drugs


By: Jamie Snodgrass

Anxiety
Do you often find yourself stressed out because of certain misfortunes of the past or uncertainty of future? How frequently do you feel a pang of an unpleasant emotion in anticipation of some ill- defined calamity? If very often it is time for you to realize that you are suffering from some anxiety disorder that causes innumerable psychological and physical tribulations. 

How to get help?
Once diagnosed, anxiety can be treated fairly fast. There are many ways of treating anxiety. 
Since anxiety a psychologically originated disease, at the primary stage it can be treated through counseling provided by, psychologists, social workers, and counselors. However these counselors should have specialized in behavior therapy or cognitive development or in any such related area.

Anxiety can be cured by cured by prescribed medications. Psychiatrists or physicians usually prescribe anti depressants or anti anxiety drugs that help during the advanced stages of anxiety.

Other ways of treatment are group therapies or combination of all the above. This would mean psychologists and counselors work closely with the physicians and psychiatrists and help the patients.

Anxiety drugs:
While focusing on the second method of treatment, namely intake of prescribed drugs, we must realize certain important facts about drugs prescription. 
The physician begins by giving low dose of the drug at first however gradually increases it.

These drugs have side effects; however the body gets accustomed to them over the passage of time.

The dosage is tapered slowly once the doctor feels that the patient is nearing normal state.

Some anxiety drugs:
Some of the anxiety drugs are given below. 
Doxepin : is a common drug with regular side effect incase of over dosage. Common side effects like nausea and vomiting

Clomipramine: over dosage can toxicity to the individual.

Amoxipine: it comes along with the general instructions of how to use the drugs and the common side effects.

Ziprasidone: is another kind to monitor anxious behavior.

Moclobemide: this is taken to regulate the mental functioning.

Anxiety Pills
Severe anxiety is unfortunately one item among the unwanted stuff. The more one tries to forget an experience that caused fear or severe discomfort, the stronger the memory of it becomes. When people suffer from recurring panic attacks or from a specific phobia such as that of height, bridges or highways, they usually don't think of a specific memory or thought as the real culprit behind their predicament, but there often is one

Anxiety and pills:
Anxiety is more of a mental and psychological condition which many people feel cannot be cured (like physical ailments) using medicines. But the reality is the fact that anxiety can be controlled using drugs called "tranquilizers" whose basic aim is to relive stress and make the patient feel better and more positive about life. Also known as "chill pills" some drugs can really help the patients a lot. Anticonvulsants like Neurontin and Gabitril for anxiety. Seroquel, which works on schizophrenia and manic depression, also seems to control anxiety and stabilize sleep patterns in low doses. There was a study in which one group of dental-phobic patients was given Geodon, an anti-psychotic, and another group was given Valium before a dental visit. Geodon was just as effective as Valium, but without the sedative effect.

The most popular of these tranquilizers is Valium, which doctors have long prescribed to relieve symptoms of anxiety. The drug is also used to lessen the anxiety, agitation and tremors that occur during alcohol withdrawal. 

The results of one study conducted in 1993 showed that valerian and hops are calming to the central nervous system and reduce depression and anxiety. In fact, the herbs were reported to work faster than the prescription drugs. Hops and valerian worked in only two weeks, as opposed to a longer period required for conventional drugs. The herbs also caused far fewer side effects. 

Anxiety pills and their future:
The chemical cousin to Neurontin, Pregabalin, is an anticonvulsant that's in trials. It's also being looked at for social-phobia anxiety disorders. There's another type of drug in development that works on regulating the pathway of the stress hormone cortisol directly. But that's down the line. 

Anxiety and non-prescribed remedies:
Too many people self-medicate their anxiety with alcohol or marijuana. While those options might bring acute relief, later on they can lead to a worsening of anxiety symptoms. So, unfortunately, they represent a bad pharmacological choice.

Why take drugs?
Drugs help a great deal to overcome that problems arising out of anxiety. Following are some of the reasons why drugs are advisable. 
They help to reduce extreme sadness.
They reduce lack of interest in life.
They help to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder.
They also cure the pain arising out of problems like approaching menopause etc
Thus, prescription drugs are advisable; however one must be aware of its side effects, the most vital of which is addiction. 

Author Bio
Author is marketer for sites such as :
Anxiety Help
www.healtharticledirectory.info/Category/Anxiety/62

09 October 2008

Types of Depression and Anxiety Disorders


 By Pattrick Johnson  An estimated 6 percent of Americans suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a type of depression, and an additional 14 percent experience a milder form of the disorder known as the winter blues. SAD strikes during the winter months and is associated with reduced exposure to sunlight. People with SAD suffer from irritability, apathy, carbohydrate craving and weight gain, increases in sleep time, and general sadness. Researchers believe that SAD is caused by a malfunction in the hypothalamus, the gland responsible for regulating responses to external stimuli. Stress may also playa role in SAD. Certain factors seem to put people at risk for SAD. Women are four times more likely to suffer from SAD than are men. Although SAD occurs in people of all ages, those between 20 and 40 appear to be most vulnerable. Certain families appear to be at risk. And people living in northern states in the United States are more at risk than are those living in southern states. During the winter, there are fewer hours of sunlight in northern regions than in southern areas. An estimated 10 percent of the population in northern states such as Maine, Minnesota, and Wisconsin experience SAD, whereas fewer than 2 percent of those living in southern states such as Florida and New Mexico suffer from the disorder.


There are some simple but effective therapies for SAD. The most beneficial appears to be light therapy, in which a patient is exposed to lamps that mimic sunlight. After being exposed to this lighting each day, 80 percent of patients experience relief from their symptoms within four days. Other forms of treatment for SAD are diet change(eating more foods high in complex carbohydrates), increased exercise, stress management techniques, sleep restriction(limiting the number of hours slept in a 24-hour period), psychotherapy, and antidepressants.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders

Approximately 5 million Americans suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorders. An obsessive-compulsive disorder(OCD) is an illness in which people have obsessive thoughts or perform habitual behaviors that they cannot control. People with obsessions have recurring ideas or thoughts that they cannot control. People with compulsions feel forced to engage in a repetitive behavior, almost as if the behavior controls them. Feeling an obsessive need for cleanliness and washing one’s hands 20 times before eating, counting to a certain number while using the toilet, and checking and rechecking all the light switches in the house before leaving or going to bed are examples of compulsive behaviors. OCD may be considered one type of depression.

Medicines and Drugs Used in Major Mental Illnesses Treatment,


Mental illness is one of the most complicated disorders about which very little is known. No one likes to be labelled as mentally sick. In India, mental illness is a stigma, and the relatives of usually try to keep the patient isolated. 
 Few patients are subjected to medical treatment. In some cases, it is considered that the illness has resulted from am evil spirit having taken posession of the body, and to get rid of it, prayers are offered. Recent findings have shown that there are definite biochemical aberrations in the brain which cause mental illness. There are several drugs have been introduced which can effectively control the symptoms in most cases. These drugs allow a patient to live a fairly normal life and also prevent further deterioration of mental state. Types of Mental Disorders: Depending on the symptoms, mental disorders have been broadly divided into three groups: major mental illnesses (psychosis, schizophrenia, mania); mini mental illness (neurosis, anxiety reaction); and mental depression (affective disorder). Each kind of disease requires a specific type of treatment. Therefore, it is important to recognize the disease. However, in some cases the patient has symptoms of more than one type of disease and such patients pose a different type of problem to the physician. In this chapter we shall consider the drugs used for the treatment of major mental illnesses. The drugs used in the treatment of anxiety reaction and mental depression are described in separate chapters.Several terms such as psychosis, schizophrenia (literally 'split mind') and mania have been used for major mental illnesses. In general, a major mental illness is characterized by such mental symptoms which cannot be reconciled with. The patient may have violent and uncontrollable instances of destructive behaviour; or he may suffer from illusion which is a false perception of reality: for example, a rope lying on the floor may appear to be a crawling snake; or delusion; which is a false sense of interpretation: for example, he may feel that he is a rich person and people around him are trying to conspire to cheat him and drive him to poverty; or hallucination; which is a false perception not accounted for by any external stimulus: for example, a person may imagine he is sitting in a garden full of trees and flowers with a kaleidoscopic play of colours, or walking around a lake, or that he can hear melodious music when none of these really exists. Such symptoms have been reported to be cause by psychomimetic drugs, hallucinogens like LSD, mescaline, and cannabis (bhang, charas or ganja), which have been widely abused by the younger generation. There is a disorganised thinking and abnormal behaviour. The most important negative manifestations include, flattening of emotions, poor verbalization, little interest in surroundings and relationships. 

Ricky Hussey

07 October 2008

The Natural Methods To Deal With Your Anxiety

The Natural Methods To Deal With Your Anxiety 

The first effort you need to do if you want to eliminate your anxiety reactions effectively is to believe in the fact that anxiety attacks is just a series of reactions and emotions. Be sure to know that there is no need to be scared while you are getting panic attacks. Just know that anxiety reactions is only uncomfortable and does not make any real harm to you. 

If you develop this mentality this attitude will allow your body to stop anxiety attacks consciously and after that subconsciously. 

One of the most effective routines I have learned and put into use to deal with my panic attacks is the little-known method. By breathing using my method when you are experiencing nervousness attacks will allow your body to slowly but surely relax and consequently the panic attacks attacks will stop. I will teach you how to get rid of nervousness by using the breathing method I've created below. 

Before anything else, when you are having panic attacks attacks, you have to inhale as deep as you can. Then hold your breath for as long as 5 to 12 seconds and exhale slowly but surely. By following this method will help a lot in eliminating your nervousness. 

Stopping anxiety with pills does not work that well. In most instances, you need to take the tablets in higher doses than your current doses of anxiety drugs in the future to stop the anxiety reactions that you have. Anxiety pills only contain the reactions, they are not the best solutions to deal with anxiety. In Russia, a lot of the patients do not rely on pills to cure anxiety. Instead, the doctors prefer them to concentrate on the mindset and lifestyle first. Without any medication, most of the anxiety patients are able to cure anxiety. 

With that being said, I hope you can get rid of the reliance to tablets when it comes to coping with anxiety. This might sound like an uphill task in the early period of time, but after you see a huge improvement in your anxiety conditions by using some natural methods to cure anxiety, you will be more convinced to drop the medications. 

Stress is one of the major triggering causes to anxiety disorders. So it's a very good advice for you to start reducing with stress first. By getting rid of stress, the anxiety attacks disorders will take place less and before long you are already effectively maintaining your anxiety disorders without the use of any medications! 

There are a lot of tactics to lessen the stress you've been collecting. You can reduce and get rid of your worries by just taking up some interesting hobbies. It doesn't have to be physical, although physical orientated activities will give better results for anxiety conditions patients. For me the best hobbies are basketball, football, martial arts and jogging. Now pick yours! 

To learn how to deal with anxiety effectively please read this article now!

06 October 2008

Things to consider before becomming a parent?

Some will claim that the first two or three years of parenting can be the most demanding and difficult time out of all the stages; others will claim that the teenage years are by far the more difficult to deal with. Both are right in that all families are different and have their own unique problems. Some families will find the teenage years the easier as their children become more mature, while others encounter nothing but problems. It all depends on how the parents raise their children and how close their family unit is. The first few years of parenting are enjoyable for most, without doubt, but it can also be a trying time, especially for people who are on their first child and are going through it for the first time. 

How much trouble can a baby under three years be? They can be no trouble, but then they can seem like a lot of trouble. It all depends on the mood, the circumstance and whether the baby was planned for or not. All of these can have an impact on whether the child is seen as an added complication or not. Whatever the circumstance, most made the choice at some point to have the child and few regret it. For about the first three years of its life, the child is completely dependent on its parents and requires a lot of attention, especially from the mother because she is often the primary caregiver. It can be both exhausting and rewarding. It can be exhausting in that the child has no regular sleep or eating patterns, can sometimes seem like it is always crying and finding a babysitter for the first few weeks is not in question as it needs its mother the most at that time. Seeing the child grow and develop; taking its first few steps, saying its first word and becoming a little more independent can make it all worth it for the parents. 

People thinking about becoming parents will often focus more on the good things about it and forget about considering the fact that it can be a strain on the marital relationship, especially if they are not prepared for it. A couple has to ensure they are ready to take on the responsibility before making the decision, because not being ready could lead to many complications in the near and far future. This is why it is often recommended that parents who are seriously considering a child should consider online therapy. An online therapist and an online counselor are available for anyone who is looking for answers, suggestions and advice. The online therapist can discuss the reality of parenting with the couple and can make it all clear in an impartial way so that the parents are aware of the choice they are considering. 

Communication through online counseling in regards to parenting can help in that the online therapist can help the couple decide whether or not they are really prepared to become parents; some will be ready, but others might not be ready. When having a child, it is always better for the parents and their relationship to be prepared for the added responsibility and extreme change to their life. One must also remember the possible child in this. Whether a couple is ready or not will have a direct impact on how the child is raised, as well as how they develop mentally. Dr. Jennifer Baxt, DMFT, NCC,DCC is the owner of CompleteCounselingSolutions.com which offers a variety of online counseling services. If you would like to know more about Jennifer or any of our online therapists, visit our website (http://www.completecounselingsolutions.com/aboutus.php).