Anxiety disorder or panic attack has been used loosely in recent years. Sometimes, people tag their nervous reactions to stimuli as anxiety attacks. There may be cases where the assumptions are valid, and the person is indeed suffering from anxiety attacks. But there are people that mistake normal anxious reaction to a perceived threat as a symptom of a lasting disorder. There’s a very thin line between justified anxiety and the anxiety that stems from imaginary causes. Some people couldn’t tell the difference, hence the need for professional help.

Before you can confirm for sure whether you have an anxiety disorder or not, you need to take a valid anxiety test. Like any kind of disorder, whether physical or psychological, there has to be benchmark for assessing whether the person is a candidate for treatment.

What is a Reliable Anxiety Test?

A reliable anxiety test would be something that your psychologist recommends. I’m not saying self-diagnosis is impossible, as there are many different tests out there that you can take to find out if you need treatment or not. It’s just that you would still need the confirmation from a licensed physician before you can come up with a feasible plan for battling this disorder.

There are many types of anxiety disorders, so a reliable test must not only zero in on the symptoms, but also give clues on what type of anxiety disorder the person is suffering from. It will be easier for the psychologist to prescribe a treatment if the test results point to a specific type of anxiety disorder. The more specific the symptoms are, the better for the patient.

There are some tests that can diagnose a specific type of anxiety disorder. One of the easiest types of this disorder to diagnose is social anxiety. With social anxiety, a specific parameter is needed for the symptoms to crop up. When the trigger is gone, the person does not experience the same symptoms. Self consciousness around other people and the anxiety about interacting with others in a social setting can be clues that the psychologist can use for diagnosis.

Some types of anxiety disorders are difficult to diagnose, like generalized anxiety disorder, which can be triggered by random stuff. But with enough tests and good cooperation on the part of the patient, this can be done.

The Role of Honesty and Acceptance in Diagnosis

The importance of acceptance and honesty cannot be emphasized enough when it comes to diagnosis for mental disorders. Basically, the person will never be cured if he doesn’t answer all the questions honestly. Some people lie during the anxiety testing because they are afraid of ridicule and judgement. They may also have feelings of shame about their fears.

Acceptance that you may have an anxiety disorder is the first step to real treatment. Only when you answer a reliable anxiety test correctly can you be treated. Self help methods like Linden and panic away are around to help you get over your anxiety, so you have options if you don’t want to go for therapy yet.

Acupuncture is one of the holistic treatments that people have been curious about for decades. It is primarily an Asian technique that requires a lot of professional skill on the side of the practitioner, and a lot of trust on the side of the patient. But still, the practice of acupuncture and its resounding success in helping people with depressive disorders has been its claim to fame. Whether you’re using it just to relax your muscles or you desperately need something other than drugs to help you conquer your panic attacks, acupuncture for anxiety symptoms is worth checking out.

How can acupuncture be a valid treatment for depression and anxiety?

The validity of acupuncture as an anxiety cure depends on the efficacy of this treatment on the patient doing the review. Some would answer with a “yes”, while others would say “maybe”. The middle ground would be that acupuncture plays a big role in relieving stress, which in turn has a big part to play in conquering anxiety. Acupuncture was primarily a relaxation tool, until many enthusiasts started raving about how this treatment helped them relieve their other pains, including psychological imbalances. The testimonials are too many to ignore, and soon, many anxiety patients are going for this option.

Why does this work for some patients, and not for others?

Not all users that have tried acupuncture can vouch for its effectiveness. One reason may be the underlying fear that sticking needles all over the body could lead to long term effects. Anxiety patients on rehabilitation from heroin dependence, in particular, may find the treatment unnerving because it reminds them of the time when they were shooting up heroine. Even when a user was never a heroin addict, the thought of sticking needles just below the skin surface may be alarming and bring about a whole new set of fears. The treatment itself may not be painful, but many users can imagine all sorts of pains related with needles while they are going through or considering this type of treatment.

On the other hand, acupuncture becomes a better alternative to massage therapy for most users because there is little direct contact with the practitioner. A socially anxious person may appreciate the thought of not having skin to skin contact with a practitioner, even in a professional setting.

Alternative to Medication

Many users frequently show dependence to pharmaceuticals that can combat anxiety. What happens is that these users don’t know how to find a replacement for the drug when they are finally at the last leg of psychiatric treatment. Instead of increasing the dose of the drugs, which would lead to more problems related with dependence, the patients would try holistic practices like acupuncture.

Acupuncture has always been seen as one of the cure-alls for many disorders, even those serious diseases that could otherwise become deadly. But the primary reason why acupuncture for anxiety would work is its effect on the emotions and confidence. People that go through the treatment feel relaxed and rejuvenated. These feelings are instrumental in treating anxiety problems.

Drugs for anxiety disorders abound, especially because depression is a common occupational hazard in all countries, particularly developed ones. It is not uncommon to find at least one employee under anti-anxiety medication in the workplace. There is no sign that the person is taking medication, and they usually blend in with everyone else without much drama.

Anxiety medicines have taken a lot of flak from users that claim to be addicted to the drugs. Many psychologists still maintain that the drugs work well until a person loses confidence to be able to succeed in conquering the disorder without the drug. The problem with anxiety medicines is that they usually foster dependence behaviour.

When you start looking for medication to treat your anxiety disorders, you will often hear the term ‘zoloft’ mentioned by people who have been using anti-anxiety drugs for years and your own therapist. Some of the questions you may be asking now would be the following:

What is Zoloft?

Zoloft is a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor, otherwise known as serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitor. Zoloft is a brand name for a particular SSRI that is frequently prescribed for those struggling with anxiety disorders. While many believe Zoloft for anxiety treatment is effective, this drug is more commonly used for personality disorders and depressive mood swings. SSRIs like Zoloft increases the level of serotonin, a neurotransmitter, in the human body. The serotonin exists extracellularly, which gives it the freedom to interact with various other chemicals.

How Does it Work?

The simplest way to describe Zoloft in terms of how it works is saying that it’s a mood modifier. People that use Zoloft are less prone to sinking into a depressive state. To a normal person, the effect can manifest by showing hyperactivity. To a person struggling with depression, the mood change could mean he can act normally around others and actually get something done during the day.

Is It Effective?

Many users claim that using Zoloft for anxiety spells the difference between sinking into depression and gaining ground in terms of conquering anxiety. However, there is an equal number of users claiming that Zoloft does more harm than good. Because the reviews are mixed at best, it’s better to describe the pros and cons of using Zoloft.

Zoloft takes care of the onset of anxiety disorder symptoms, which is its main selling point. A user would feel fine during the time when he would usually experience the symptoms of anxiety like nausea and queasiness. Users of Zoloft for anxiety treatment are usually those showing mild symptoms. Severe anxiety patients claim that Zoloft has little or no effect at a low dose. However, many doctors still claim that a consistently low dose of Zoloft can be effective if therapy is done simultaneously.

On the downside, many Zoloft users experience side effects like lack of sexual urge and discontinuation syndrome. While many users expect the effects of Zoloft on sexual desire, the discontinuation syndrome often catches them off guard. When the time for discontinuing medication comes, a patient would experience a relapse, which may be a sign of dependence. The relapse may lead to prolonged or even lifetime use of Zoloft; something that is not recommended.

Anxiety is one of the silent enemies that plague families all over the world. This disorder can be the main cause for absenteeism on the job and refusal to take on specific jobs. When it comes to treatments for anxiety, we must always look for long term solutions. However, saying this is easier than actually concocting a plan to make it happen. To a lot of anxiety sufferers, a long term solution is composed of several short term solutions.

If we look at all the treatments for anxiety disorders around, we can group them into three. Here are some of these treatment categories.

1. Medication and Therapy

While many would disagree that medication and therapy should be grouped together, it cannot be denied that many psychologists and doctors of psychiatric sciences recommend drugs for patients to use when they’re not attending sessions. It’s not just the doctor’s prerogative to prescribe medication; it may be the patients themselves asking for drug treatments for anxiety troubles. Some patients may want quick fixes because they have stressful events coming up like debates, board meetings, sales presentations and speaking engagements. Medication becomes the quick fix solution for people that don’t want anxiety attacks to occur while they’re doing something important.

The theory is that a patient can be weaned off of an anti-anxiety drug in the course of the therapy or program set by the psychologist. However, the truth is that many patients relapse a hundred percent when the time for quitting the medication comes. Therapy would work wonders if the patient is cooperative and if the psychologist insists on low-drug doses to keep the drug dependence at bay during the therapy’s duration.

2. Holistic Practices

Good holistic practices exist for curing anxiety. Some of these treatments include acupuncture, aromatherapy and herbal drugs. If used well, holistic methods would miraculously cure a person and ward off future relapses. The secret behind these holistic practices has a lot to do with how they make a person relax. Anti-stress treatments work to improve resistance to stress. Some act as relieving agents for people under constant pressure to perform at work or in school. Aromatherapy, in particular, can keep stress at bay because the essential oils of some plants are proven to be effective for relaxing the mind.

3. Self Help DVDs and Books

Many sufferers don’t take self-help practices like Linden seriously for the reason that they would rather get real counselling. Real counselling in this context means sitting down with a psychiatrist and telling him your troubles. He will then prescribe medication as well as other treatment options for you. Most of the time, the treatments of anxiety that many people go for involves an extremely complicated cocktail of drugs and therapy sessions. But in reality, you can treat anxiety on your own and be rid of it with self help options.

For self help methods to really work, you should be confident that you can discipline yourself to sit through a DVD program, and do the exercises without supervision. If you don’t have the confidence in your personal discipline, self help may not be for you. Deep inside, you may be thinking that you would never be able to pull it off if you don’t receive any help.

Before I tried several self help books, I’ve been looking for anxiety treatments for a long time. I’ve tried the three steps I listed below and they worked for me. Before we get to the tips, however, let me tell you something about what I felt like when I was still looking out for anxiety treatments.

You will find so many treatment options for anxiety disorders. There are so many options that it’s stressful to try everything at once. I was tempted to try all of them, and in fact, I did just that. At the back of my mind, I knew I should not consider medication that might keep me addicted. But when the pressure sets in, the urge to go for the quick fixes like medication became unbearable. Did I use medication? Yes, I did. But as soon as I understood just how dependence could make me a slave to medication, on a psychological and financial level, I came up with my own ways to combat the anxiety symptoms. I used several methods to do this, including Linden and Panic Away.

With enough persistence, getting your anxiety under control can be extremely doable. If I was able to do it, so can you.

3 Steps to Get Your Anxiety under Control

1. Commit on a Daily Basis

Commitment to changing your life should be done daily, if not more frequently. It can be as simple as saying “today I renew my commitment to a new life and refuse to let stress take over my mind.” Being only human, we sometimes forget that we’re in the process of changing our lives for the better and default back to old habits. A bad habit that could derail your efforts is focusing on stress and taking it head on, rather than letting stress slide by. The first thing that you and I must do every single day is to commit. Quit anxiety and do it now.

Anxiety may be induced by sometimes forgetting to let stress be a non-significant element. You remind yourself by committing and taking things positively.

2. Don’t Rush Treatment

When I was reading up on user experiences with drugs that could allegedly cure anxiety, I came across a user that said ‘just say no and your mind will follow’. I considered it a warning and avoided getting roped into a never ending cycle of relapses just because of the medication. Many people try to rush things and end up getting relapses as soon as they think of quitting their usual medication for anxiety. While we can all talk about moderation in terms of taking medication until we’re all out of breath, real life sufferers are extremely prone to getting addicted to the effects of the drug whether the drug is a dependence-inducing drug or not.

3. Get Out

Another treatment option that lets you conquer your fears is to get out of your house. Most of the time, our anxiety and fears are related with living in the same place with nowhere else to go to. Once you’ve explored every nook and cranny of your home, you might think that this is the only thing the world can offer. Get out there and make sure you interact with people. Again, don’t rush. You might try to take it slow by interacting with next door neighbours on a daily basis before you go for a roadtrip with a trusted friend or family member.

When I was not able to find the best anxiety cures, I went for the things that other people have said worked. However, since the kind of anxiety I had was not like those that others are suffering from, many of the anxiety cures I went for did not help me in any way. Of course, there is always the possibility that I didn’t really believe in these treatments, that’s why using them was futile. However, when I really decided once and for all that I should get treated of this disorder, so many cures have cropped up through my own research.

Making sure you’re doing something to cure your disorder makes you a little less nervous than when you thought you would be like a tightly wound up spring for the rest of your life. There may be relapses and recurrence of the same symptoms, but you’re still better off than those who fear the disorder itself.

Here are some real world anxiety cures that I have found to be effective on different levels.

1. Hypnosis

Good hypnosis can do wonders for anxiety disorders. Many people don’t take this concept seriously, because it seems to be a hyped up version of real counselling, but those who have had the benefit of working with a professional hypnosis coach would say otherwise. Hypnosis lets you confront your fears on a psychological level, oftentimes devoid of the physical manifestations. The mind is such a resilient tool for combating anything that bothers you, but sometimes, you let your own physical awareness get in the way of your mind’s job to make things right again.

With hypnosis, you not only confront your fears, you also push them away. Good hypnotic practices involve affirmations and breaking bad habits. It’s not a cure-all, but it’s a good way to start convincing yourself to quit anxiety. Many anxiety cures promise full recovery, but those who have gone through good hypnosis may have a better chance of suppressing the symptoms than others.

2. Non-addictive Medication

There are all sorts of medication-based anxiety cures. Some therapists recommend taking medication in tandem with therapy, but some individuals prefer the medication over therapy in the long run. Relief could sometimes be due to the fact that there is a pill around for when you have a panic attack, which implies that the medication may be keeping you hooked by having minimal effects.

The solution is to take non-addictive medication that you can be weaned off of when it’s time for your mind to do all the work without crutches like antidepressants. However, addiction to medication may be more common than you think. You may think you are not likely to get addicted, but you could be wrong. Use with caution.

3. Self Help Books and DVDs

Self help comes in book form and in DVD form. What’s the difference? Nothing much, except that the latter may work better for people who are not keen on reading blocks of text. Self help like Linden is very effective because you are forcing yourself to deal with the situation using effective tools. However, the discipline required to turn this into a long term solution may bring about another form of pressure that you can do without. Those who have the conviction to go for this option will likely succeed.

The number of people with anxiety disorders increased in the recent decades. This may be because of the worsening economic situation in every country in the world. Many individuals also view the doomsday predictions with enough quiet believe to develop the most extreme anxiety disorders when events like volcanoes exploding and earthquakes happen. For the rest of us, this kind of panic may seem foolish, or even alien. But for people seeking an anxiety disorder treatment of any sort, these fears are real.

Many of us think that panic attacks are purely mental. Some ‘normal’ individuals even write off the symptoms shown by anxiety sufferers as over-acting or paranoid behaviour. But anything that the brain conjures translates into the physical in one way or another. For instance, those who are suffering from anxiety disorders like social anxiety feel nervous and sweat bullet around people. Soon, the other symptoms like nausea follow. Some people cannot breathe and others shiver like a chilly wind is blowing even when they’re indoors. The fear is real, and so the body reacts in a way that is similar to when a real threat is nearby.

Panic attacks can trigger the flight response, which makes a person lose his cool even in situations where he should not feel anxious. Here are the many anxiety disorder treatments that people with panic attack symptoms go for.

1. Medication

Mild anxiety sufferers often go for the quick fix when it comes to anxiety disorder treatment options. And, by quick fix, we mean the medication that doctors prescribe. If used at the right dose, these medication options may help relieve symptoms of panic attacks. However, many drugs meant for treating anxiety can be dependence-inducing, so make sure you raise this question when talking to a doctor. You may soon have bigger problems than anxiety disorder treatment alternatives if you become an addict of prescription drugs.

2. Self Help

Self help comes in the form of DVDs and books. While not all self help books would work for you, you just have to find the ones that have helped other users. Linden method and Panic Away sets have been touted as some of the best anxiety self help programs out there.

It takes discipline to be able to do therapy yourself. But self help has its advantages. For the most part, you don’t have to reveal to another person just how much you are suffering from anxiety. You don’t have to risk judgement from other people, especially those that don’t understand what you’re going through.

3. Therapy

Those who think they may have anxiety problems always consult a psychiatrist first. This is so that the exact category of anxiety problem can be identified. After a psychiatrist has performed the initial evaluation, the person can opt for one anxiety disorder treatment option to go for. Many people just assume that they are depressed and try to do something about it themselves. But the truth is that you would need an expert to really tell you what you have.

Anxiety disorders are like the locusts that swarm across a pre-harvest wheat field. The swarms can lead to the loss of the most precious thing that you can have… hope for the better. The reality is that anxiety disorders plague more people than we know. Some try to hide it from others, while there are those that still show signs of anxiety even when they try their best to hide it.

The thing is, if you have anxiety disorders, you don’t know how to live life without anxiety. Worrying becomes a habit that is difficult to break. It is difficult, but not impossible. When you think it’s impossible, that’s when the anxiety habit will continue to fester inside your mind. This is the truth. While it can be difficult to break an anxiety habit, you can do small things to make sure the anxiety goes away and for good this time.

Most of the time, the treatments of anxiety that many people go for involves an extremely complicated cocktail of drugs and therapy sessions. But in reality, you can treat anxiety on your own and be rid of it in just seven days.

Here’s how:

Look for a way to remind yourself that you’re doing your best to remove the habit of being anxious every time something triggers your subconscious. Maybe you see a plane in the sky and you start worrying for the people inside the plane. Maybe you see a black cat on the road and you think it’s a sign of a bad event that’s going to happen later that evening. If you start thinking this way, remind yourself. You can do this by using several tricks.

The first is the use of a string of a band. Tie a string around your wrist and snap it or run your palm to and fro on it so that it grazes your skin. The slight pain will jolt you back into the mindset of recovery. To control your anxiety by utilizing something as homey as a band or a string, you need to make sure you do this all the time. Soon it will become a habit.

Another tool to use in tandem with the above method is affirmation. Leave notes around the house or in places where you can clearly see the note from where you usually stay. If you go to the office, maybe a small photo with words like ‘stop’ and ‘no worries today’ will do the trick. A simple post it on the wall where you usually hang out, like the kitchen, will also do you good.

The habit of reminding yourself not to worry will override the habit of worrying. A full recovery can happen when you let this treatment become your main habit. Habits are actually scary because they stick to you, but using habits to make sure you remember your goal can be a positive thing.

A person with extreme anxiety attacks find it difficult to breathe and function normally. The worst part is that this can become a recurrent event, with no regard for occasion or place. When a person with anxiety feels the symptoms manifest physically, blood oxygen levels tend to go down inside the brain. What happens is a cascade of chemical reactions that lead to fainting and even irrational screaming. Panic attacks are common in people with anxiety disorders, although some people don’t experience panic at all.

We can go for days talking about long term self-help treatments but some individuals with panic attacks still consider medication as the quick fix for when their symptoms become unbearable. One of the first drugs that doctors prescribe to patients is Vistaril. Read on to find out more about this drug and what it does.

Hydroxyzine is the generic name of Vistaril, which is a well known antihistamine. Many individuals are first confused about the use of an antihistamine for anxiety symptoms. After all, antihistamines are supposed to be for allergic reactions that crop up when a person is exposed to an allergen, e.g. pollen, dust, food etc. But it cannot be denied that the majority of hydroxyzine users use the drug vistaril for controlling anxiety symptoms. The other brand for this is Atarax.

Vistaril can stop allergic reactions like itching and nausea, which are significantly the same symptoms for anxiety disorders. When a person is nervous, he sometimes feels itching somewhere in his body, like he were being exposed to allergens.

With itching comes nausea and fainting, which may have been caused by the modification of blood oxygen levels. When blood oxygen levels go down, the mind concentrates on supporting a person’s major organs as well as dealing with the emergency cases like inflammation (like sites of allergic reactions), leaving the rest of the body somewhat numb for a while. Vistaril also has a lot to do with controlling queasiness caused by motion and psychological imbalance, like those that feel sea sick even on land just because the same stimuli related with sea vehicle movement are present.

Many people that use vistaril for anxiety do so to relieve insomnia. It is well known that Vistaril can bring about a state of drowsiness in an almost hypnotic manner. While it is said that the side effects of Vistaril are non-existent, many users claim that the main effect of vistaril is extremely similar to real sedatives, especially the strong ones. Depending on the dose, a person may feel like he’s out of touch with reality when doing normal chores, which could be dangerous if the person were driving or handling machinery.

For the cure of mild anxiety, Vistaril may be the short term solution. There are no physical evidences of vistaril-dependence in the users, but some users are still dependent on this drug on a psychological level. What we mean is that the person does not feel craving for the drug but he may be prompted to keep on using the drug because he fears that the attacks could come again if he stops.

Anxiety disorder NOS is the kind of panic attack that cannot be placed in any category of known anxiety disorders. The symptoms are general enough that the person may be diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, but an underlying reason for the panic attack may place the disorder in another category. Some underlying elements that cannot be ignored include the presence of a separation event, the fear of heights, the fear of insects and the fear of the dark. Usually, the person suffering from anxiety disorder NOS complains about panic attacks at random moments, which confuses the one evaluating the symptoms even more.

There are some people that say anxiety disorder nos is actually post-traumatic stress disorder, which is a condition commonly seen in injured soldiers and policemen. While it is not clear if this is a fair assessment and description of the disorder, it cannot be denied that so many people show symptoms of a disorder that does not fit into a particular category.

Immediate cures for the nos disorder can be difficult if the psychologist does not research more about what could be causing anxiety. Some people with this disorder find it difficult to sleep because of dreams related with random things, or they simply refuse to sleep because they are scared of dreaming itself. Some hypnosis therapeutic practices may also help deal with the cause of anxiety, but this should only be done with a qualified individual.

Because the cause of this anxiety cannot be limited to one source, there is a possibility that anxiety disorder nos is a combination of several phobias, including those induced by post-traumatic stress. Most doctors recommend medication that they would give a depressive patient, including sedatives. The medication for anxiety disorder nos may be similar to any kind of anxiety disorder. These drugs are usually tranquilizers that can induce sleep. Sleep is very important to an anxiety-ridden person because the mind needs to recharge itself in order to function normally. A person that gets enough sleep is less likely to show anxiety symptoms when compared with a person that suffers from insomnia due to anxiety.

Some tips for anxiety disorder nos treatment may include herbal medicines, either inhaled via aromatherapy, or drank as decoctions under the recommendation of the doctor or herbal medicine specialist. Other tips for treatment may be to go for exercise regimes involving cardio exercises to improve a person’s breathing capacity, which would come in useful for when he couldn’t breathe due to panic. Breathing on a set pace during a panic attack may spell the difference between fainting and getting a grip on emotions. Most of the time, the incapacity to do breathing at a set pace is what triggers the panic attack, leading to more disastrous consequences.