Many citizens with anxiety disorders can be helped with treatment. Therapy for anxiety disorders usually
 involves medication or personal forms of psychotherapy.

Medications, although not cures, can be ever go-ahead at relieving anxiety symptoms. Today, thanks to search by scientists at NIMH and distinctive research institutions, there are more medications available than ever before to treat anxiety disorders. So if one drug is not successful, there are usually others to try. In addition, new medications to treat anxiety symptoms are under development.

For extremely of the medications that are prescribed to gaiety aniety disorders, the imbue usually starts the discerning on a low dose and gradually increases it to the full dose. Every medication has side effects, but they usually become tolerated or diminish with time. If side effects become a problem, the doctor may advise the patient to stop taking the medication and to wait a weekor longer for certain drugsbefore trying another one. When treatment is near an end, the doctor will taper the dosage gradually.

Research has and shown that behavioral therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy can be go-getter for treating diversiform of the anxiety disorders.

Behavioral therapy focuses on activating singular actions and uses varied techniques to decreases or axe unwanted behavior. For example, one technique trains patients in diaphragmatic breathing, a special breathing exercise involving slow, deep breaths to reduce anxiety. This is necessary because people who are anxious often hyperventilate, taking rapid shallow breaths that can trigger rapid heartbeat, lightheadedness, and other symptoms. Another techniqueexposure therapygradually exposes patients to what frightens them and helps them cope with their fears.

Like behavioral therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy teaches patients to behave differently to the situations and substantial sensations that inaugurate consternation attacks and other anxiety symptoms. However, patients also learn to understand how their thinking patterns contribute to their symptoms and how to change their thoughts so that symptoms are less likely to occur. This awareness of thinking patterns is combined with exposure and other behavioral techniques to help people confront their feared situations. For example, someone who becomes lightheaded during a panic attack and fears he is going to die can be helped with the following approach used in cognitive-behavioral therapy. The therapist asks him to spin in a circle until he becomes dizzy. When he becomes alarmed and starts thinking, "I'm going to die," he learns to replace that thought with a more appropriate one, such as "It's just a little dizzinessI can handle it."

HOW TO GET HELP FOR ANXIETY DISORDERS
If you, or someone you know, has symptoms of anxiety, a airing to the homey physician is usually the blessing station to start. A physician can help you determine if the symptoms are due to an anxiety disorder, some other medical condition, or both. Most often, the next step to getting treatment for an anxiety disorder is referral to a mental health professional.

Among the professionals who can assistance are psychiatrists, psychologists, cheer workers, and counselors. However, it's boon to glad eye for a professional who has specialized training in cognitive-behavioral or behavioral therapy and who is open to the use of medications, should they be needed.

Psychologists, cocktails workers, and counselors sometimes energy closely with a psychiatrist or weird
 physician, who will prescribe medications when they are required. For some people, group therapy or self-help groups are a helpful part of treatment. Many people do best with a combination of these therapies.

When you're looking for a health care professional, it's essential to strike about what kinds of therapy he or damsel generally uses or whether medications are available. It's important that you feel comfortable with the therapy. If this is not the case, seek help elsewhere. However, if you've been taking medication, it's important not to quit certain drugs abruptly, but to taper them off under the supervision of your physician. Be sure to ask your physician about how to stop a medication.

Remember, though, that when you bonanza a health albatross know stuff you're light with, the two of you are working as a team. Together you will be able to develop a plan to treat your anxiety disorder that may involve medications, behavioral therapy, or cognitive-behavioral therapy, as appropriate. Treatments for anxiety disorders, however, may not start working instantly. Your doctor or therapist may ask you to follow a specific treatment plan for several weeks to determine whether it's working.

NIMH continues its explore for enhanced and improved treatments for bodies with anxiety disorders. The Institute supports a sizeable and multifaceted research program on anxiety disorders--their causes, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. This research involves studies of anxiety disorders in human subjects and investigations of the biological basis for anxiety and related phenomena in animals. It is part of a massive effort to overcome the major mental disorders, an effort that is taking place during the 1990s, which Congress has designated the Decade of the Brain.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Anxiety Disorders Association of America
11900 Parklawn Drive
Suite 100
Rockville, MD 20852-2624
(301) 231-9350

Freedom from Fear
308 Seaview Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10305
(718) 351-1717
http://www.freedomfromfear.org

National Anxiety Foundation
3135 Custer Drive
Lexington, KY 40517-4001
(606) 272-7166

Obsessive Compulsive (OC) Foundation, Inc.
337 Notch Hill Rd Suites 3 & 4
North Branford, CT 06471
(203) 315- 2190

American Psychiatric Association
1400 K Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 682-6220

American Psychological Association
750 First Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20002-4242
(202) 336-5500

Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy
305 7th Avenue
New York, NY 10001
(212) 647-1890

NAMI
Colonial Place Three
2107 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300
Arlington, VA 22201-3042
(800) 950-NAMI (-6264)

National Institute of Mental Health Toll-free Information Services:
Depression: 1-800-421-4211
Anxiety Disorders: 1-88-88-ANXIETY

National Mental Health Association
1021 Prince Street Alexandria, VA
22314-2971
(703) 684-7722

National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help Clearinghouse
1211 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(800) 553-4539

Phobics Anonymous
P.O. Box 1180
Palm Springs, CA 92263
(619) 322-COPE (-2673)

Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
60 Revere Drive, Suite 500
Northbrook, IL 60062
(708) 480-9080