Anxiety Panic Attack Symptoms - The Pros And Cons Of Taking Medications

Finding the best word form of treatment in fighting anxiousness terror onslaught symptoms isn't as easy as it seems. It takes some careful consideration, but the truth is, many people simply turn to drugs and pills as the solution in dealing with anxiousness attacks. But, is this your best solution? Here's a expression at some of the professionals and cons.

Pros

1. Fast Acting - Swallowing a pill will give you speedy consequences in dealing with an anxiousness terror attack.

2. Its Simple - Taking a pill is speedy and easy to make every day. Your physician composes you a prescription and you are on your way.

3. It works - Anxiety medicine have shown to be very effectual in controlling terror attacks, at least their frequence anyway. Medicine can assist you loosen up and cut down anxiousness symptoms.

Cons

1. Side personal personal effects - Just like most every drug, there will be side effects involved. Side personal effects for medicines used to handle anxiousness terror onslaught symptoms can run from being very minor to very severe. There are modern times when they can do a individual to not be able to go on taking the medication.

2. Tolerance - As with most every drug, long term usage will do it to be less effectual in fighting terror attacks. You may necessitate to increase the dose or even change to a different word form of medication.

3. Drugs will not heal anxiousness - This is perhaps the greatest con of all. Drugs are great in treating the symptom, but they neglect to acquire to what is causing the problem. They can assist cut down the frequency, but they will not get rid of all anxiousness onslaughts from coming back.

The Verdict

Drugs are good in helping to get by with anxiousness terror onslaught symptoms. They are simple to utilize and work quickly, but they neglect in other of import areas. If you desire to get rid of anxiousness onslaughts from your life forever, you'll necessitate to see other more than natural methods that are available.

How Bad is Your Online Habit?

Communicating with someone is tough if you're shy or not feeling too good. The internet is much easier. You can chat online without worrying about how you look, how your voice sounds or how to maintain eye contact. It isn't threatening. You are anonymous in a chat room, just as you are on MySpace, Facebook and Bebo. Or you can lose yourself in an online game.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that just a few hours on the internet each week can increase a persons experience of depression and loneliness. This seems far-fetched, since the internet is such a sociable place. So are the researchers' conclusions correct?

Initially the researchers found a drop in time spent interacting with family and friends, in direct proportion to the amount of time spent on the internet. That much is intuitively obvious. But relationships built via the internet are typically more shallow than face-to-face relationships, and they do not have the support and reciprocity that is vital for psychological security and happiness. So the result is a decline in the feeling of being connected with other people.

Another study, published in April this year, concludes that Internet addiction is correlated with symptoms of depressive disorders. This begs the question of which comes first: depression or heavy internet use? Is using the internet a coping strategy for depression or an explanation or part explanation for its cause? Some research concludes that heavy internet use is causal. Other studies don't go so far, but still find the same correlation between being online and depression. Of course a person's activities on the internet will explain variations away from the norm. Someone who frequents gambling sites is more susceptible than someone using the internet for research.

If you use the internet a lot, here are some questions to ask yourself:

* when you are offline do you think about getting back online?

* do you often stay online longer than you intended or said you would?

* does the Internet provide relief or help you to escape from your depression?

* does your online habit put strain on a significant relationship, your job or other important area of your life?

* have you lied to your partner, family, therapist or others to conceal the amount of time you spend on the internet?

One researcher describes the hook of an addiction as giving you "feelings and gratifying sensations that you are not able to get in other ways. It may block out sensations of pain, uncertainty or discomfort. It may create powerfully distracting sensations that focus and absorb attention. It may enable a person to forget or feel "okay" about some insurmountable problems. It may provide an artificial, temporary feeling of security or calm, of self-worth or accomplishment, of power and control, or intimacy or belonging."*** It's understandable that people come back for more. They enjoy the benefit that addiction brings, no matter how temporary it is or that the problem worsens in the long-run.

If this describes you then you need to cut your internet hours right back and seek some professional help. Quite seriously. Internet addiction is similar to other addictions with respect to the potential for damage. In the last few years the problem has been labeled "Internet Addiction Disorder", and while many clinicians aren't on board with the term, there is consensus that excessive online activity can be terrible for your mental well-being.

For the Record

In March 2005 the Chinese government opened a clinic for Internet addicts, to treat the effects of long hours on gaming and chat sites. They reported the effects to be anxiety, depression, and lack of sleep. Treatments have included total internet bans, counseling, physical activity, antidepressants, and enforcement of strict, regular sleep times.

What Works For Depression

In a recent report Mind (the National Association of Mental Health) revealed that 93 per cent of GPs in the UK have prescribed antidepressants because of a lack of alternative treatment options. There are many alternatives for depression that work well in addition to or in place of anti-depressants. What were they thinking?

It usually takes a combination of treatments to stay well. A person who is prescribed antidepressants will still need to pursue a healthy lifestyle - things like exercise, adequate sleep, healthy food and minimal negative stress.

A small proportion of people with depression have what is termed melancholic or biological depression. This includes people with bipolar disorder. For them medicine is almost always required to reach or remain in good health, while non-medical treatments are considered to be supplementary. For non-melancholic depression, treatments that use strategies other than medication are common.

Back to the merits of different treatments.

The Centre for Mental Health Research did a survey of the scientific literature available, and ranked treatments according to the depth and quality of evidence supporting them. (The Medicine Net medical dictionary is a good resource if you need to look up one of the terms below.)

Medical treatments:
Antidepressants and electro-convulsive therapy are both ranked highly with strong scientific evidence for their effectiveness.

Psychological treatments:
Cognitive behavioral therapy ranks highest with strong evidence as being very effective. Interpersonal psychotherapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy and bibliotherapy are all on the next tier. They are supported by scientific evidence as being effective, but the evidence is not as strong.

Lifestyle & Alternative Therapies:
Exercise, light therapy and St John's Wort are ranked on the second tier as useful treatments, with good evidence but not as strong as for, say, antidepressants. On the third tier there is a large group of other promising treatments with less evidence in support. It includes acupuncture, alcohol avoidance, massage therapy, relaxation therapy, vitamins and yoga.

The Black Dog Institute took a different approach, surveying what patients rated as the most helpful treatments. The leader of the study Professor Gordon Parker said that patients "do not necessarily share the views of professionals about effective therapies for depression". Yes, patients can be fairly incisive about what is or isn't working!

2,692 individuals took part in the survey. Leaving aside medicines and "talk therapies", people with depression rated exercise as being the most helpful. They considered yoga, meditation, relaxation and massage to be the next most beneficial, while acupuncture and homeopathy followed with moderate ranking scores. The various herbal and Omega 3 preparations were ranked lowest.

So there you have it. The experience of many is that it takes more than drugs to get well. The more aggressively you pursue the things that may work, the more likely you are to maintain good health. Putting it into practice is the hard part!

Resources:
Center for Mental Health Research
Black Dog Institute (news release dated 18/2/07)