Conventional Treatments For GAD
When receiving treatment for General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) there's a lot of different possibilities.
Alternative medicine, lifestyle changes, medication, therapy and more.
But as far as conventional treatment is concerned it boils down to either medication or therapy (and very often both).
A lot of people imagine two things when they consider treatment, does this mean I'm crazy and need to lay on a couch and talk about my childhood? Does this mean I need to pop pills to happy? What is the deal with Meds and therapy anyways? Meds- A lot of people think taking medication for GAD means you're crazy, and that's just not true.
Taking steps to make your life better is very sane.
Usually when patients diagnosed with GAD or other anxiety related disorders are prescribed a type of anti-depressant the most common being the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI).
Prozac, Lexapro, Paxil, Zoloft are alll classified as SSRI's.
As with many drugs, there are all types of potential side affects, which are usually only present during the first three, four weeks of taking the medicine.
Although the possible sexual side affects may appear as late as eight weeks after starting the drugs.
Therapy- When patients enters therapy for GAD, they usually will start cognitive behavioral therapy.
The primary goal of this therapy is to get the patient to fully understand how behavior relates to thoughts and feelings and how to change the negative nature of feelings that lead to anxiety to positive healthy thoughts and feelings.
Therapists will use a multitude of strategies to achieve this.
An example of this is exposing the patient to limited forms of the situation that causes the feelings to occur.
Usually when patients are prescribed treatment it's usually a mix of both medication and therapy.
It should be noted that patients who only followed Medication didn't receive as long reaching success rates after completing the medications as those who only did therapy.
Alternative medicine, lifestyle changes, medication, therapy and more.
But as far as conventional treatment is concerned it boils down to either medication or therapy (and very often both).
A lot of people imagine two things when they consider treatment, does this mean I'm crazy and need to lay on a couch and talk about my childhood? Does this mean I need to pop pills to happy? What is the deal with Meds and therapy anyways? Meds- A lot of people think taking medication for GAD means you're crazy, and that's just not true.
Taking steps to make your life better is very sane.
Usually when patients diagnosed with GAD or other anxiety related disorders are prescribed a type of anti-depressant the most common being the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI).
Prozac, Lexapro, Paxil, Zoloft are alll classified as SSRI's.
As with many drugs, there are all types of potential side affects, which are usually only present during the first three, four weeks of taking the medicine.
Although the possible sexual side affects may appear as late as eight weeks after starting the drugs.
Therapy- When patients enters therapy for GAD, they usually will start cognitive behavioral therapy.
The primary goal of this therapy is to get the patient to fully understand how behavior relates to thoughts and feelings and how to change the negative nature of feelings that lead to anxiety to positive healthy thoughts and feelings.
Therapists will use a multitude of strategies to achieve this.
An example of this is exposing the patient to limited forms of the situation that causes the feelings to occur.
Usually when patients are prescribed treatment it's usually a mix of both medication and therapy.
It should be noted that patients who only followed Medication didn't receive as long reaching success rates after completing the medications as those who only did therapy.
Source...