Tips On How To Relieve Anxiety
Ways of how to relieve anxiety involve addressing the physical and mental symptoms. Everyone experiences anxiety at some point in life. Often, there are physical symptoms such as headache, excessive perspiration, palpitations, chest tightness, gastric upset, and restlessness. These physical symptoms are accompanied by a mental awareness of being frightened or nervous. When anxiety affects normal functioning for a certain period of time, it becomes considered as a mental disorder.
Biologically, anxiety is caused by an imbalance of three major neurotransmitters, mainly norepinephrine or adrenaline, serotonin, and GABA (gamma- aminobutyric acid). Chronic symptoms of anxiety like panic attacks, startle, hyperarousability, and insomnia are secondary to elevated norepinephrine. Serotonin is also increased in acute anxiety. The receptors of GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter, are believed to be abnormally functioning in anxious persons.
Relief of Anxiety through Medications
Biologically, the most important way of how to relieve anxiety is the use of anxiolytics. The most popular rapid-onset anxiolytics are called benzodiazepines (BZDs). BZDs include Alprazolam (Xanax), Clonazepam (Klonopin), Diazepam (Valium), Lorazepam (Ativan), and Midazolam (Versed). Although these drugs are very effective for acute episodes of anxiety, such as panic attacks, they are not recommended for prolonged use because a person may become benzodiazepine-dependent. Development of substance dependence on benzodiazepines is also a major reason why these anti-anxiety medications need a prescription.
Other drugs prescribed for relief of anxiety include Paroxetine (Paxil, Seroxat), Escitalopram (Lexapro), Fluoxetine (Prozac), and Sertraline (Zoloft). Unlike BZDs, these drugs do not cause significant substance dependence and are therefore preferred for long-term pharmacologic control of anxiety. For fast control of anxiety, beta-blockers can be used off-label. Beta-blockers used to relieve anxiety symptoms include Propanolol (Inderal) and Metoprolol (Lopressor).
How to Relieve Anxiety through Psychotherapy
Aside from neurotransmitter imbalances, experts believe that anxiety is rooted in a person’s mental or behavioral distortions of reality. This is the reason why anxious patients usually experience a significant reduction of anxiety when they talk about their difficulties with a concerned and sympathetic person. Psychotherapy allows psychiatrists to discover things that provoke a person’s anxiety. Consequently, they can educate an anxious person on how to change these things to reduce anxiety.
In fact, people who are psychologically motivated to understand the reasons for their anxiety can have psychotherapy as the mainstay of treatment. The goal of psychotherapy is to increase a person’s tolerance to anxiety rather than to totally eliminate it. This approach involves a systematic search for a person’s underlying fears and letting the person face them.
Other ways of relieving anxiety
An individual who wants to manage anxiety by himself or herself may also try other ways of how to relieve anxiety. These include stress management and observance of a healthy lifestyle. One practical way of doing both is regular exercise. Avoidance of caffeinated beverages is also effective, since caffeine simulates and even augments the symptoms of anxiety. People who want to learn how to relieve anxiety can also benefit from taking yoga or meditation lessons.
While one can choose one form of anxiety treatment over another, it has been proven in studies that the most effective anxiety treatment combines biological therapy, psychotherapy, and supportive approaches. Treatment of anxiety may take a significant time, which is why it is important for a patient, his or her family and friends, and a psychiatrist to form a therapeutic alliance.