What Anxiety Treatments Are There?

Anxiety disorders are life-altering issues. Anxiety is a condition that creates real, measurable changes to your brain, and alters the way you think, feel, and behave.

That’s why effective treatment options are necessary. Like other mental health conditions, there needs to be some type of intervention - you cannot cure anxiety disorders by wishing them away or waiting them out. You cannot “dabble” or “experiment” with a treatment and then immediately give up on it. You cannot assume that it’s possible to just naturally overcome it. Anxiety changes you. Changing back is hard.

你需要一些有效的东西，一些已经被证明能产生结果的东西。

有几个可用的治疗方案those suffering from anxiety. Some work much better than others. In this article, we’re going to break down the treatments for anxiety into four main types:

Psychotherapy
Pharmacological Treatment (Medication)
Complementary Treatment (Natural/Alternative Treatment)
Lifestyle Changes

这些治疗焦虑的方法并不是相互排斥的。理想情况下，为了快速而稳定的复苏，最好是探索这些选择的一些组合，而不是将自己局限于单一的选择。单靠药物治疗不太可能治愈焦虑症，如果你不配合有效的生活方式改变，即使是治疗也可能无法为你提供所需的全面支持。

There’s also no magic answer for curing an anxiety disorder. It takes years to form. It can take a long time and a lot of setbacks before you will be able to eliminate it.

但基于“增大化现实”技术e very effective treatments - everyone, no matter how severe the anxiety is, can fight it. All you need is commitment, an open mind, and the willingness to keep trying.

About This Anxiety Treatment Guide

下面,你会发现许多可用的选项or your anxiety disorder. But it should be noted that the list is not an endorsement. Anxiety is not that simple. What works for one person may not work for another. There are different types of anxiety, different severities of anxiety, different types of personalities, and more. And as always, consult your doctor regarding the selection of a suitable treatment combination for your anxiety disorder after you’ve been diagnosed with one.

即使在精神卫生界，对什么有效，什么无效也存在很大的分歧。我们的角色总是简单地告诉你如何为自己做出最好的选择。

Note: Choosing From the Researched and the Unresearched

One of the reasons that curing an anxiety disorder is a challenge is that there are always setbacks. This is especially true if you’re using alternative treatments, or experimenting with a treatment you do not believe in. Far too many people give up on treating their anxiety simply because one treatment doesn’t work.

This is a mistake.

It’s important to remember that some treatments are more effective than others. There is no harm in utilizing a less traditional treatment, but remember that many of the more popular and common treatments have years of research behind them.

If you do decide to try a less conventional treatment and it doesn’t work, don’t forget that many of the conventional treatments are still effective and available to you. If you try a well researched treatment and it STILL doesn’t work, there is no reason to give up. Treating anxiety isn’t always a simple task. It often requires a lot of different strategies.

Remember – there is no magic cure, and anyone or anything that tells you that taking it can cure your anxiety overnight is lying to you. Instead, think of all of these anxiety treatments as experiments, and even if you’re finding some anxiety relief, don’t give up on looking for even more avenues from which to cure your anxiety permanently.

It can be cured. You just have to find the right solution.

Psychological Treatments for Anxiety Disorders

No discussion of anxiety treatments can start without exploring counseling/psychotherapy. Most people with anxiety hate the idea of going to a therapist. But therapy often works. Several of them – although admittedly not all of them – have been well-researched, and have been found to effectively cure or help manage anxiety in the long term.

即使你选择了一种药物，或者改变了生活方式，或者别的什么，你也不应该低估心理治疗的威力，尤其是如果你以前没有尝试过的话。一定要找到适合你的治疗师。

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Anxiety

CBT是psychologi之王cal treatments. It utilizes behavioral research and cognitive functioning to challenge assumptions and thoughts and alter behaviors in a way that often provides results.

Cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety has many benefits that make it a smart choice for those that want to consider a treatment, including:

研究-CBT已被彻底研究，并被发现是非常有效的。很少有其他治疗方法能像CBT那样得到积极的研究。万博max手机
Goal-oriented – Cognitive behavioral therapy is goal-oriented, which means that you’re looking to achieve some type of goal. This differs from some forms of therapy, which involve more talking about your past and self-exploration.
Actionable – CBT is also actionable. It gives you techniques that you can take home with you – something that is not always possible with other therapies.
关注当下——认知行为疗法几乎完全关注当下。虽然过去仍然被认为是重要的，目标是看看你现在能做些什么来改善你的焦虑。
Brief – You don’t need to undergo cognitive behavioral therapy for a long time unless you want to. Most CBT is completed within 6 to 20 sessions, although some therapists still recommend meeting once in a while to talk about setbacks.

There is more than one type of CBT, but the techniques have a similar focus. By addressing the causal relationships between your thoughts and your anxiety/behaviors, cognitive behavioral therapy seeks to sever the thoughts and behaviors that lead to anxiety and provide you with tools to relieve your troubling emotional reactions.

Psychoanalysis for Anxiety

Another form of psychotherapy is known as “psychodynamic” therapy or “psychoanalysis.” From a psychodynamic perspective, this form of therapy is a way of analyzing anxiety by looking at the history of the individual.

While CBT often focuses on the present (although understanding the past does play a role), psychoanalysis focuses almost exclusively on the past, believing that most disorders are the result of problems with early childhood, and the relationships a person has with their mother/father.

心理动力学理论,其中最著名的was Sigmund Freud, believed that conflicts within the conscious and the subconscious, as well as defense mechanisms and familiar relationships all create anxiety disorders, and by relating to the therapist and bringing this issues to the surface, the individual will free themselves of their burdens, and ultimately stop experiencing anxiety.

Like CBT, there are several types of psychoanalysis, many of which were founded by students of Freud. Psychoanalysis has lost favor in the psychological world, because studies have shown only a modest improvement in psychological symptoms when compared to placebo - below that of CBT - but it still remains an influential tool in psychological thinking, and many people continue to find it beneficial.

Counseling for Anxiety

Counseling and therapy are sometimes used interchangeably. There are counselors that use CBT, counselors that use psychodynamic therapy, and counselors that use a variety of the other treatment options we’ll discuss below. In most states, there is no difference between a counselor and a therapist, and no difference between counseling and therapy.

But we wanted to give counseling its own section, because there are ways that people “counsel” that do not fit into these boxes. Some therapists and counselors provide a service that simply involves talking. You sit there, with the counselor, and you talk about your problems, what has been bothering you, and give someone an opportunity to ask you questions and provide you with feedback.

This type of anxiety treatment has many advantages:

You have someone who will listen to your problems without judgment.
You have someone who can provide you with guidance and feedback.
You have someone who will keep you accountable for the promises you make to yourself.

It helps to have someone there that can listen to you, especially if you don’t feel like you’ve been able to find that support in your life. Counseling, at least in this form, is something worth considering.

Systemic Therapy for Anxiety

Systemic therapy is less well known but has been growing in popularity over the last several decades. Unlike other forms of therapy that look at the individual on a personal level, systemic therapy believes that anxiety disorders are the result of a system of relationships that a person has with others.

It’s a present-focused therapy, unlike psychodynamic, and tries to identify problems in your relationship patterns with friends, family, and even your workplace. It attempts to locate relationships that contribute to tension and manage your anxiety by changing the way you relate to others.

Anxiety has many different causes, so it’s likely that Systemic therapy works better for some than others, and research into this method of therapy is ongoing, but there is reason to believe that it may be effective - especially if that anxiety is affecting you socially or caused by social cues.

眼动脱敏和再加工（EMDR）

EMDR is an exploratory therapy with some controversy. It’s not used for every type of anxiety either. EMDR is unlikely to be beneficial for generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder, but may be beneficial as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or anxiety that results from some type of trauma. It may also be useful for phobias, although research into that area is ongoing.

EMDR is based on the theory that anxiety symptoms surface when traumatic experiences are inadequately stored in the brain, causing poorly processed psychological coping mechanisms. It focuses on the idea that if these memories are stored correctly, anxiety will be eliminated or reduced. Behaviors in EMDR therapy include moving the eyes from side to side, tapping on the body, and more.

体细胞经历

Somatic experiencing is another interesting form of psychotherapy developed by Dr. Peter Levine. He likened many of the responses in those that have experienced trauma to the reactions by animals in the wild in life-threatening situations.

This type of therapy method seeks to relieve some of the sensations of physical tension that are frozen in the body for years after trauma. This approach tries to reduce PTSD by helping patients become more aware of their bodies and the sensations that are perceived through them.

焦虑催眠疗法

Hypnotherapy is an “alternative therapy”that is highly controversial. But there are many therapist and patients that swear by it. Hypnotherapy is, as the name implies, a form of hypnosis. But unlike the parlor-trick hypnosis that people see on TV, this one takes place in a controlled setting and is designed to relax you and help make you more amenable to treatments.

Like most alternative treatments, research对催眠疗法不太好. It generally sees it as nothing more than a placebo. But anecdotally, many people swear by the techniques, and it is considered somewhat hard to research on. If you’re going to consider hypnotherapy, do so cautiously and with the full support of your doctor/therapist.

Other Forms of Anxiety therapy

The above list are the most common forms of therapy for anxiety. In terms of researched therapies, some others you may want to consider include:

Family and Marital Therapy
Gestalt Therapy
Play Therapy (for children)
Goal Oriented Therapy
辩证行为疗法（CBT形式）

这些形式的谈话疗法并不总是用来治疗焦虑症，也不是所有的研究都很好。辩证行为疗法是高度重视，但不经常使用的焦虑减轻技术。如果焦虑是由熟悉的问题引起的，家庭和婚姻治疗是有用的，但可能无助于个人的焦虑。游戏治疗对儿童是有用的，列表中的其他治疗方法也很有趣，但没有广泛应用。

还有其他形式的谈话疗法也很流行。其中一些有经验证据，但大多数是实验性的（未经研究）和“替代性的”（不被认为是有效的，但由替代医学活动家推动）。它们包括：

Humanistic Therapy
Existential Therapy
Dance Therapy
Pastoral Counseling
Art Therapy
Biofeedback

Do your research before choosing any therapeutic technique and discuss in detail with your doctor. Many of these have not been fully proven in terms of their effectiveness (although CBT, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and Marital Therapy have) while others are more experimental, and some may even be pseudoscience. So, it is important to be vigilant.

Decide which ones you’re comfortable trying and never be discouraged if they don’t work as you expected. Not every type of therapy works for everyone, and sometimes all you need is a change.

Pharmacological Treatments for Anxiety Disorders (Anxiety Drug Treatments)

Most doctors, psychologists, and researchers now agree that no one should depend solely on pharmacological/medicinal treatments for anxiety. There are several reasons for this.

First, many drugs have side effects that make it unhealthy to take them for the rest of your life.

Second, they don’t teach coping strategies, and they can actually make it harder to cope in the future as you forget your original coping ability and depend too much on the medications.

然而，这并不是说药物本身就是有害的。有些是非常有效的短期焦虑缓解，以及那些需要一些东西来帮助他们度过一个非常困难的时期。但不管你是否决定服用任何药物，确保你与其他类型的行为治疗合作，如谈话治疗或其他选择。否则，药物焦虑治疗可能会使你在未来更难减轻焦虑。

下面是用于治疗焦虑症的常用焦虑药物的图表：

Anxiety drug treatments generally fall into the following categories:

Serotonin Selective Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)
5-羟色胺-去甲肾上腺素再摄取抑制剂（SNRIs）
Tricyclic Antidepressants (TCAs)
Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs)
Atypical Antidepressants
Benzodiazepines
Beta Blockers
Other (Drugs That Do Not Fit Into the Above Categories)

For more information about what these anxiety treatments are, you canreview our anxiety drugs pagefor some background.

Anxiety medication can be useful. If your anxiety is severe, they can provide some relief that helps your life feel at least a little more back to normal. But they are not perfect:

它们并不能治愈你的焦虑（当你停止服药时，你的焦虑可能又回来了）。
They have side effects that can alter how you feel.
They may lead to some psychological dependency, as you forget how to cope without the drugs.

So if you are considering anti-anxiety drugs, which can be a perfectly reasonable choice, you should discuss these with your doctor and also make sure that you’re considering other treatments to help you learn long term coping strategies. That way you do not have to take any medications forever.

For more information about medication anxiety treatments, feel free and review the following:

Complementary Anxiety Treatment Techniques

Complementary treatments are anxiety treatments that can be used in addition to therapy, or whatever other type of treatment option you decide to use. In a way, they’re designed to simply help you manage your personal anxiety. You can do these without therapy if you like, and in some cases, they may help you find relief. Or you can partner them with some other anxiety reduction option.

这些补充技术的例子包括：

放松技巧/策略很难放松与焦虑。但基于“增大化现实”技术e several strategies that you can implement to calm your mind and body, at least slightly. Some examples of these include deep breathing, visualization, progressive muscle relaxation (great for muscle tension), meditation, and many others. These aren’t going to cure anxiety on their own, and they can be tough to master, but once you’ve gotten used to them they can reduce your anxiety in the moment, and make it easier to calm yourself during anxiety attacks.
Exercise专家们总是从锻炼对健康有益的角度来谈论锻炼。但研究清楚地表明，经常参加体育锻炼不仅能促进你的身体健康，还能改善你的心理健康。事实上，许多研究都将不活动与更高程度的焦虑联系起来。运动可以燃烧应激激素，增加内啡肽的分泌，放松肌肉和焦虑症状，等等。这是你能为你的压力做的最有益的事情之一。
Dietary ChangesSimilarly, there is evidence that some components of the modern diet, such as refined sugars, may contribute to your anxiety symptoms. Removing fried foods, refined sugars, and excess caffeine from your diet may all be useful for combating anxiety.

These are essentially effective lifestyle changes that can assist you in controlling your anxiety. Always consider some types of lifestyle changes in order to make life more manageable.

有关更多信息，请考虑以下链接：

Alternative, Placebo, and Faith-based Treatments

Before we begin this section, it is important to note that alternative medicine is, in many cases, not considered medicine. Far too many treatments out there are ineffective and in some cases, harmful.

The placebo effect is the idea that if the subconscious believes something will work, it actually works. Anxiety treatments are especially prone to placebo because if you subconsciously believe your anxiety will go away, your brain then receives more confidence that tells it that your anxiety is going away.

It is important to reiterate the term “subconscious.” You may think that you don’t believe it will work. But your mind, deep down, is looking for proof it DOES work. So even if you are skeptical, you can still be affected by the placebo effect.

An example of this is homeopathic medicine. We wrote a critical review of this type of remedy on this website, andwe encourage you to read it. It is, almost literally, just tap water.

But if you search for “Homeopathic Anxiety Treatment” on Amazon, you will find hundreds of products with thousands of positive reviews. It’s easy to see why someone would believe homeopathic medicine works, especially when there are so many people who swear it worked for them.

There are even “homeopathic anxiety remedies for dogs” on Amazon that have thousands of positive reviews.

替代和天然药物是诱人的。你可以用药物或补充剂来治疗你的焦虑而不产生副作用，这意味着很多人会首先寻求这种治疗。有些甚至会影响你的焦虑。例如，卡瓦确实有一些研究表明它是有效的。有一些证据表明镁也可以改善焦虑。

But at the same time, “natural cures” are, very often, just placebo. They are marketed as being “side-effect free” specifically because they do not have any effect on your body.

So, it makes sense to try natural medicine, natural supplements, and alternative treatments. But do so carefully, and make sure you have discussed them with your doctor. Some work, but many do not. Do your research before trying any one of them.

The following are the types of alternative anxiety treatments that you may consider:

营养补充剂There are several vitamins and nutritional supplements that may be valuable for those dealing with anxiety. Some research has suggested that vitamin/mineral imbalances, such as magnesium deficiency, may contribute to or even cause anxiety symptoms, so there is evidence to suggest that improving your nutritional intake may be valuable. Contact your doctor to talk with them about supplements that may be useful.
Herbal SupplementsNever take herbal supplements and anxiety medications at the same time and always talk to your doctor before trying an herbal remedy. But kava, valerian, passionflower - these are all herbs that have been linked to treating anxiety, some of which may mimic the effects of modern medicines.
Behavioral StrategiesIn addition to medications, there are some alternative treatments that are non-medication based. For example, acupuncture, prayer, and aromatherapy are all considered alternative treatments, because there is either little evidence that they work (acupuncture) or limited research altogether (prayer).

For more information, consider the following links:

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Vitamin D
Valerian Root
SAM-e
红景天
Passion Flower
茶胺酸
Acupuncture
卡瓦

Which Anxiety Treatment is Best?

There is no one size fits all treatment for anxiety. It’s a complex condition with numerous causes. Since there is also more than one type of anxiety, it’s clear that each person needs an individualized plan. Different anxiety disorders also require sometimes very different treatments, and so too does your anxiety severity, personality, and more play a role.

上面的指南可以帮助你做出明智的决定，但是在你决定你要做哪些决定以及为什么要做这些决定之前，还有很多个人的研究要做。

Research comparing different treatments effectively doesn’t come around that often. A study of 101 patients with generalized anxiety disorder were broken into five groups, and each group was treated with over 10 weeks with one of the following treatment options:

Test Group 1) Diazepam
Test Group 2) Placebo (control group)
Test Group 3) Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Test Group 4) Diazepam + CBT
试验组5）安慰剂+CBT

调查结果见下表：

Each block on the chart corresponds to the test groups, with the different hues representing improvement, no change, or worsening of the condition. As you can see, medicine alone was ineffective, but CBT and a combination of CBT and medication were extremely effective.

This is an example of one of the issues that often occurs with anxiety - no one treatment is effective on its own, and at the very least you’ll need to make sure that you’re choosing a therapy that is effective for you, and one that you’re passionate about using. Your own interest in utilizing the therapy will have an effect on the ability for the treatment to work.

Anxiety disorders are debilitating, but there are effective anxiety treatments that can help cure you of your anxiety. All you have to do is be willing to use them and commit to them, and find the ones that work best for you.

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About This Anxiety Treatment Guide

Note: Choosing From the Researched and the Unresearched

Psychological Treatments for Anxiety Disorders