Anxiety is a natural process of the human being, and her presence encourages us to take action. However, the problem is in imbalance, when anxiety is no longer something beneficial to prevent us from living better. Given the importance of this subject, let's find out how to fight anxiety without the use of medication.
It is not so simple to diagnose and consequently treat anxiety disorders.
The individual suffering from this problem may find that the manifestations of the body and mind are normal and that they will pass with time. However, the tendency is for them to get worse if the help of an expert is not called soon.
The good news is that nowadays, there are several therapies with high levels of efficiency to treat anxiety disorders without the person having to use medication.
As a matter of fact, medicines have been shown to be less competent compared to therapies, as we will see later.
Therefore, if you are interested in this subject, keep reading until the end to understand more about anxiety disorders and to know 5 therapies to fight anxiety without medication.
Read more: How to lose weight.
Anxiety Disorders
It may take a while for the person to suspect an anxiety disorder, precisely because these days, there are continuous moments of stress, worries, and fears.
Thus, at its most extreme, an anxiety disorder can present symptoms such as:
* Continuous feeling that something really bad is going to happen at any time;
* Lack of control over thoughts, which surface repeatedly throughout the day;
* Feeling of dread after a difficult situation;
* The exaggerated fear of being publicly exposed or humiliated;
* Extreme fear of any particular situation or object;
* Exaggerated worry, tension, or fears about family, money, home, etc. The person cannot relax and is always alert, releasing a lot of stimulating hormones such as adrenaline.
When we look at the above symptoms in isolation, it is easy to conclude that they are transient and related to a particular situation. However, it is necessary to be aware of the frequencies of such manifestations as well as their intensity.
These symptoms are psychological and over time they tend to manifest themselves more aggressively, such as panic attacks, phobias, OCD – obsessive-compulsive disorder, and others.
There are several ways to treat anxiety disorders and medication is commonly used, in the form of tranquilizers or antidepressants.
However, non-drug therapies have been shown to be even more effective in combating anxiety.
Read more: What are the impacts of thoughts on health?
5 Therapies To Fight Anxiety Without Medications
In order to fight anxiety without using the medication, the individual can use different treatments.
Therefore, we have separated 5 therapies from which I consider the most relevant. Look:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Studies show a high level of effectiveness of CBT in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Ninety percent of panic and phobia conditions are minimized or eliminated with cognitive behavioral therapy. This is a beginning, middle, and end therapy and lasts 4 to 8 weeks on average, depending on the individual's situation. It must be conducted by a specialized professional.
Transcranial stimulation:
This refers to a procedure that stimulates the brain through magnetic impulses that change the way neurons communicate with each other, helping to reduce or deactivate anxiety, hyper-activating other areas of the brain resulting in a balance.
Mindfulness training:
It is a type of training that directs attention to the present moment through meditation practices. It is worth noting that the training is not related to religions or philosophies, but rather focuses on what happens with meditative practices.
With mindfulness training, one seeks to connect the brain with the present moment, without clinging to the past or “preoccupying” with the future. The goal is not to clear the mind of thoughts, but to bring them into the now.
Herbal Medicines:
There are few studies confirming the effectiveness of herbal medicines in combating anxiety. However, some of them are more effective for individuals who do not want to use drugs. The most interesting herbal medicines, in this case, are cava, passionflower, Rhodiola Rosea, valerian, and ginkgo Biloba.
But beware! Do not use these products without talking to your doctor, as some of them may negatively interact with other medications you are already taking.
Relaxation techniques:
Some practices such as yoga and tai chi have shown benefits in combating anxiety, they promote a sense of well-being, focus on the present moment, and expansion of the brain's cognitive capacity.
It is noteworthy that each person must be evaluated in their individuality by the doctor to arrive at an interesting treatment.
Read more: 6 Morning habits for weight loss
What treatments are most effective?
If you have reached this point in your reading, you can see that the use of medication to treat anxiety is only one way to fight it.
In addition, there are studies that prove the effectiveness of therapies in relation to medications comparing percentage improvement versus percentage relapse.
Therefore, CBT - cognitive behavioral therapy is the most efficient, having an improvement rate of 80 to 90% in patients who opted for it. Its relapse rate is only 15 to 20%.
If we compare it with the relapse rate of tranquilizers, which is 90%, and of antidepressants, which is 35%, there is a great advantage in adopting CBT.
Mindfulness training is also effective in combating anxiety, as is the case with CBT.
the body manifests:
Having knowledge is having power.
Once you know that you can opt for effective therapies to treat anxiety, you can seek to understand the benefits and their applicability, talking more to your doctor about the matter.
Just as the body manifests itself regarding the onset of anxiety, it will show signs of improvement as the treatment progresses, increasing the quality of life.
