NIMH Information About Anxiety Disorders and Anxiety Symptoms, Page 8
Your questions about anxiety disorders may be answered by this article provided directly by the US National Institute of Mental Health. In addition to the summaries provided in this article, separate pages in this section provide more information on the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and other anxiety disorders.
How to Get Help for Anxiety Disorders
If you, or someone you know, has symptoms of anxiety, a visit to the family physician is usually the best place to start. A physician can help determine whether the symptoms are due to an anxiety disorder, some other medical condition, or both. Frequently, the next step in getting treatment for an anxiety disorder is referral to a mental health professional.
Among the professionals who can help are psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and counselors. However, it’s best to look for a professional who has specialized training in cognitive-behavioral therapy and/or behavioral therapy, as appropriate, and who is open to the use of medications, should they be needed.
As stated earlier, psychologists, social workers, and counselors sometimes work closely with a psychiatrist or other physician, who will prescribe medications when they are required. For some people, group therapy is a helpful part of treatment.
It’s important that you feel comfortable with the therapy that the mental health professional suggests. If this is not the case, seek help elsewhere. However, if you’ve been taking medication, it’s important not to discontinue it abruptly, as stated before. Certain drugs have to be tapered off under the supervision of your physician.
Remember, though, that when you find a health care professional that you’re satisfied with, the two of you are working together as a team. Together you will be able to develop a plan to treat your anxiety disorder that may involve medications, cognitive-behavioral or other talk therapy, or both, as appropriate.
You may be concerned about paying for treatment for an anxiety disorder. If you belong to a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) or have some other kind of health insurance, the costs of your treatment may be fully or partially covered. There are also public mental health centers that charge people according to how much they are able to pay. If you are on public assistance, you may be able to get care through your state Medicaid plan.
Strategies to Make Treatment More Effective
Many people with anxiety disorders benefit from joining a self-help group and sharing their problems and achievements with others. Talking with trusted friends or a trusted member of the clergy can also be very helpful, although not a substitute for mental health care. Participating in an Internet chat room may also be of value in sharing concerns and decreasing a sense of isolation, but any advice received should be viewed with caution.
The family is of great importance in the recovery of a person with an anxiety disorder. Ideally, the family should be supportive without helping to perpetuate the person’s symptoms. If the family tends to trivialize the disorder or demand improvement without treatment, the affected person will suffer. You may wish to show this booklet to your family and enlist their help as educated allies in your fight against your anxiety disorder.
Stress management techniques and meditation may help you to calm yourself and enhance the effects of therapy, although there is as yet no scientific evidence to support the value of these “wellness” approaches to recovery from anxiety disorders. There is preliminary evidence that aerobic exercise may be of value, and it is known that caffeine, illicit drugs, and even some over-the-counter cold medications can aggravate the symptoms of an anxiety disorder. Check with your physician or pharmacist before taking any additional medicines.
For More Information
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Office of Communications
6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 8184, MSC 9663
Bethesda, MD 20892-9663
Phone: 301-443-4513 or 1-866-615-NIMH (6464), toll-free
TTY: 301-443-8431; FAX: 301-443-4279
FAX 4U: 301-443-5158
E-mail: nimhinfo@nih.gov
Web site: http://www.nimh.nih.gov
Anxiety Disorders Association of America
8730 Georgia Ave., Suite 600
Silver Spring, MD 20910
(240) 485-1001
www.adaa.org
Freedom from Fear
308 Seaview Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10305
(718) 351-1717
www.freedomfromfear.com
Obsessive Compulsive (OC) Foundation
337 Notch Hill Road
North Branford, CT 06471
(203) 315-2190
www.ocfoundation.org
American Psychiatric Association
1400 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(888) 357-7924
www.psych.org/index.cfm
American Psychological Association
750 1st Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
Phone: 1-800-374-2721 or (202) 336-5510
www.apa.org
Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy
305 7th Avenue, 16th floor
New York, NY 10001-6008
(212) 647-1890
www.aabt.org
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)
Colonial Place Three
2107 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300
Arlington, VA 22201
Phone: 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or (703) 524-7600
Internet: http://www.nami.org
National Mental Health Association (NMHA)
2001 N. Beauregard Street, 12th Floor
Alexandria, VA 22311
Phone: 1-800-969-6642 or (703) 684-7722
TTY-800-443-5959
Internet: http://www.nmha.org
National Center for PTSD
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
116D VA Medical and Regional Office Center
215 N. Main St.
White River Junction, VT 05009
(802) 296-6300
E-mail: ncptsd@ncptsd.org
Web site: www.ncptsd.org
For Information About Clinical Trials
NIMH Clinical Trials Web Page
www.nimh.nih.gov/studies/index.cfm
Clinical Trials Database
clinicaltrialsfeeds.org
References
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16Stein MB, Hanna C, Koverola C, et al. Structural brain changes in PTSD: does trauma alter neuroanatomy? In: Yehuda R, McFarlane AC, eds. Psychobiology of posttraumatic stress disorder. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 821. New York: The New York Academy of Sciences, 1997.
17Rauch SL, Savage CR. Neuroimaging and neuropsychology of the striatum. Bridging basic science and clinical practice. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 1997; 20(4): 741-68.
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19Hyman SE, Rudorfer MV. Anxiety disorders. In: Dale DC, Federman DD, eds. Scientific American® Medicine. Volume 3. New York: Healtheon/WebMD Corp., 2000, Sect. 13, Subsect. VIII.
Source: NIMH
This brochure is a revision by Mary Lynn Hendrix of an earlier version written by Marilyn Dickey.
Scientific information and/or review for this revision were provided by Steven E. Hyman, M.D., Richard Nakamura, Ph.D., Matthew Rudorfer, M.D., Linda Street, Ph.D., and Elaine Baldwin, all of NIMH, and Una McCann, M.D., now of The Johns Hopkins University. Editorial assistance was provided by Clarissa Wittenberg, Margaret Strock, and Melissa Spearing of NIMH.
