Suggest Treatment For Severe Anxiety

Posted on Tue, 21 Jun 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 21 Jun 2016 Answered on

Wed, 13 Jul 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : My 24 year old daughter suffers from anxiety disorder. What non prescriptive treatments would you use?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Chintan Solanki (25 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), yoga and healthy lifestyle

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

Thanks for writing to us.

In general apart form medicines cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is very useful treatment for anxiety disorder.

Yoga and meditation can also help.

To tackle stress follow healthy lifestyle. This includes regular daily exercise (walking or running), hygienic food habits (no junk food, no fatty food, preferably only home-made food with law salt and fat with more fruits and vegetables) and timely scheduled sleep.

Whenever she has severe anxiety ask her to do deep breathing exercise.Inhale for 3 seconds, keep breath in for 3 seconds and exhale for 3 seconds. Ask her to do it for 10-15 minutes. She will feel relax.

Let me know more about her problem.

- Since when is she suffering from anxiety disorder?

- What are the symptoms?

- How is response with prozac?

- Does she have any specific stress in her life?

Hope I have answered your query, I will be happy to help further.
Regards,
Dr.Chintan Solanki.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vaishalee Punj

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Chintan Solanki (1 hour later)

She has suffered all her life......Her anti depressives have "stopped working" She lives and works in a large midwest city.Her job is in an amusement park running rides, it can be a stressful job @ times........What is CBT and how can she recieve it? Thank You so much for your help, I am very worried about her! Distressed Mom

Answered by Dr. Dr. Chintan Solanki (8 hours later)

Brief Answer:
CBT is a type of psychotherpay

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Sorry for delayed response.

CBT is a type of psychotherapy and very useful in most of the anxiety spectrum disorders. It may cure your problem and she can stop medicines in future without discomfort. In CBT psychiatrist/psychologist helps person to identify his/her automatic thoughts and faulty behavior which would ultimately be modified by person with active efforts and help of therapist. It also includes time management, daily sleep, meals and exercise timing. Ask her psychiatrist for the same. Doctor can provide sessions of CBT or he will refer you to concerned therapist available there.

If you can send me her medicines details (drug name, dose and duration she took until now), I can comment about possible options which may help.

Take care.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Chintan Solanki (39 hours later)

Thank You for your reply Dr. Solanki........A storm knocked out my Internet for 48 hours so I haven't been able to get back with you until now. The medication my daughter has been taking is citalapram 20mg/dose.......She is 5ft 2,weighs 95 lbs & has been on it for 2 years. Thank you for all your help

Answered by Dr. Dr. Chintan Solanki (8 hours later)

Brief Answer:
other medicines are there, paroxetine is preferable

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Thanks for information and sorry for delayed response.

There are many other medicines to treat anxiety disorder. Citalopram I guess is not much useful in anxiety problem.

Specific treatment of anxiety disorder includes both medicines and cognitive behavior therapy(CBT).

In mild cases only CBT is sufficient. In moderate to severe cases initially medicines and then CBT is added. And later on medicines stopped gradually.
If medicines alone are used chances of relapse are more after stopping the medicines.

In medicines SSRI group of drugs(fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline, escitalopram) are main stay of the treatment. I prefer paroxetine. Benzodiazepines group of drugs(clonazeapm, lorazepam or etizolam) are used initially for short duration for fast symptomatic relief.

You can ask her doctor about these options change the medications.

Take care.

Note: For further guidance on mental health, Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar