Anxiety is a real disease

[chrisz]

I have read so many posts that seem to indicate that most everybody
can cure their own anxiety/depression/OCD/etc. by thought processes
alone. And this may be the case in some instances. But many people
simply have a chemical imbalance in their brain that CANNOT be brought
under control by just "changing the way you think".

So don't be mislead by the folks posting here that what they say is fact.
Anxiety disease comes in so many flavors that the doctors aren't sure
exactly whats going on with YOU !

Don't feel bad if you have to take medications for life. I do. Over 30 years now. Without these medications I would be dead by now. Anxiety
equals stress and we all know that stress can be very bad on you and
put you in an early grave.

If you need an "addictive" medication to help you live a normal life,
don't worry about it. Most people who take Benzos for anxiety do
not crave and seek it out as the word addiction may imply. The may
be physically dependent on it, but not psychologically addicted.

Please read this article on neurotransmitters and it may open your eyes.


http://www.enotalone.com/article/4114.html


Chrisz

[atomic811]

The "chemical imbalance" theory is just that a theory. They have no proof that it is a chemical imbalance. I am not saying it is not, just that there is no real proof. The brain scans done in the past showed that many people had very low serotonin, yet were not depressed or nervous.

Pills work yes. But then if you are nervous so does having beer. In the past Sigmund Freud gave cocaine to his depressed patients and they too were not depressed when using it.

The holes in this theory are many. Such as you are told if you are nervous that you have low serotonin and given an SSRI drug. This does not actually raise the serotonin levels, but traps it between the synapses of the brain to prevent reuptake. (In theory anyway because they do not really know how these pills work). Then at the same time you might also be given a drug like xanax to help with anxiety. Xanax and pills in this family do not raise serotonin in fact they raise GABA and are a serotonin antagonist which will lower serotonin.

In a study it was found people on Zoloft compare to placebo felt better about equally. And exercise out proformed Zoloft.

So do the pills make you feel better, yeah they can, like any drug can. Does it mean you have a chemical imbalance? no one can say, there is no test. You tell a doctor you are sad or nervous and they give you a pill and tell you you are imbalanced. But who can say. What test was run to show you that you were imbalanced?

It is a guessing game and no one really knows. :)

[tmays]

I agree atomic. The way we think and react to things cause our bodies to produce different chemicals so even if an imbalance exists it often is caused by the way we are thinking and reacting or overreacting to things.

[coyote]

I have some great days when I don't take any meds but I know stopping taking Xanax "cold turkey" is not good. So on my best days I take 1/2 mg in the morning and that does me all day. On my not so good days I take as much a 2 mgs but usually I take 1 mg. I want to titrate off the meds but don't really know the best way. Any suggestions?

[jennismortal]

The only possibility left is anxiety.There is one anxiety disorder that exists called somatoform disorder.During this type of neurosis, psycho-emotional difficulties are transformed into symptoms of a somatic real disease. The first step to treating somatoform disorder is accepting that you are not ill from any somatic disease.You can try to ask for a prescription for an anxiolitic drug is diazepam, bromazepam etc.Psychotherapy from a mental health doctor is also very useful for treating somatoform disorder.

[Robbed]

The "chemical imbalance" theory is just that a theory. They have no proof that it is a chemical imbalance. I am not saying it is not, just that there is no real proof. The brain scans done in the past showed that many people had very low serotonin, yet were not depressed or nervous.

The other thing to keep in mind is that, even if positive proof of a chemical imbalance is found, this does NOT establish a cause and effect relationship between a chemical imbalance and depression/anxiety. It is just as likely that low serotonin is an EFFECT of depression/anxiety. Perhaps this is at least part of the reason why drugs that increase serotonin levels (ie SSRIs) may help some people to some degree some of the time, but are hardly the panacea that they were hyped up to be when they first appeared back in the late 80s.

As for the original post, it is unclear whether there are truly some cases of anxiety disorder that cannot be helped by CBT. Maybe there are. But maybe at least a few of the people who can't just had poor therapists (of which there are MANY) or were not properly practicing it on their own. Regardless, I think that the REAL harm comes from the view of the medical community that anxiety disorder is a problem that is 100% biological/genetic in origin 100% of the time, and that EVERYBODY who has any hint of this sort of problem NEEDS to be on long-term medication. This might not be such a bad view if medications provided complete relief without any side effects. But they don't. And to condemn someone who COULD help themselves without meds to a lifetime of incomplete relief and side effects (ranging from annoying to incapacitating) is just plain unethical.

[Iridisis]

To add to what you said...I have come to believe that everyone and every situation is different and should be treated as such. Some sufferers could actually have a biological "brain" problem. Some could have a health problem (like thyroid) that could be controlled. Some may have unresolved trauma, some anxiety may simply be learned behavior. What needs to be done is more "detective" work on the part of the practitioner, to dig deeper to determine the cause before prescribing a treatment.

[Robbed]

To add to what you said...I have come to believe that everyone and every situation is different and should be treated as such. Some sufferers could actually have a biological "brain" problem. Some could have a health problem (like thyroid) that could be controlled. Some may have unresolved trauma, some anxiety may simply be learned behavior. What needs to be done is more "detective" work on the part of the practitioner, to dig deeper to determine the cause before prescribing a treatment.

Perhaps some cases of anxiety are of a purely medical nature. But the vast majority are psychological conditions that are best treated without medication.

[tmays]

The "chemical imbalance" theory is just that a theory. They have no proof that it is a chemical imbalance. I am not saying it is not, just that there is no real proof. The brain scans done in the past showed that many people had very low serotonin, yet were not depressed or nervous.

The other thing to keep in mind is that, even if positive proof of a chemical imbalance is found, this does NOT establish a cause and effect relationship between a chemical imbalance and depression/anxiety. It is just as likely that low serotonin is an EFFECT of depression/anxiety. Perhaps this is at least part of the reason why drugs that increase serotonin levels (ie SSRIs) may help some people to some degree some of the time, but are hardly the panacea that they were hyped up to be when they first appeared back in the late 80s.

As for the original post, it is unclear whether there are truly some cases of anxiety disorder that cannot be helped by CBT. Maybe there are. But maybe at least a few of the people who can't just had poor therapists (of which there are MANY) or were not properly practicing it on their own. Regardless, I think that the REAL harm comes from the view of the medical community that anxiety disorder is a problem that is 100% biological/genetic in origin 100% of the time, and that EVERYBODY who has any hint of this sort of problem NEEDS to be on long-term medication. This might not be such a bad view if medications provided complete relief without any side effects. But they don't. And to condemn someone who COULD help themselves without meds to a lifetime of incomplete relief and side effects (ranging from annoying to incapacitating) is just plain unethical.

Thank you... So nice to see a counter point to what the pharmaceutical industry wants us to believe. A pill for everything is what they want us to believe. Restless leg syndrome, prozac for dogs, give me a break.

[tmays]

To add to what you said...I have come to believe that everyone and every situation is different and should be treated as such. Some sufferers could actually have a biological "brain" problem. Some could have a health problem (like thyroid) that could be controlled. Some may have unresolved trauma, some anxiety may simply be learned behavior. What needs to be done is more "detective" work on the part of the practitioner, to dig deeper to determine the cause before prescribing a treatment.

Perhaps some cases of anxiety are of a purely medical nature. But the vast majority are psychological conditions that are best treated without medication.

Exactly. The problem is too many people want to be treated more than they want to be helped. I was in that conundrum myself for awhile.