Can Anxiety Be Cured Permanently?
Anxiety is the one of most common mental health concerns in the United States.
Studies suggest that about 30% of adults in the U.S. experience distressing anxiety and about 20% experience severe anxiety.
It is not only adults who struggle with anxiety, rates of teen anxiety appear to be even higher.
Nearly 40% of teen girls and 25% of teen boys report struggling with major anxiety.
Can anxiety be cured permanently?
Read on to find out the answer!
How Is Anxiety Defined?
Anxiety is the fight-or-flight response that all mammals experience.
If you were a zebra in Africa, the anxiety would work to ensure your survival by activating this response when you were being chased by a tiger.
When a physical threat exists, anxiety is your “friend.” The threat registers in the brain.
The amygdala then activates the stress portion of the nervous system and adrenaline is released. This triggers an acute stress response in your body.
The release of adrenaline is responsible for many of the common anxiety symptoms.
Can Anxiety Be Cured Permanently?
The answer is no….
which is unfortunate if you struggle with anxiety or panic.
However, without anxiety, most of us wouldn’t survive all that long!
Anxiety is your ‘friend’ when you quickly step on the brakes when a car cuts you off.
Anxiety is your ‘friend’ when you move your hand off the stove before your brain can even process it.
Anxiety is your ‘friend’ when you perform CPR for a stranger that isn’t breathing.
What can you do when you are dealing with anxiety and aren’t in physically threatened?
Luckily, there are many things you can do to significantly reduce and manage anxiety…
Proven Anxiety Treatments
Cognitive behavioral therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based therapy that has been shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety.
In CBT, you learn to change your patterns of thoughts that keep you anxious.
When your thoughts aren’t anxiety-provoking, your body doesn’t enter into the flight-or-fight response.
Exposure therapy
Exposure therapy is one of the most time-tested and evidence-based therapies to treat anxiety.
Unfortunately, the therapy doesn’t feel good at the start… far from it.
In exposure therapy, you learn- with the help of a therapist- to face your biggest fears.
You expose yourself to the terrifying event…
So, let’s say you are deathly afraid of snakes.
With exposure therapy, you hang out in a room with a snake.
Slowly, the anxiety will diminish because nothing bad is happening.
Your brain begins to create a new image of snakes.
Exposure therapy works quickly, it is extremely effective at reducing the fight-or-flight response… but the initial exposure is extremely uncomfortable.
Medication
Luckily, there are medications that can help decrease the intensity of your anxiety.
There are some medications that you would take daily that are non-addictive.
There are other medications that you take when you are in fight-or-flight and can’t seem to get out of that mode.
However, these medications can be addictive (if taken day after day, month after month).
It’s best not to use medication as the sole treatment for your anxiety.
In part because some of the medications can be addictive.
In part because you don’t learn the skills to handle your anxiety.
The fact of the matter is that anxiety is part of life. Learning how to deal with it is critical for a less anxious life.
Managing anxiety
There are many things you can do when your anxiety starts to overwhelm you. They are simple. They are effective.
AND they can be easily discounted because they are so simple.
Don’t be fooled by their simplicity!
Breathing techniques
If you frequent my blog, you know that I discuss breathing techniques with great frequency. Heck, I have a breathwork tab on my main website page.
Here’s more information about why breathwork is so effective at calming anxiety:
Healthy diet
You may be thinking, “Pa-lease! I’m dying here of anxiety… and you are telling me to eat healthily… that’s stupid.”
Yep, I get it. And I agree. If you are having a panic attack right now, this will not help… not at all.
However, there is ample research that indicates that your brain is influenced by bacteria in your gut… it means that how you eat affects how your brain works.
Don’t believe me?
(I don’t blame you 😉 )
Watch this:
Reduce caffeine
This one is probably a no-brainer. Caffeine makes you jittery because it is anxiogenic (a fancy word for something that can cause anxiety).
Therefore, you may want to consider stopping or reducing your daily coffee and see if it makes a difference.
Get outdoors
Yep, it may not cure your raging panic attack, but getting outside has been found to be helpful in lowering anxiety.
Being outside actually decreases the part of the nervous system that is in charge of the fight or flight response.
Aerobic exercise
Regular aerobic exercise triggers endorphins.
Endorphins are the yin to adrenaline’s yang. Endorphins are the ‘feel-good’ hormones that signal to your body that you are not in danger.
Yoga and meditation
Focusing the mind on the body rather than focusing the mind on thoughts is extremely effective at decreasing stress and anxiety.
Be warned though, yoga and meditation are practices. This means the ability of the mind to focus on the body takes time and practice.
Therapeutic journaling
There’s more information coming out about the effectiveness of journaling.
Unlike yoga and meditation- which are practices- journaling just a couple of times for 15 minutes has been shown to be very effective at reducing anxiety.
Want to learn more about therapeutic journaling?
Go here to check on the protocol.
Can anxiety be cured permanently?
I wish I could answer ‘yes’ to this question if you are dealing with anxiety.
Given that it can’t, there are many things you can actively learn and do to soothe your anxiety.
Hopefully, if you are feeling anxious or depressed, you’re ready to give therapy a go!
Free free to contact me directly if you have questions or to schedule a brief call to see if I might be able to support you as you journey forward.
Jill
Looking for mental health services in Indy?
As a marriage and family therapist, I also offer:
Relationship Counseling
Individual Counseling