What is the best anxiety-depression medication?
April 25, 2009 by How To Treat Depression
Filed under Anxiety & Bipolar
Can you answer Wangsta’s question about Depression?:
and not because its the most expensive.
and not because its the most expensive.
what is the best for someone who has 85% of the anxiety, and yet the remaining 15% of depression
thanks!
Dr. Wangsta
M.D.
Treatment Resistant Depression
Anxiety, Depression and Rage: How Therapy and Counseling Can Help- From Crystal Lake
April 24, 2009 by How To Treat Depression
Filed under Anxiety & Bipolar
The most obvious dysfunctional behaviors you will be helped to eliminate are panicking at the first sign of trouble, indulging a pessimism that seems to have a life of its own, using irrational stubborn behavior and having a mindset of HAVING to be right!
Some other defense mechanisms to avoid include blaming others, losing your temper, talking more than listening and using mind-altering substances to reduce anxiety.
It will take work and deliberate effort to remove them from your life but if you do not work on changing these behaviors now you will be prolonging your treatment time.
If you would like more rapidly successful therapy, develop a chart to monitor your progress in reducing these behaviors and work it seriously. Counseling and therapy are often associated with a person who is troubled but intelligent and desirous of enhancing his or her quality of life.
The IQs of those entering therapy are sometimes much higher than those who do not. Similarly, counseling for adults can be easier than for teens; the latter have dysfunctional ways of coping of which they are unaware and sometimes their ability to reflect on their emotions is limited or seems overwhelming.
In some serious cases, patients have to take anti-depressant or anti-anxiety medication along with their counseling and psychotherapy. The most popular kind of counseling today is called cognitive-behavioral.
This type of therapy can sometimes achieve positive results in 3 to 6 months. Patients are taught to become aware of their subconscious thoughts that cause painful feelings or behavioral symptoms.
Also, reviewing your familys history of problems can speed things up by helping you to become even more aware of thoughts and behaviors that have been passed down from generation to generation in your family. Some of your resulting insights will be startling.
How about a technique that could help you replace the family symptoms with more constructive behavior? Sound good? Well, cognitive re-structuring will help you with that.
This technique inventories the subconscious thought patterns you received inadvertently from your family that cause your rage, depression and anxiety to rear their ugly heads. The therapist helps you to discover these unhealthy thought patterns and helps you to almost magically transform them so that your rage, anxiety and depression are eliminated.
This counseling technique is also safe, because it is drug-free and when used by a professional counselor, it virtually has no side effects. Writing your thoughts down two or three times a day, then discussing them with your counselor or psychologist can help minimize and re-shape, if not eliminate, these unhealthy thinking patterns and the anxiety that is caused by them.
Also, practicing time-tested relaxation exercises can help if you are having serious anxiety problems, such as panic attacks or irrational fears. It is likely that genes can play a not insignificant role in the development of your vulnerability to episodes of anxiety or depression.
Some researchers believe that there are certain genes that affect a persons likelihood of developing emotional problems. Some believe that the connection is how certain people metabolize various chemicals and hormones that are related to emotional reactivity; rates and efficiency of their metabolism may be impaired in these people, causing more emotional discomfort.
Stress is clearly related to anxiety and is something that cannot be avoided. It is an everyday circumstance and may arise in any given situation.
Though the link between severe stress and heart attack is established, other dysfunctional behaviors have recently been linked to it: chronic rage and anger.
Although the relationship is somewhat hazy, researchers are learning more about it.
One theory is that anger causes the bodys nervous and circulatory systems to prepare to fight danger, causing blood vessels to constrict, blood pressure to increase and the heart to work harder. This might cause cardiac stress which would be sufficient to lead to a heart attack.
Thanks to Mike Shery for contributing this article to our Depression blog:
Some other defense mechanisms to avoid include blaming others, losing your temper, talking more than listening and using mind-altering substances to reduce anxiety.
It will take work and deliberate effort to remove them from your life but if you do not work on changing these behaviors now you will be prolonging your treatment time.
If you would like more rapidly successful therapy, develop a chart to monitor your progress in reducing these behaviors and work it seriously. Counseling and therapy are often associated with a person who is troubled but intelligent and desirous of enhancing his or her quality of life.
The IQs of those entering therapy are sometimes much higher than those who do not. Similarly, counseling for adults can be easier than for teens; the latter have dysfunctional ways of coping of which they are unaware and sometimes their ability to reflect on their emotions is limited or seems overwhelming.
In some serious cases, patients have to take anti-depressant or anti-anxiety medication along with their counseling and psychotherapy. The most popular kind of counseling today is called cognitive-behavioral.
This type of therapy can sometimes achieve positive results in 3 to 6 months. Patients are taught to become aware of their subconscious thoughts that cause painful feelings or behavioral symptoms.
Also, reviewing your familys history of problems can speed things up by helping you to become even more aware of thoughts and behaviors that have been passed down from generation to generation in your family. Some of your resulting insights will be startling.
How about a technique that could help you replace the family symptoms with more constructive behavior? Sound good? Well, cognitive re-structuring will help you with that.
This technique inventories the subconscious thought patterns you received inadvertently from your family that cause your rage, depression and anxiety to rear their ugly heads. The therapist helps you to discover these unhealthy thought patterns and helps you to almost magically transform them so that your rage, anxiety and depression are eliminated.
This counseling technique is also safe, because it is drug-free and when used by a professional counselor, it virtually has no side effects. Writing your thoughts down two or three times a day, then discussing them with your counselor or psychologist can help minimize and re-shape, if not eliminate, these unhealthy thinking patterns and the anxiety that is caused by them.
Also, practicing time-tested relaxation exercises can help if you are having serious anxiety problems, such as panic attacks or irrational fears. It is likely that genes can play a not insignificant role in the development of your vulnerability to episodes of anxiety or depression.
Some researchers believe that there are certain genes that affect a persons likelihood of developing emotional problems. Some believe that the connection is how certain people metabolize various chemicals and hormones that are related to emotional reactivity; rates and efficiency of their metabolism may be impaired in these people, causing more emotional discomfort.
Stress is clearly related to anxiety and is something that cannot be avoided. It is an everyday circumstance and may arise in any given situation.
Though the link between severe stress and heart attack is established, other dysfunctional behaviors have recently been linked to it: chronic rage and anger.
Although the relationship is somewhat hazy, researchers are learning more about it.
One theory is that anger causes the bodys nervous and circulatory systems to prepare to fight danger, causing blood vessels to constrict, blood pressure to increase and the heart to work harder. This might cause cardiac stress which would be sufficient to lead to a heart attack.
Thanks to Mike Shery for contributing this article to our Depression blog:
Dr Shery is in Cary, IL, near Algonquin, Crystal Lake, Marengo and Lake-in-the-Hills. He’s an expert psychologist. Call 1 847 516 0899 and make an appt orlearn more about counseling at: http://www.carypsychology.com
Depression And Anxiety Are Facets Of The Same Illness
April 24, 2009 by How To Treat Depression
Filed under Anxiety & Bipolar
Millions of Americans every year suffer from depression. Millions more suffer from some form of anxiety disorder. Studies have shown that the two disorders coexist more often than not. Between 60 and 70% of all people who suffer from clinical depression also suffer from anxiety.
About half of all people diagnosed with this disorders also suffer from depression. Depression and anxiety overlap so much that increasingly, clinical psychologists and researchers see anxiety and depression as facets of the same illness.
Most people have feelings of sadness at some point in their lives. The loss of a job, death of a loved one, or other disappointments, causes many of the symptoms of depression. Similarly, most people experience the latter at some point in their lives when confronted with stressful situations. These feelings are normal, up to a point.
When feelings of overwhelming sadness or hopelessness, accompanied by fatigue, and changes of appetite and sleep patterns persist for more than a few weeks, the person may be diagnosed with clinical depression. When feelings of anxiety are out of proportion to the stresses being experienced, or a person has panic attacks several times over a period of weeks, they may be suffering from an anxiety disorder. Anxiety and depression are so often intertwined that one must be treated before the other can be dealt with.
Just as there is a lot of overlap between depression and anxiety, there is also a lot of overlap in treatment for the two disorders. Anxiety disorders are often treated with antidepressant medications. Some forms of psychotherapy, especially cognitive and behavioral therapy, have been very successful in treating both conditions.
At times, it may be necessary to treat the depression first. In one form of therapy, called exposure therapy, the patient is exposed to gradually increasing stress factors to help them learn to cope with anxiety. Depression can drain a person of energy and leave them unable to cooperate, so sometimes it must be dealt with first for the anxiety therapy to be effective.
Sometimes, a patient’s depression must be treated before the disorder of the other condition can be dealt with. Other times, it may work the other way around. Anxiety usually presents itself at an earlier age than depression, typically during childhood or adolescence.
In these cases, successful treatment of the latter may prevent depression from developing when the patient reaches adulthood. Depression and anxiety are such frequent fellow travelers that often, successful treatment of one often includes treating the other.
Thanks to MIKE SELVON for contributing this article to our Depression blog:
About half of all people diagnosed with this disorders also suffer from depression. Depression and anxiety overlap so much that increasingly, clinical psychologists and researchers see anxiety and depression as facets of the same illness.
Most people have feelings of sadness at some point in their lives. The loss of a job, death of a loved one, or other disappointments, causes many of the symptoms of depression. Similarly, most people experience the latter at some point in their lives when confronted with stressful situations. These feelings are normal, up to a point.
When feelings of overwhelming sadness or hopelessness, accompanied by fatigue, and changes of appetite and sleep patterns persist for more than a few weeks, the person may be diagnosed with clinical depression. When feelings of anxiety are out of proportion to the stresses being experienced, or a person has panic attacks several times over a period of weeks, they may be suffering from an anxiety disorder. Anxiety and depression are so often intertwined that one must be treated before the other can be dealt with.
Just as there is a lot of overlap between depression and anxiety, there is also a lot of overlap in treatment for the two disorders. Anxiety disorders are often treated with antidepressant medications. Some forms of psychotherapy, especially cognitive and behavioral therapy, have been very successful in treating both conditions.
At times, it may be necessary to treat the depression first. In one form of therapy, called exposure therapy, the patient is exposed to gradually increasing stress factors to help them learn to cope with anxiety. Depression can drain a person of energy and leave them unable to cooperate, so sometimes it must be dealt with first for the anxiety therapy to be effective.
Sometimes, a patient’s depression must be treated before the disorder of the other condition can be dealt with. Other times, it may work the other way around. Anxiety usually presents itself at an earlier age than depression, typically during childhood or adolescence.
In these cases, successful treatment of the latter may prevent depression from developing when the patient reaches adulthood. Depression and anxiety are such frequent fellow travelers that often, successful treatment of one often includes treating the other.
Thanks to MIKE SELVON for contributing this article to our Depression blog:
Mike Selvon’s anxiety portal has some more useful information on depression and anxiety. Visit his web site and leave a comment at his anxiety attack symptom blog.
Stress and Anxiety - Use Hypnotherapy to Overcome Them and Find Peace
April 24, 2009 by How To Treat Depression
Filed under Anxiety & Bipolar
Now more than ever, scientific surveys are attesting the primary role played by stress in triggering or aggravating different physical and emotional afflictions. In the June 6, 1983 issue of Time Magazine, the cover story labeled stress “The Epidemic of the Eighties.” It also said that stress is our leading health problem. Indeed one has to recognize that our world has become a lot more complicated and stressful in the last two decades since that article was written.
Numerous surveys indicate that almost everybody is under the impression of being subject to a lot of stress. Authorities in the field estimate that between 75 and 90 percent of all visits to primary care physicians somehow have to do with stress.
Most people report their stress is primarily due to their job. And stress levels have also grown in children and the elderly population because of several reasons including: Peer pressures that often push people to everything from smoking to alcoholism and drug abuse; the wearing away of religion and family values; increased crime rates; threats to personal safety; and last but not least social isolation and loneliness.
Stress can cause and aggravate conditions such as diabetes, ulcers, low back and neck pain, high blood pressure, strokes and heart attacks. This is due to the ever growing sympathetic nervous system activity along with a high level of cortisol, adrenaline, and other hormones. Chronic stress is often associated with lower immune system resistance. Stress can contribute to anxiety, depression, and its various effects on the body’s organs.
The following definition for “stress” can be found in the American Heritage Dictionary:
“To subject to physical or mental pressure, tension, or strain”
The following is the definition of “tension” from the same dictionary:
“Mental, emotional, or nervous strain”
The following definition is given for “anxiety”:
“A state of uneasiness and apprehension, as about future uncertainties”
And the following is the definition of “depression”:
“The condition of feeling sad or despondent”
The following is the definition of “clinical depression”:
“A psychiatric disorder characterized by an inability to concentrate, insomnia, loss of appetite, anhedonia, feelings of extreme sadness, guilt, helplessness and hopelessness, and thoughts of death.”
One thing is for sure, our mind is the first source of our feelings of stress, anxiety and depression. Put differently, what we think about, and our attitudes and points of view about our experiences create our feelings. That way, if we can learn how to change our thoughts, attitudes, and points of view, we can get rid of our feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression and change them for a more positive state of being.
Since the beginning of time, people have tried to find methods that would allow them to eliminate stress. With the pharmaceutical industry there seems to be a drug for everything. And to that end the industry has created a large line of sedatives from Valium to Xanax. If you choose to utilize drugs for relief, please be sure to pay attention to the fine print and learn about the side effects, which commonly include addiction and dependency. Unfortunately, these types of drugs aim at treating the symptoms, but not the cause. So as soon as one stops ingesting them, the symptoms can come back.
A finer method to get rid of tension, stress, anxiety, and depression is to work on the root cause, which as I said previously, is generally our thought processes. There is the good news. Hypnosis is all about relaxation. The AMA accepted hypnosis in 1958 as an effective way to cure stress or stress related symptoms. Moreover unlike anxiolytics, there are totally no negative side effects.
When you are in hypnosis, you are in the Alpha level of consciousness. It’s the daydream like temporary psychological state that we experience as we’re just about to fall asleep at night. And we experience it once again when we awaken again. There are several different ways that will help us guide ourselves into this state of tranquility, from progressive relaxation to visual imagery to listening to hypnosis CD’s.
Once we access a hypnotic state, we can communicate with our unconscious mind, which is the seat of our feelings. And it becomes easier to acknowledge new points of view and ideas that will help us to dissipate anxiety, or even avoid it completely.
NLP, which is a recent sort of hypnotherapy, offers numerous excellent methods for getting rid of stress. Perhaps the technique that works best is called the “swish” pattern - or the “flash” pattern. When you use this method, your unconscious will automatically use negative, stress producing mental images, as triggers for tranquilizing mental images. Otherwise stated, your stressors will automatically cause relaxation!
TO SUM THINGS UP
Tension, stress, anxiety, and depression can be caused by our thoughts. So by changing our attitude and the way we feel about our situation and what we’ve experienced, we can dissipate these feelings at the source. Hypnosis and NLP are natural tools that we can use to help us change our attitude and point of view to swiftly dissipate the root cause of our negative feelings.
Thanks to Alan B. Densky, CH for contributing this article to our Depression blog:
Numerous surveys indicate that almost everybody is under the impression of being subject to a lot of stress. Authorities in the field estimate that between 75 and 90 percent of all visits to primary care physicians somehow have to do with stress.
Most people report their stress is primarily due to their job. And stress levels have also grown in children and the elderly population because of several reasons including: Peer pressures that often push people to everything from smoking to alcoholism and drug abuse; the wearing away of religion and family values; increased crime rates; threats to personal safety; and last but not least social isolation and loneliness.
Stress can cause and aggravate conditions such as diabetes, ulcers, low back and neck pain, high blood pressure, strokes and heart attacks. This is due to the ever growing sympathetic nervous system activity along with a high level of cortisol, adrenaline, and other hormones. Chronic stress is often associated with lower immune system resistance. Stress can contribute to anxiety, depression, and its various effects on the body’s organs.
The following definition for “stress” can be found in the American Heritage Dictionary:
“To subject to physical or mental pressure, tension, or strain”
The following is the definition of “tension” from the same dictionary:
“Mental, emotional, or nervous strain”
The following definition is given for “anxiety”:
“A state of uneasiness and apprehension, as about future uncertainties”
And the following is the definition of “depression”:
“The condition of feeling sad or despondent”
The following is the definition of “clinical depression”:
“A psychiatric disorder characterized by an inability to concentrate, insomnia, loss of appetite, anhedonia, feelings of extreme sadness, guilt, helplessness and hopelessness, and thoughts of death.”
One thing is for sure, our mind is the first source of our feelings of stress, anxiety and depression. Put differently, what we think about, and our attitudes and points of view about our experiences create our feelings. That way, if we can learn how to change our thoughts, attitudes, and points of view, we can get rid of our feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression and change them for a more positive state of being.
Since the beginning of time, people have tried to find methods that would allow them to eliminate stress. With the pharmaceutical industry there seems to be a drug for everything. And to that end the industry has created a large line of sedatives from Valium to Xanax. If you choose to utilize drugs for relief, please be sure to pay attention to the fine print and learn about the side effects, which commonly include addiction and dependency. Unfortunately, these types of drugs aim at treating the symptoms, but not the cause. So as soon as one stops ingesting them, the symptoms can come back.
A finer method to get rid of tension, stress, anxiety, and depression is to work on the root cause, which as I said previously, is generally our thought processes. There is the good news. Hypnosis is all about relaxation. The AMA accepted hypnosis in 1958 as an effective way to cure stress or stress related symptoms. Moreover unlike anxiolytics, there are totally no negative side effects.
When you are in hypnosis, you are in the Alpha level of consciousness. It’s the daydream like temporary psychological state that we experience as we’re just about to fall asleep at night. And we experience it once again when we awaken again. There are several different ways that will help us guide ourselves into this state of tranquility, from progressive relaxation to visual imagery to listening to hypnosis CD’s.
Once we access a hypnotic state, we can communicate with our unconscious mind, which is the seat of our feelings. And it becomes easier to acknowledge new points of view and ideas that will help us to dissipate anxiety, or even avoid it completely.
NLP, which is a recent sort of hypnotherapy, offers numerous excellent methods for getting rid of stress. Perhaps the technique that works best is called the “swish” pattern - or the “flash” pattern. When you use this method, your unconscious will automatically use negative, stress producing mental images, as triggers for tranquilizing mental images. Otherwise stated, your stressors will automatically cause relaxation!
TO SUM THINGS UP
Tension, stress, anxiety, and depression can be caused by our thoughts. So by changing our attitude and the way we feel about our situation and what we’ve experienced, we can dissipate these feelings at the source. Hypnosis and NLP are natural tools that we can use to help us change our attitude and point of view to swiftly dissipate the root cause of our negative feelings.
Thanks to Alan B. Densky, CH for contributing this article to our Depression blog:
Alan B. Densky is an NGH certified hypnotherapist. He offers a complete line of stress management NLP CDs, and advanced anxiety management CDs through his Neuro-VISION hypnotism website. You can visit his video hypnosis blog, and download a free MP3.
Spotting Early Symptoms of Bipolar Depression Can Save Lives
April 21, 2009 by How To Treat Depression
Filed under Anxiety & Bipolar
The symptoms of bipolar disorder, primarily mood swings, do not follow a fixed pattern. Depression does not always follow mania, and vice-versa. The severity of the symptoms vaires from person to person, and an individual can suffer one mood state, be it depression or mania, for several years before suddenly having the opposite mood.
Depression can be quite intense. It affects every aspect of a person’s life, be it physical, psychological, or social health, and only grows worse the longer it remains untreated. To date, there is no cure for depression, and millions of people around the world are forced to deal with this debilitating illness.
The following are symptoms of bipolar depression. An episode of depression involves five or more of these symptoms throughout most of the day, nearly everyday, for two weeks or more. If even a few of these symptoms are observed in an individual, steps must be taken to seek medical attention – depression is much easier to treat in its earlier stages.
A person suffering from depression may experience sleeping problems. The individual may suffer from insomnia, which often results in an increased need for sleep during the day. This also affects the person’s energy levels and appetite. A person going through a severe depressive episode may experience unexpected gains or loss of weight, which perpetuates a downward spiral in physical health – a person will naturally feel uncomfortable and weary from all the physical discomforts.
A depressed individual almost certainly feels a deep sadness or unexplained anxiety. He/she may also be irritable, with feelings of guilt, hopelessness or worthlessness constantly plaguing his/her psyche. The individual will also display a sudden loss of interest in activities he/she usually enjoys.
It is often difficult for a depressed individual to concentrate on any one thought for a long time, and this may cause a performance drop in school or work. The individual may also have difficulty remembering or making decisions. Depressed individuals, when left untreated, often find themselves unable to hold a job for very long. Constantly falling in and out of work due to mood problems may signal an underlying mental illness, most probably depression.
Some of the more apparent symptoms of bipolar depression include uncontrollable crying, usually stemming from a deep sense of despair. The individual may suffer delusions of guilt and insignificance, or believe himself/herself to be ruined or penniless, or perhaps even having committed some terrible, unknown crime. It is not unusual for severely depressed individuals to harbor thoughts of death, and many cases of attempted suicide has been documented in depressed individuals over the years.
Left untreated, depressive episodes tend to happen more often and with less downtime between episodes. As time goes on, the episodes become quite unpredictable and more difficult to treat. It may at times switch to a manic episode, but this can be prevented by prompt treatment. With medication and therapy, it is quite possible for an individual suffering from bipolar disorder to live normally as happy, productive members of society.
Thanks to Tim F Clark for contributing this article to our Depression blog:
Depression can be quite intense. It affects every aspect of a person’s life, be it physical, psychological, or social health, and only grows worse the longer it remains untreated. To date, there is no cure for depression, and millions of people around the world are forced to deal with this debilitating illness.
The following are symptoms of bipolar depression. An episode of depression involves five or more of these symptoms throughout most of the day, nearly everyday, for two weeks or more. If even a few of these symptoms are observed in an individual, steps must be taken to seek medical attention – depression is much easier to treat in its earlier stages.
A person suffering from depression may experience sleeping problems. The individual may suffer from insomnia, which often results in an increased need for sleep during the day. This also affects the person’s energy levels and appetite. A person going through a severe depressive episode may experience unexpected gains or loss of weight, which perpetuates a downward spiral in physical health – a person will naturally feel uncomfortable and weary from all the physical discomforts.
A depressed individual almost certainly feels a deep sadness or unexplained anxiety. He/she may also be irritable, with feelings of guilt, hopelessness or worthlessness constantly plaguing his/her psyche. The individual will also display a sudden loss of interest in activities he/she usually enjoys.
It is often difficult for a depressed individual to concentrate on any one thought for a long time, and this may cause a performance drop in school or work. The individual may also have difficulty remembering or making decisions. Depressed individuals, when left untreated, often find themselves unable to hold a job for very long. Constantly falling in and out of work due to mood problems may signal an underlying mental illness, most probably depression.
Some of the more apparent symptoms of bipolar depression include uncontrollable crying, usually stemming from a deep sense of despair. The individual may suffer delusions of guilt and insignificance, or believe himself/herself to be ruined or penniless, or perhaps even having committed some terrible, unknown crime. It is not unusual for severely depressed individuals to harbor thoughts of death, and many cases of attempted suicide has been documented in depressed individuals over the years.
Left untreated, depressive episodes tend to happen more often and with less downtime between episodes. As time goes on, the episodes become quite unpredictable and more difficult to treat. It may at times switch to a manic episode, but this can be prevented by prompt treatment. With medication and therapy, it is quite possible for an individual suffering from bipolar disorder to live normally as happy, productive members of society.
Thanks to Tim F Clark for contributing this article to our Depression blog:
Tim Clark writes health related articles, the majority of which can be found on his website on bi polar disorder , where he has a large listing of bipolar disorder articles.
For more information on different symptoms of bipolar depression follow the link.
