Anxiety Medication Isn't Enough
While medications can be very effective in controlling the symptoms of panic disorder, medications are never the whole answer. At best, medication can help with 50% of the equation towards long term recovery. Changing how one thinks, learning tools and techniques to prevent or lower anxiety, learning how to better identify and express feelings, and getting a better education about what causes anxiety is just as effective and important (if not more so) as taking medication. Medications often can work more quickly in bringing relief from the distress and the dysfunction that the panic symptoms often cause, however, they don’t teach anything, they don’t change anything and the long term answers come from the comprehensive psycho educational and treatment program that TERRAP provides.
Medications increase the brains availability of serotonin which is associated with feelings of well being. The people who take the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s) (eg, Lexapro, Celexa, Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, etc.) and the serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRI’s) (eg, Cymbalta, Effexor, Prestiq) experience decreased reactivity, more evenness in moods, and a tendency to reduce the amount of time that they spend dwelling. All these improvements are very positive and can help people feel better and restore functioning in anywhere between 3 weeks to 2 months. The side effects of these medications include weight gain, sexual dysfunction and something called “muting” where people have a decreased capacity to experience the emotional responses that give color to one’s entire experience. For short term or as needed use, there are several effective minor tranquillizers. The most common are Xanax, Ativan and Klonopin. These medications work quickly and have a low side effect profile.
The treatment that TERRAP provides has no “side effects” but also can take weeks or months to become fully integrated into a person’s experience. By learning how to understand the cause of the anxiety from the here and now perspective and by not fearing or trying to predict and control the symptoms can be an extremely freeing process.
Learning effective personal and interpersonal skills that improve relationships and one’s sense of themselves are objectives of the TERRAP program that have long term benefits. In fact, many of our patients over the years have often commented that they felt they got even more out of the program than they expected. Put another way, many of our patients after completing treatment with TERRAP have stated that they are not sorry that they went through the period of anxiety and panic because of the ways it inspired them to learn, change and grow that benefitted all aspects of their life.
All the research studies in the field have indicated that the combination of a comprehensive cognitive behavior therapy program, like TERRAP, along with medication provides the best hope of short and long term benefits.
Those who just take medication have about a 90% chance of relapsing once the medication is discontinued, whereas, those who undergo psychological treatment only have a 20 – 30% chance of relapse once medication is withdrawn. We certainly support the proper use of medication and we are always available to coordinate care with your M.D. or one that we can assist you in finding.
TERRAP enjoys a very high success rate and we welcome you to become one of the thousands of individuals who have greatly benefitted from our services.
