Let’s talk about anxiety and phobia. Every person experiences anxiety and being afraid in their lifetime. Only dead people are not capable of doing so. Kidding aside, one needs to identify when these feelings are healthy and adaptive, or it is already becoming a nuisance to the everyday occurrence and later leads to psychological complications. More than ever, this article will also deal with some of the alternative treatments that can help anxiety and phobia
Anxiety is a typical reaction to specific occurrences. It is our body’s defense mechanism that hinders us from getting into possible dangerous circumstances and enable us to break away from these threats should they happen to us in any case. Anxiety isn’t always an awful thing, in fact, it can encourage you and help you stay persistent under pressure. Just like when we are in possible danger, the flight-or-flight response triggered by stress may help us to accumulate an appropriate reaction by priming our body for action and increasing performance and strength.
However, when anxiety becomes severe, it no longer serves an excellent response to the person. Instead, it has affected the performance of a person preventing him from fulfilling his societal and professional responsibilities. Severe anxiety experienced in excessive period can be considered a mental illness and can later develop into other forms of mental disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, psychosomatic ailments, and many more. According to Danielle Forshee, Psy.D, “Those who worry — meaning everybody — can control the intensity and duration of their worry thoughts.”
Fear is also part of the fight-and-flight response. To feel fear is to evade the imposing threat that can jeopardize one’s life. When fears become uncontrollable to the extent that the quality of someone’s life is already compromised, it is now considered to be a phobia. Phobia is having an irrational fear of particular object or situation.
But calmness may not be as far away as you think.
There are many things you can do to get your anxiety and phobias in check and get back the control of your life. Conventionally, therapy and medication are both used to treat people with anxiety and phobias. However, some people find the unconventional way of addressing these disorders are effective in relieving symptoms.
Alternative treatments for anxiety and phobias include the following:
Hypnotherapy is supported by the belief that phobias dwell in the unconscious mind. By placing the person into a hypnotic condition, the subconscious mind can be accessed directly by the therapist, without the conscious mind interrupting. This approach guides the person to confront the memory that initially triggered the phobia through guided relaxation techniques to regression. As Steven Gans, MD in an article, “Hypnosis has become well-known thanks to popular acts where people are prompted to perform unusual or ridiculous actions, but, it has also been clinically proven to provide medical and therapeutic benefits, most notably in the reduction of pain and anxiety.”
Homeopathy involves the use of toxic substances that could be dreadful and requires strict supervision of an expert or qualified therapist who has a strong background and experience in using this alternative treatment. Jeffrey L Pricket, PsyD, AP, CCH, RSHom said, “Scientific studies have shown homeopathy to be safe, effective and cost-effective. I have seen homeopathy help people reduce or eliminate their use of conventional medications, experience greater levels of health, and enhance benefits seen in psychotherapy; moving to deeper levels, gaining greater insight and faster behavioral change.”
Herbal remedies are herbal preparations either taken orally or as part of the dietary regimen. Despite the lack of large-scale controlled studies on the long-term safety and efficacy, the use of naturally stirring herbs have been increasingly popular, and people find these herbal preparations useful in dealing with anxiety and phobias. The calming and soothing effect of catnip, ginseng, chamomile and valerian roots aid in managing anxiety and phobia. However, the guidance of both medical doctor and an herbalist is a must to avoid unwanted side effects when combined with anxiety medication.
Management of anxiety and phobia should be taken as an individualized approach, as one treatment may or may not be effective to another person. Hence, seeking medical advice is essential to determine the right treatment approach for individual’s anxiety and phobia.