A panic disorder is a potentially disabling psychological condition that is characterized by recurring panic attacks accompanied by extreme anxiety and a deep-rooted fear of forthcoming panic attacks. While physically harmless, this severe condition can completely destroy one’s personal and work lives. A person suffering from this disorder will spend a large amount of time literally dreading the next panic attack episode; making it almost impossible to have any normalcy in day-to-day life. Fortunately, various effective panic disorder treatments exist; making this disorder treatable and manageable. It is generally believed that panic disorders are caused by a brain abnormality which leads to hormonal changes and an overactive nervous system. People suffering from panic disorder tend to have an insufficient amount of 5-HT1A (a serotonin receptor) in the brain which leads to the above mentioned problems. A panic disorder can also be triggered by illegal substance abuse, alcohol abuse and other psychiatric illnesses like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD) and Schizophrenia. People suffering from panic disorder also tend to have a higher incidence of Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP). The different panic disorder treatments are explained below. Panic Disorder Treatments:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: It involves using controlled exposure of the patient to known triggers of their panic attacks to reduce their symptoms of panic. It also uses various relaxation methods to tackle anxiety and to reduce the stress caused in anticipation of the forthcoming panic attack. In short, CBT helps a patient live through a panic attack automatically reducing the anxiety and the fear of the next episode. By breaking this cycle of anxiety and stress, CBT helps reduce the negative effects of panic disorder.
- Medication: Unlike random panic attacks, which can generally be treated by therapy alone; the use of medication is compulsory in panic disorders due to the severe nature of the condition. SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) and SSNRIs (Selective Serotonin and Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors) like sertraline (Zoloft), paroxetine (Paxil), duloxetine (Cymbalta) and venlafaxine (Effexor) are the main line of defense against panic disorder and an important component of any panic disorder treatment plan. Benzodiazepines like clonazepam (Klonopin), lorazepam (Ativan) and alprazolam (Xanax) are also used in cases of treatment resistant panic disorder. The long term use of these drugs can actually exacerbate the condition and lead to several other serious side effects including addiction.
- Alternative Treatments: Anecdotal evidence supports the use of alternative therapies like Neurofeedback and Homeopathy as panic disorder treatments. Unfortunately no double blinded studies have been performed to asses the therapeutic value of these treatments and results will vary from patient to patient.
The above mentioned panic disorder treatments go a long way in allowing people suffering from this dreaded condition to lead a normal and pro