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Panic Attacks Treatment Options

Panic attacks can be treated through medication, cognitive-behavioral therapy and exposure therapy. Besides these, there are several things one can do at home, for a better management of this anxiety disorder's symptoms. Since preventing this mental illness is not really possible, as its cause isn't known, learning how to deal with it is very important for each sufferer.

As I already mentioned, panic attacks treatment can be done using specific medications. But before any treatment scheme is prescribed to the patient, he needs to be evaluated by a mental-health professional, in order to check for the presence of anxiety disorders, panic disorders or depression. After this first step, the sufferer can be given several medications, such as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) or benzodiazepine medications. The most common products from these families of drugs are sertraline, fluoxetine and fluvoxamine. Beta-blockers are also used in anxiety disorders treatment schemes, as well as tricyclic antidepressants.

However, these anxiety disorders are usually treated using a combination of medications and psychotherapy. Cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBT) involve weekly meetings between the therapist and the sufferer. This psychological panic attacks treatment method has proven long-term results, it's very safe for the patient and unlike drugs this has no side effects. The therapist helps the patient identify the trigger of his mental illness, and then to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. Also, the therapist should teach a sufferer how to deal with future crisis, how to breathe and how to change his behavior in order to get over the anxiety crisis easier.

Another treatment option refers to exposure therapy. As the name of this procedure says it, exposure therapy involves exposing the sufferer to the physical sensation of fear or panic, but this time in a controlled, safe and risk-free environment. The patient is told from the beginning what does the therapy session involve, which are the steps that he needs to follow and how long will it take for the first results to appear. Psychotherapy is as important as medication when it comes to panic attacks treatment, so if you've been diagnosed with this mental illness, make sure you try all the healing alternatives your therapist recommends.

For more information on panic attacks treatment options, please visist http://apanicattack.org.




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