Anxiety and Panic Attacks - Are Tranquilizers the Best Remedy

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The feeling of anxiety can be hugely distressing, particularly when it lasts for a long time or comes in the form of intense panic attacks. For many, the idea of taking medication for immediate relief is tempting. Tranquilizers are a quick fix, which is what anxiety sufferers desperately want. And after all, if medication relieves anxiety so well, what is wrong with using it?

Almost everyone has heard of commonly prescribed tranquilizers like Xanax, Valium, and Klonopin. But these days, the use of medication to treat anxiety is quite controversial. Drugs like this may be helpful on a short-term basis (up to two weeks). The problem with taking tranquilizers for longer periods is that they have the potential to be seriously addictive.

Addiction to tranquilizers is characterized by an increasing tolerance to the drug. This means that a person has to take more and more to get the same positive effects. Withdrawal, the unpleasant symptoms one experiences as the traces of drug disappear from a person's system, is the other main characteristic of addiction. If the anxiety sufferer stops taking the drug after using it for an extended time, he or she is likely to experience withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal from tranquilizers is not that much different from withdrawal from illegal drugs like heroin. Some of the symptoms of tranquilizer withdrawal are nausea, jitteriness, sweating, a general feeling of unwellness, and an intense craving for the drug. These symptoms may be bad enough to cause the individual to want to resume taking the drug. Because of the potential for addiction, a responsible doctor will prescribe tranquilizers for only a limited time, and will closely monitor the patient for problems.

In addition to the very real and dangerous potential for addiction, tranquilizers have other disadvantages. Because tranquilizers produce pleasant, calm, relaxed feelings, a person using them is not motivated to develop long-term strategies for controlling anxiety. When one is experiencing anxiety, the motivation to make changes and to learn new things is very high. Without that motivation, people are unlikely to learn and practise new skills that could benefit them for the rest of their lives.

Another disadvantage of tranquilizers is the relapse rate in comparison to other methods of treating anxiety. This means that many people who were helped by tranquilizers and then stopped taking them will soon experience the same anxiety and panic attacks that caused them to start taking the drug in the first place. These individuals may be no better off than they were before they started to use tranquilizers.

Conversely, when people learn targeted, non-drug methods to relieve their anxiety and panic attacks, they are less likely to experience renewed anxiety symptoms in the future. And if they do become anxious, they have a stockpile of techniques they can apply to help themselves. Anxiety and panic attack sufferers are helped by many non-drug treatments such as cognitive therapy, mental and physical relaxation exercises, desensitization work, and others. All of these methods will have a continuing benefit to a person throughout his or her life.

It's clear to most doctors, psychologists, and counsellors that medication has its appropriate and limited place in the treatment of anxiety. However, treatments that don't involve tranquilizers can be just as effective, but safer and longer-lasting than medication. Given the choice, most people with extreme anxiety and panic disorders would prefer long-lasting relief that leaves them stronger and more capable of dealing with the challenges that life can bring.

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