How to fight anxiety without the use of medicine?

Anxiety is a natural human process and its presence encourages us to take action. However, the problem lies in the imbalance, that is, when anxiety stops being something beneficial to prevent us from living better. Given the importance of this subject, let’s find out how to fight anxiety without using medication .

It is not so simple to diagnose and consequently treat anxiety disorders .

The individual affected by this problem may think that the manifestations of the body and mind are normal and that they will pass with time. However, the tendency is for them to get worse if the help of an expert is not called soon.

The good news is that nowadays, there are several therapies with high levels of efficiency to treat anxiety disorders without the person having to use medicine.

Incidentally, drugs have proven to be less competent compared to therapies, as we will see later.

Therefore, if you are interested in this subject, continue reading until the end to understand more about anxiety disorders and learn about 5 therapies to fight anxiety without medication .

5 Therapies to fight anxiety without medication

anxiety disorders

It may take some time for a person to become suspicious of an anxiety disorder , precisely because nowadays people experience continuous moments of stress , worries and fears.

Thus, in its most extreme condition, anxiety disorder can present symptoms such as:

• Continuous feeling that something very bad is going to happen at any moment;
• Lack of control over thoughts, which surface repeatedly during the day;
• Feeling of dread after a difficult situation;
• Exaggerated fear of being publicly exposed or humiliated;
• Extreme fear of a particular situation or object;
• Worry, tension or exaggerated fears about family, money, home, etc. The person cannot relax and is always alert, releasing a large amount of stimulating hormones such as adrenaline.

When we look at the symptoms above, in isolation, it is easy to conclude that they are transient and related to a particular situation. However, it is necessary to remain attentive to the frequencies of such manifestations , as well as their intensity.

These symptoms are psychological and over time they tend to manifest themselves more aggressively, such as panic attacks, phobias, OCD – obsessive compulsive disorder and others.

There are several ways to treat anxiety disorders and medication is commonly used, in the form of tranquilizers or antidepressants.

However, therapies that do not include drugs have been shown to be even more effective in combating anxiety.

5 therapies to fight anxiety without medication

In order to combat anxiety without the use of medication , the individual can use different treatments.

Therefore, we separate 5 therapies that I consider most relevant. Look:

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

Studies prove a high level of effectiveness of CBT in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Ninety percent of panic attacks and phobias are minimized or eliminated with cognitive behavioral therapy . This is a beginning, middle and end therapy and lasts from 4 to 8 weeks on average, depending on the individual’s situation. It must be conducted by a specialized professional.

transcranial stimulation

This concerns a procedure that stimulates the brain through magnetic impulses that change the way neurons communicate with each other, helping to reduce or deactivate anxiety, hyperactivating other areas of the brain resulting in a balance.

mindfulness training

It is a type of training that directs attention to the present moment through meditation practices . It is worth noting that the training is not related to religions or philosophies, but rather focuses on the now that happens with meditative practices.

Mindfulness training seeks to connect the brain with the present moment, without clinging to the past or “pre-occupying oneself” with the future. The goal is not to clear your mind of thoughts, but to bring them into the now.

Herbal Medicines

There are few studies confirming the effectiveness of herbal medicines in combating anxiety. However, some of them are more efficient for individuals who do not want to use drugs. The most interesting herbal medicines in this case are: cava, passionflower, rhodiola rosea, valerian and ginkgo biloba.

But attention! Do not use these products without talking to your doctor, as some of them may interact negatively with other medications you are already taking.

relaxation techniques

Some practices such as yoga and tai chi have shown benefits in combating anxiety, as they promote a sense of well-being, concentration in the present moment and expansion of the brain’s cognitive capacity.

It is worth mentioning that each person must be evaluated individually by the doctor to arrive at an interesting treatment.

Which treatments are most effective?

If you got to this point in the reading, you could see that the use of medication to treat anxiety is just one of the ways to combat it.

In addition, there are studies that prove the effectiveness of therapies in relation to medications, comparing the percentage of improvement versus the percentage of relapse.

Therefore, CBT – cognitive behavioral therapy – is the most efficient, with an improvement rate of 80 to 90% in patients who opted for it. Since its relapse rate is only 15 to 20%.

If we compare it with the relapse rate for tranquilizers, which is 90%, and for antidepressants, which is 35%, there is a great advantage in adopting CBT.

Mindfulness training is also effective in combating anxiety, as is the case with CBT.

The body manifests

To have knowledge is to have power. Once you know that you can opt for effective therapies to treat anxiety. You can seek to understand the benefits and their applicability, talking more with your doctor about the subject.

Just as the body manifests itself in relation to the emergence of anxiety, it will show signs of improvement as the treatment progresses, increasing the quality of life.