Everyone feels anxious or worried from time to time, but when anxiety symptoms get out of hand they can interfere with everyday life and make you feel miserable. Thankfully, anxiety can usually be treated successfully through psychological therapy and medication. The exact combination of treatments that works best for you will depend on the type and severity of your anxiety disorder.
Psychological therapies - called talking treatments - have been found to be most effective in treating anxiety disorders, and they work well in combination with medications. You can access talking treatments like cognitive behavioural therapy and applied relaxation through the NHS without the need for referral from your GP.
Medications - called antidepressants - are also helpful, and newer agents such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have a better safety profile than older tricyclic antidepressants or monoamine oxidase inhibitors. A class of drugs called benzodiazepines is also used to treat anxiety, but they can be habit-forming and may have unpleasant side effects.
The most effective treatment for many anxiety disorders is talk therapy - or counseling - with a trained mental health professional. This can help you find the underlying causes of your worries and fears; learn how to relax and look at situations in different, less frightening ways; and develop better coping and problem-solving skills. The length of therapy will vary, but most people improve significantly within 8 to 10 sessions. Your therapist may use techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy, which involves examining your fears and replacing them with more realistic thoughts; or exposure therapy, which exposes you to the situations you fear to reduce your panic response.