Do you know how to deal with anxiety? Do you know what your options are and the pros and cons of these options? Have you chosen not to deal with your anxiety or possibly turned to self-medicating to avoid the symptoms? This blog is written for people have anxiety and want to know how to deal with it.
Methods to Deal with Anxiety
The two most widely accepted methods to deal with anxiety are seeing a psychiatrist and/or a therapist. However, there is a third method that is gaining wide acceptance and is highly recommended by both psychiatrists and therapists. This third method is Meditation.
Psychiatrists and/or Therapy
There are pros and cons of seeking help from a psychiatrist and/or a therapist. Before I outline some of these, I would like to state for the record that the Compassion Center supports hiring and being under the supervision of both psychiatrists and therapists.
Pros & Cons of Psychiatry for Anxiety
This blog will only address one form of treatment that psychiatrists utilize in the treatment of anxiety. I am referring to the prescription of medications for anxiety. Psychiatrists can prescribe medications for the treatment of anxiety and do so based upon the severity of the patient’s anxiety. The “pro” of taking medication is that some patients will need a prescribed medication to take the edge off their anxiety. They may even need medication to help them to function “normally”.
There are two major “cons” to taking medication for anxiety. First, all medications have side-effects. The side-effects can be minor or they can be debilitating. Second, once a patient starts taking one or more medications, it can be extremely difficult for the patient to stop taking the medication(s). We have encountered people at The Compassion Center that have been taking medication for their anxiety for well over a decade and there is no plan in place to wean the person off of their medication.
One element is consistent with all people who are taking medications for their anxiety. They do not like taking these medications and would prefer not to take these if at all possible.
Pros & Cons of Therapy for Anxiety
Therapy is a workable solution for anxiety. A good therapist will help the patient understand the root cause of the reason(s) for the patient’s anxiety and will create a plan to help the patient address the root cause(s). However, one of the issues we have encountered is that there are people who have been seeing a therapist for years and they still have severe anxiety symptoms with no end in sight.
Meditation to Address Anxiety
We utilize Meditation to accomplish two goals. First, we teach people specific techniques to help them address the symptoms of anxiety. These include various breathing and relaxation techniques. Second, we use specific guided meditations to help people address the root cause of their anxiety.
There is a misconception that Meditation is simply something that people do to simply relax. Even though relaxation is part of Meditation, it is not the primary goal of Meditation. We teach a style of Meditation that is based upon traditional Tibetan Meditation, Vipassana and Mindfulness Meditation techniques. The primary goal of Meditation as we teach Meditation is to help people achieve a “goal”. We refer to this as the “motivation”.
The “motivation” is the change that the person wishes to make in their life. Initially, when we teach someone how to meditate, the person’s goal is to remove their anxiety. After a few meditations, we start to do “healing meditations” which are intended to address the root cause(s) of the person’s anxiety.
