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When Anxiety Depression Coexist
by Dave Turo-Shields
Anxiety depression is the most common combination for depressed individuals. It certainly complicates the treatment picture... which do you talk to your doctor about? Does your doctor zero in on anxiety or depression? Most doctors will focus on depression, hoping that your anxiety will be alleviated along the way. Why? As a general rule, if your depression is the primary problem or the stronger problem, research has proven that anti-anxiety medications can significantly worsen depression.
Oftentimes it works out that anxiety does lessen once you receive treatment for depression. Several medications for depression do bring relief for your anxiety depression too. Some of these frontline antidepressant medications include Paxil, BuSpar, Effexor, Anafranil, Celexa, Prozac and Zoloft. If you aren't on a medicine or not on one I've mentioned or not feeling any benefit for the anxiety then you may want to discuss this with your doctor.
What if you're on an antidepressant which is working for your depression but not for the anxiety depression? Do you want to take the chance of switching medicines? Hummm... things get so complicated at times, don't they?
It's important for you to know that medication alone in treating anxiety depression works 40-50% of the time. Add psychotherapy to the mix and the research shows a giant jump upwards to 90% success in gaining lasting relief. For a professional approach to your anxiety depression problem you may want to consider my online counseling options. There are proven methods for building anxiety relief skills that can help you gain control over anxiety without taking anti-anxiety medication.
Primarily I am talking about cognitive-behavioral therapy. Once you make a habit of skills you can easily learn you can reduce your level of anxiety depression at will. This is my strongest advice to you. If you can manage anxiety without the use of medication you will feel extremely confident! However, depending on the level of anxiety depression you experience along with depression you may need to be treated medically for both issues. If you have worked hard with a professional therapist, such as myself, and feel the anxiety continues to be intolerable then you should not feel bad at all for requesting your doctor take a serious look at assisting with an appropriate medicine. Doctors are usually cautious with prescribing anti-anxiety medicines because several are addictive, which simply means you can build a tolerance to the drug and may have withdrawal symptoms once you stop taking it.
Some of the medications used for the treatment of anxiety include Ativan, BuSpar (as mentioned above), Centrax, Klonopin, Serax, Tranxene and Xanax.
If you're a do-it-yourselfer you may want to check into this anxiety treatment eBook. I have reviewed it and it is very good. I highly recommend it. Wishing you the best in treating both your anxiety depression.
Dave Turo-Shields, ACSW, LCSW is an author, university faculty member, success coach and veteran psychotherapist whose passion is guiding others to their own success in life. For weekly doses of the webs HOTTEST success tips, sign up for Dave's powerful "Feeling Great!" ezine at http://www.Overcoming-Depression.com
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