Panic and Anxiety Disorder could be treated by a variety of ways including therapies such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and medications. CBT tries to deal with the genesis of the problem rather than making a superficial study of one particular attack. However, CBT has pronounced advantages in dealing with the disorder compared to administering medications. The following pointers would explain why:
- More profound impact: CBT tries to root out the problems from the origins by analyzing the fears and thoughts of the patients. Also, there is an innate attempt at modifying the behavior of the patient to weed out the unfounded fears that resulted in the attack. Medication simply tries to deal with the situation on a case-to-case basis.
- Long-term benefits: It has been proven that the effect of CBT on patients is more long-term and stable than medications which more or less try to solve the problem temporarily. There is no evidence at the moment to suggest that the effects of medication would continue to benefit the patient once the dosages are stopped.
- Side-effects: Since CBT tries to induce changes in the way a patient thinks and behaves; there are no possible side-effects. In fact, the various steps of the therapy leave a beneficial impact on the mind of the patient even after he/she has recovered. However, medications including antidepressants have very strong side-effects including insomnia, constant sleepiness, weight issues, and sexual deficiencies.
- Applicability of the treatment mechanism: It has to be understood that Panic and Anxiety Disorder is largely a psychological malfunction and is best treated through psychological means. Although, there are certain physiological impacts of the disorder, medications could hardly fight the menace that needs to be rooted out in its entirety to be treated well. Fear and anxiety couldn’t possibly be dealt with the help of ingestible medicines.
- Larger success rate: It has been experimentally found out that the percentage of patients cured through medical means is way less compared to the corresponding figure for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.
- Medications only complement therapy: Medications are largely used to reduce the severity of the attack and make the life of the patient a little better during an attack. This needs to be done in consonance with CBT. However, medications alone are hardly employed by medical practitioners to deal with the situation.
The practitioners of CBT at the Centre for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy in Ontario, Canada have found tremendous success in helping their patients deal with PTSD, panic disorders and other such related conditions.