Is Psychotherapy More Effective Than Medicine In Treating Anxiety?

Sigmund Freud, the originator of psychotherapy, believed that chronic anxiety in a person was caused by past traumas, and that certain stimulus would make us relive that trauma therefore creating feelings of anxiety. However, avoiding the anxiety through various means was thought to be counter-productive; so as long as the anxious feelings were there, suppressed, avoiding them would only be a temporary fix and not a longterm solution.

With the advent of illegal drugs, tobacco, prescription and over-the-counter drugs, as well as the old standbys of alcoholic beverages, sufferers of anxiety found several ways to distract themselves from the problem. Unfortunately, seeking these forms of treatment is potentially dangerous since they can be addictive and even physically harmful. Cigarettes can lead to cancer, alcoholism can lead to heart damage, high blood pressure and liver failure and some prescription drugs are known to have many side effects including in rare cases, fatal diseases.

While everyone is quick to decry alcohol as a solution to anxiety problems, people are less certain to identify cigarettes and prescription drugs as essentially the same type of treatment. People smoke or take pills to escape the problem of anxiety, not to confront it and work in constructive ways to resolve the inner uneasiness.

This is where psychotherapy comes in, most notably cognitive-behavioral therapy. Therapists attempt to help the patient confront the source of anxiety and learn coping mechanisms, without resorting to medication. Coping skills may include: challenging the patient's false or self-defeating attitudes, developing positive outlooks and negative thought replacements, desensitization techniques, and other coping skills.

This way, the patient is confronting the source of the anxiety. What might the source of the problem be? Perhaps a past traumatic incident involving a parent or guardian has left a person feeling extremely anxious around new people. A therapist could work with the person challenging their viewpoints, coming to terms with their past, teaching them coping mechanisms and even cautiously exposing them to what they fear. Any person with the capacity to learn has the ability to re-condition themselves and better cope with their environment. However, it could be a long and complicated process.

Psychotherapy is not the definitive answer to anxiety disorder, nor is it necessarily superior to psychiatry. It depends on a number of factors including the competence of the psychotherapist and the anxiety level of the patience. In some extreme cases of chronic anxiety with chemical imbalance, psychotherapy may be totally ineffective and medication may be the only way to treat the sufferer.

Extremely traumatic incidents involving violence, molestation or other forms of abuse are the most difficult to treat, but both psychotherapy and psychiatry have proven to be successful treatments in different cases. However, assuming that any form of chronic anxiety-especially milder forms-can only be treated with potentially addictive prescription drugs is a mistake. Assume psychotherapy can help just as much as medication, and then after a professional consultation with a doctor, make the most informed choice.