“Can anxiety be cured?”
I have anxiety. Can anxiety be cured?
13 Answers
PsychologistPsychologist
Anxiety is frequently responsive to treatment. The nature and severity of the anxiety will influence the type and course of treatment.
There is essentially no "cure" for anxiety; however, when you learn the skills/tools to manage it, you can live your life without the worry of the anxiety paralyzing you. You may want to get a consultation with a psychologist to help you learn to manage your anxiety more effectively,
If anxiety is based on situational issues, then changing the situation can "cure". Otherwise, I tend to use the term "manage" and not cure. Think of this like asthma or allergies. You have a tendency towards this, but can learn skills to minimize or make your symptoms go away. However, they may recur at a later time.
Anxiety is one of the most treatable disorders. I recommend treatment with a cognitive-behavior psychologist.
Yes! Anxiety is very treatable. Speaking with a professional can be very helpful and they will help you develop appropriate and effective coping skills as well as help you understand and manage your anxiety. In some cases, medication may also be very effective and offers a great deal of relief.
Symptoms of anxiety can be significantly reduced with a combination of medication and cognitive behavior therapy.
Many times it cannot be totally cured. Although, it can be reduced and managed with the correct professional assistance, some psychopharmacology interventions, and daily patient self-care habits such as breathing and meditation exercises.
There are different types of anxiety ( situational related or medically related). Depending on what causes anxiety, I'd argue that yes some can be cured while other can be very well managed.
Anxiety may not be able to be cured, but that is expected. Anxiety is there for a reason, to help you think ahead and be safe. However, you can learn to manage your anxiety so that it does not overwhelm you and prevent you from enjoying your life and the things you want to do.
Clinical anxiety can be treated and made much less painful and disruptive. But anxiety itself cannot be gotten rid of entirely, and no one should want to be entirely free of anxiety. We are hard-wired to be able to experience anxiety (or fear) in circumstances when we sense a threat, which may be concrete (that we're about to run out of money if we keep over-spending) or more abstract (that if we successfully cheat on a test, we'll be violating our own sense of what's right). The right amount and the right kind of anxiety can provide useful information that we should not ignore.
That said, an overabundance of anxiety and exaggerated anxiety reactions can lead to misery and dysfunction. How best to treat harmful or painful anxiety depends on how it manifests. Sometimes the anxiety is relatively limited and focused--a fear of spiders, the dark, or being alone. Or the anxiety may be most pronounced in social situations. Anxiety may seem to come out of nowhere, in an attack of panic, which can lead to secondary anxiety, about being away from "safe spaces" in case one has a panic attack (on a bridge, in an elevator, on a subway). Or it may show up as a fear that if things aren't done in a certain way, or a certain order, something bad is going to happen.
Successful treatment of harmful anxiety requires a careful assessment of the circumstances in which it is experienced and the thoughts and beliefs associated with it. In the context of a trusting therapeutic relationship, automatic thoughts that reinforce anxious reactions can be challenged and modified. With the support and careful step-wise progress, formerly feared situations can be experienced in controlled ways so that the anxiety abates over time. Psychiatric medications may also be useful as adjuncts to the treatment. It is important to note that treatment will not be a passive process--it requires hard work on the part of both patient and therapist.
If your feelings of anxiety are interfering with your work, your relationships, or your hopefulness about life in general, it makes a lot of sense to seek professional help. While you can't expect an instant cure, you should experience some relief after a period of several weeks. A note of caution: progress is unlikely to be smooth or continuous. You may experience setbacks. It is important to discuss these with your treatment provider, in order to understand what's going on, and in order to remain hopeful and engaged with the treatment. In time, as you acquire new habits of mind and new abilities to control your emotional reactions, you can arrive at a place where your anxiety is working for you, instead of bossing you around.
That said, an overabundance of anxiety and exaggerated anxiety reactions can lead to misery and dysfunction. How best to treat harmful or painful anxiety depends on how it manifests. Sometimes the anxiety is relatively limited and focused--a fear of spiders, the dark, or being alone. Or the anxiety may be most pronounced in social situations. Anxiety may seem to come out of nowhere, in an attack of panic, which can lead to secondary anxiety, about being away from "safe spaces" in case one has a panic attack (on a bridge, in an elevator, on a subway). Or it may show up as a fear that if things aren't done in a certain way, or a certain order, something bad is going to happen.
Successful treatment of harmful anxiety requires a careful assessment of the circumstances in which it is experienced and the thoughts and beliefs associated with it. In the context of a trusting therapeutic relationship, automatic thoughts that reinforce anxious reactions can be challenged and modified. With the support and careful step-wise progress, formerly feared situations can be experienced in controlled ways so that the anxiety abates over time. Psychiatric medications may also be useful as adjuncts to the treatment. It is important to note that treatment will not be a passive process--it requires hard work on the part of both patient and therapist.
If your feelings of anxiety are interfering with your work, your relationships, or your hopefulness about life in general, it makes a lot of sense to seek professional help. While you can't expect an instant cure, you should experience some relief after a period of several weeks. A note of caution: progress is unlikely to be smooth or continuous. You may experience setbacks. It is important to discuss these with your treatment provider, in order to understand what's going on, and in order to remain hopeful and engaged with the treatment. In time, as you acquire new habits of mind and new abilities to control your emotional reactions, you can arrive at a place where your anxiety is working for you, instead of bossing you around.