Is there a "magic-pill" for treating anxiety disorders?
A lot of people ask me if there is an anxiety cure that will make them stop having anxiety attacks. After this question I usually follow with,
“Do you really want to be completely anxiety-free?”
Anxiety and fear are universal emotions that evolved through thousand years to serve us. Fear and anxiety prevent us from doing something stupid or something that might put our lives at risk. In fact there is a part inside our brain that is called “Amygdala.”
Among other functions Amygdala is responsible for emotions and anxiety levels. So now let’s imagine that by some kind of a miracle we remove this part of our brain; surely, we’d go on about our lives without the least trace of fear or anxiousness:
Playing with knifes and running with scissors would be a normal thing, all of the sudden. Walking into a pit-bull-guarded territory would appear of no consequence. Swimming into the open sea without a life-jacket would seem like a brilliant idea.
Can you see where I’m going with this?
Anxiety and fear are a part of who we are. And they are an important part, because they support our survival mechanisms. However, in some people, these survival mechanisms can go awry, and that’s normally referred to as an anxiety disorder.
So the trick is not eliminating fear and anxiety from your life completely, but learning how to control it and not to become anxious all the time. Learning how to react only to real threats, just like you used to before your Amygdala went out of control.
How to keep anxiety in check
Drugs will usually slow down your anxiety responses, which might be disastrous. Slowing your anxiety reaction at least by split of a second might mean that your body won’t be prepared to deal with urgent situations.
Your heart won’t pump enough of blood into your muscles and your muscles won’t respond as needed. So anxiety drugs and pills are out of the question. How about desensitization as a cure for anxiety and panic attacks?
Desensitization is a process when we face some kind of a fear so often that we become immune to it – desensitized. Seems like a good plan, doesn’t it?
Well, at least on the paper. Imagine if I said to you, “Start jumping off of the roof of your house until you are not afraid to do so?” Might sound a little bit crazy, but that’s exactly the case when you ask anxious person to face his or her fear. It takes a lot of nerve, a lot of commitment and a lot of stress.
I certainly do not recommend that. Not when there are simpler and healthier options.
