When I admitted to myself that I was suffering from the symptoms of anxiety panic attacks and went in to the doctor to seek professional help, I believed that the struggle was almost over. I  believed that the treatment of anxiety would be a simple and straightforward thing. I could go in, get some medicine, and start to get better. Little did I realize that it was not that simple. As a matter of fact, I was not even half way there. There are many treatments for anxiety, and some of them appear to be miracle cures, but the people selling them are pretty deceptive. Anyone who tells you the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder is easy is deceiving you. In fact, it is a difficult, involved process.

The treatment of mood disorders is always difficult. You see, it requires several different stages. If you suffer from severe anxiety as I did, the first stage is to get your symptoms under control. The First stage is all I thought there was to the treatment of anxiety – the administering of medication. Basically, the doctor gave me some sedatives and an antidepressant that would help treat my anxiety. This would somewhat alleviate my symptoms and get me into a space where I could be responsive to therapy. Therapy, however, was much more involved.

I had wanted the treatment of anxiety to end with pills, but I understood why it didn't. You see, treating anxiety with medication helps you suppress the symptoms, but it does not address the underlying causes. Most anxiety panic disorders stem from some psychological factor. There was something about me that was making me have severe anxiety attacks, and it was important to get to the root of it. In the meantime, the doctor could treat my symptoms so that I could approach the problem rationally, but if treating the outside symptoms was all he did, I would have to be on sedatives forever. Eventually, whatever it was that was causing the anxiety would find another way to rear its ugly head.

Fortunately, the treatment of anxiety didn't only consist of therapy. There were a lot of other practical steps that I could take to help treat my anxiety, steps that were immediately effective. Through exercise, meditation, and maintaining a healthy social life, I could keep my anxiety at bay on a daily basis. It would still come out periodically, but if I didn't let myself shut down I could keep the upper hand. I am still undergoing my treatment of anxiety, but it is better than it has been in years.