Cognitive Therapy for Anxiety

I am a big believer in cognitive therapy for anxiety as changing how you think will give long term benefits that masking the problem like taking medications cant do. I have tried both of course for anxiety help and slowly but surely the cognitive therapy has given me the results I wanted.

The following is my personal comparison with taking medications and cognitive therapy for helping me with panic attacks and reducing anxiety.

Medication
I was first referred to a Psychiatrist for my increasing anxiety and panic attacks and she prescribed medication (I wont disclose the specific drug) which unfortunately didn’t help me significantly but did gave me several side effects that were unpleasant with  one of them long lasting.

The doctor said it was unfortunate that I was one of the people who experience most of the side effects of this drug which included dizziness when bending down, creeping scalp (this persisted when I experienced anxious for many years), blurry vision.  It seems most people will only experience one or two side effects only.

Cognitive Therapy
I joined a group of people who also suffered from social anxiety and panic attacks and what surprised me when I started was how different we were and what made us suffer this way.  One person could never talk on the phone, another couldn’t return goods to a store, ordering a drink at the bar was someone else’s fear and I found it very difficult to eat in restaurants, just to name so we were so different but so similar in our reactions to their stressors.

With cognitive therapy for anxiety I learned to change my thinking and reactions to certain triggers.  I learned the tools to prevent my panic attacks and felt now confident that I could now take back control of my life.

Looking at the two now I have to say that there is no comparison in regard to the results.  Medication helped me for about a week but not to a great extent but cognitive therapy gave me back my life.

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