The Role of Medication in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
The Role of Medications in Management of Anxiety Symptoms
Without medications most patients with anxiety disorders are suffering too much anxiety to make use of and learn the cognitive behavioral therapy tools they need to unlearn their “vicious cycle” and then go on to learn new ways of reacting to stressors.
- Medications are almost always at first rejected by sufferers of anxiety and panic attacks.
- The reasons are usually the same reasons as these sufferers use as excuses to tolerate their anxiety disorder in the first place - “I should be able to fix this,” or “If I needed medications then I must really be badly off,” or “I don’t need a crutch I’ve got to do this on my own.”
- All those excuses are more or less the same.
- Medications are often necessary because they will “down regulate” the overactive anxiety centers of the brain enough to allow the cognitive therapy tools to be more effective.
- Who can think when they are so anxious?
- Medications are needed while you are unlearning to react to your anxious thoughts; remember if you can learn you can unlearn.
- No medication can teach to react differently to anxious thoughts only cognitive therapy can help you how to react differently.
- So - medication and CBT have complimentary but different roles in the management of anxiety and panic attacks.
Without medications most patients with anxiety disorders are suffering too much anxiety to make use of and learn the cognitive behavioral therapy tools they need to unlearn their “vicious cycle” and then go on to learn new ways of reacting to stressors.
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