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Friend has tried everything ...
Q. I'm writing for a friend who has
had panic attacks for the last 2 years. She has gone through quite a
lot of alternative health therapies, some conventional medication
(e.g.. Xanax), a bit of hypnotherapy all to no avail, and the
situation with the panic attacks is now reaching a crisis point. I
just came across your web site - well done, it is one of the best
for information that I have seen anywhere.
I am keen to help my friend find some relief. Do you have any
listings of therapists skilled in using CBT for anxiety disorders?
Also any other info you have, maybe about medications, etc would be
helpful. One of the main problems has been the lack of information
amongst the medical profession about panic attacks. Some GP's have
prescribed medication without even having any idea of the side
effects or contraindications. My friend has even seen a top
neurologist at large expense whose final words were, "Well I
think you may have what is called panic attacks". As if she
didn't know that. Anyway thanks again for the site.
A. Have you spoken with anyone from the Dept of Psychology
at your local University? There is a very good chance they are
running a CBT clinic for Anxiety Disorders. If not the Psychologists
there would be able to refer you on to a clinical psychologist in
your area. The operative word being Clinical. The clinical
psychologists have the full CBT training.
Hypnotherapy doesn't work for most people. It may help in the
short term but like every other therapy main stream and alternate it
won't give long term results. CBT is the only therapy which has been
demonstrated internationally to give long term results.
In regards to medication. Is your friend still taking Xanax? In
Australia the guidelines for the prescribing of any of the
tranquillizers is for 2 - 4 weeks only. The tranquillizers,
including Xanax can be addictive and some people may become addicted
within four weeks. Xanax is one of the short acting tranquillizers.
With the short acting ones, if people do become addicted they may
have withdrawal symptoms every 4 to 6 hours. We usually recommend
people use medication to assist with any depression which may come
as a result of the attacks and/or the Disorder, but our experience
over the years, which has been confirmed by international research,
is that medication is not a long term answer. People can remain
symptomatic and their Disorder can return when they withdraw. The
current trend is to prescribe SSRIs, including Zoloft or Aropax. It
can take up to six weeks before people can begin to feel the benefit
of these drugs. Some people experience an increase in their anxiety
for the first few weeks on these drugs. There is some very recent
research which is showing people may experience drug withdrawal from
the SSRIs once they begin to taper down their dose. The research is
recommending people don't just stop taking the drug, but withdraw
very very slowly.
Some of the Anxiety Disorder psychiatrists prefer to use the
older anti depressants because there may not be the side effects
with the older anti depressants.
Unfortunately GPs don't have the training, nor do some of the
psychiatrists have the latest training such as CBT. No matter how
much pressure we put on the Federal Government nothing happens. When
you consider the Anxiety Disorders are the most common mental health
problem in Australia one would think the Government even if it
doesn't care about Social Justice issues would care about the
extraordinary waste of money through Medicare. If they cared, they
would do something about providing the much needed appropriate
treatment services throughout Australia.
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