Nearly 20 million Americans have been diagnosed with some form of an anxiety disorder. There are generally a number of treatments that are available to these individuals for helping them begin dealing with anxiety. Let’s discuss some of the main pluses and drawbacks of each form of anxiety treatment generally available.

One method of addressing an anxiety conditions is to begin taking prescription drugs as directed by a psychiatrist. Generally the benzodiazepines are the most common prescribed anti-anxiety drugs, including klonopin and Valium. These drugs are effective at alleviating acute anxiety. Unfortunately, they are less effective in treating incessant anxiety conditions. The main disadvantage of benzodiazepines is that they are terribly addicting and have a horrible withdrawal syndrome associated with them. Once you begin to use a benzodiazepine to treat your anxiety you will have to take it everyday and failure to do so with elicit extreme withdrawal symptoms. Consider these drawbacks carefully before beginning.

The next option is to begin therapy with a trained psychotherapist. There are several advantages and disadvantages of this method as well. The first thing about therapy is that it is generally not very effective on its own at alleviating anxiety symptoms. Still, time spent with a therapist can contribute to coming up with new strategies for combating your anxiety. Therapy also is not likely to result in an anxiety cure.

The greatest disadvantage to therapy is that most therapists do not suffer from severe anxiety disorders. So while they can be great at talking theories they don’t really have first hand knowledge about what it takes to break free from an anxiety disorder. They do however undergo a lot of training in order to obtain their license. Their track record, unfortunately is not too good as a group.

Another method to get treatment for your anxiety disorder is to check into an inpatient hospital. This type of inpatient treatment can be very helpful if your anxiety is crippling to the point that you are unable to function in life. It can be especially helpful if you are contemplating suicide or harming yourself.The main thrust of inpatient treatment is to teach individuals new coping skills so that they will not consider suicide. Because of this inpatient treatment centers are especially useful in suicidal cases, though less so in cases requiring more introspection.

The main therapy employed by psychiatric hospitals is called DBT or dialectical behavioral therapy. DBT teaches simple distress management techniques and mindfulness therapy. If you are a severely low functioning human being with a history of suicide attempts or self harm then DBT may be for you. If you have a more refined condition then you will get very little out of this form of treatment.

Finally, in patient treatment can be very expensive. A decent clinic runs at least $750 a day and if you do not have insurance the cost becomes prohibitive. However, if you are close to suicide, this may be a small price to pay.

These options are the most common anxiety disorder interventions. If you want to start overcoming anxiety you may want to consider one of these options.