Dear Dr. Yael,
I read your column about anxiety in the past. I have anxiety about everything. However, my parents are against therapy and medication. I am newly married. My husband tells me to snap out of it. I have done so many homeopathic remedies. I have been to spiritual healers, homeopathic healers, and people who get rid of ayin hara, but no professionals. Please help me.
Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
I am not familiar with any homeopathic remedies that help anxiety, though I am sure there are people who claim that there are some that work. Many people are turning to homeopathic remedies, spiritual healers, and other types of help, but from my experience, these remedies do not usually work and these people end up seeking professional help. I wish I could save people the money as well as the stress and time that is wasted on these alternative remedies as anxiety only gets stronger when it is not addressed. Time wasted on therapies that do not work can harm people as their anxiety can grow and get worse without adequate treatment. In more extreme cases, homeopathic treatment can also cause harm as most are not FDA approved and not enough valid research has been done on them.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the modalities of therapy that is very successful with anxiety. You can learn to fight your anxious thoughts and replace them with rational thoughts in order to teach your brain that you are not constantly in a state of danger. A competent therapist will be able to help you manage your anxiety and help you feel better. In addition to therapy there are medications that are very effective in treating anxiety. A competent psychiatrist can help you find the best medication for you. Anxiety is usually treated with a combination of medication and cognitive behavior therapy, but if caught early or in certain cases, a person can be treated successfully with cognitive behavior therapy alone.
To get an idea of what you do in cognitive behavioral therapy, you can try the following technique. In order to deal with the anxiety you are feeling, you need to identify what you are thinking. You are likely having anxious thoughts. These thoughts are probably swimming around your mind all day and are exacerbating your anxious feelings. Once you identify your anxious thoughts, you will need to reframe them and create more logical, non-anxious thoughts, which you will use to start getting your anxiety under control. For example, if you are thinking, “I am going to have the worst day and be anxious all day,” I want you to stop this line of thinking and replace it with, “while I may have some difficult moments today, I am going to do my best to function and be productive.” You will likely have to repeat this line over and over again until your body gets the message to calm down and is able to do so.
Please don’t let your anxiety fester and grow as it will only become harder to fight and treat. Your parents do not need to know that you are seeking professional help if you feel they will hinder your journey to heal. A competent therapist will also be able to teach your husband what anxiety is and how you can begin to fight it as it is not feasible to “just snap out of it.” Hopefully you can get your husband on board to help you. Fighting anxiety is hard work and having your husband’s support will be very beneficial. Hatzlacha with finding the right professional help and please try to get help as soon as possible so your anxiety does not continue to grow.
