Curing Anxiety Without Medication…What The Professionals Don’t Want You To Know.

As a psychotherapist in private practice for over a decade, I certainly have seen it all: watching my clients suffer through anxiety and stress, watching them go from medication to medication looking for “the right pill”, and rarely finding it, spending inordinate amounts of money desperately trying to find the correct method to make their stress go away.

Can Anxiety Be Cured By A Pill or through Mental Health Counseling?

Anxiety is a complex issue…not just something that can be cured through popping a pill, or through one or two visits to a mental health counseling professional. And while a combination of both medication and counseling can be effective, unfortunately it can take years to see results…and often a lot of money.

If I Do Decide To Take Medication And See A Therapist, What Is The Best Type Of Therapy And Medication I Should Take To Help My Anxiety?

I can’t answer that for you specifically, because every one is different (for example, you may have an allergy that precludes you from using a certain type of medication; Or you may not take well to a specific model of psychotherapy). That said, I can say that I have seen many of my clients do pretty well with what is known as “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy”, in combination with a medication that their psychiatrist prescribed.

Isn’t There Any Way To Get Rid Of My Anxiety Right Away, Instead Of Waiting The Years It Can Take For Medication and Counseling to Kick In?

Yes. For every year it takes to go through therapy and anti-anxiety medication, people can actually learn to make their anxiety disappear in 10 to 15 minutes. That doesn’t mean that counseling and medication aren’t viable options…but they are not the end-all cure-all for anxiety…they are merely supplements to help you get better. The majority of the work is done by “you”. Not to mention…you save a great amount of your money and time.

Why Don’t Psychiatrists Ever Tell You That You Can Learn to Make Your Anxiety Disappear On Your Own?

Bottom line: Because they need to make a living. If you did not see them for visits, these docs would not be in business. Don’t get me wrong…there are some darn good professionals out there in the field of psychiatry.

But, the fact is, if the docs and shrinks let you know that you can learn, in 10-15 minutes, the secrets to curing your anxiety…they would lose a great deal of income.

Childrens Mental Health: Counseling and Treatment-From Marengo, Wauconda and Elgin

Young people have mental, emotional, and behavioral problems that are real, painful, and costly. They are sources of stress for children and their families, schools and communities.

The number of young people and their families who are affected by mental, emotional and behavioral disorders is significant. As many as one in five children and adolescents may have a mental health disorder that requires treatment.

Mental health disorders in children and adolescents are caused by biology, environment or a combination. Examples of biological factors are genetics, chemical imbalances and damage to the central nervous system, such as a head injury.

Environmental factors also can affect a childs mental health, including exposure to violence, extreme stress and the loss of an important person. A broad range of services is often necessary to meet the needs of these young people.

The Problems

Below are descriptions of particular mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders that sometimes occur during childhood and adolescence. All can have a serious impact on your childs overall health.

Some are more common than others and seriousness can range from mild to severe. Sometimes, a child may have more than one disorder simultaneously.

Anxiety Disorders

Young people who experience excessive fear, worry or uneasiness may have an anxiety disorder. These disorders are among the most common emotional problems occurring during childhood.

According to one study, as many as 13 of every 100 young people from 9 to 17 years of age have an anxiety disorder. They include:

1. Phobias, which are unrealistic and overwhelming fears of objects or situations.

2. Generalized anxiety disorder, which causes children to demonstrate a pattern of excessive, unrealistic worry that cannot be attributed to any recent experience.

3. Panic disorder, which causes terrifying panic attacks that include symptoms, such as a rapid heartbeat and dizziness.

4. Obsessive-compulsive disorder, which causes children to become trapped in a pattern of repeated thoughts and behaviors, such as counting or hand washing.

5. Post-traumatic stress disorder, which causes a pattern of flashbacks and other symptoms. This occurs in children who have experienced a psychologically distressing event, such as abuse, being a victim or witness of violence or exposure to other types of trauma, such as wars or natural disasters.

Severe Depression

Experts agree that severe depression can occur at any age. Two of every 100 children may have major depression and as many as eight of every 100 teens may be affected, as well. This disorder is marked by changes in:

1. Emotions: Children often feel sad, cry, or feel worthless.

2. Motivation: Children lose interest in play activities or schoolwork quality declines.

3. Physical well-being: Children may experience changes in appetite or sleeping patterns and/or may have vague physical complaints.

4. Thoughts: Children believe they are ugly, unable to do anything right or that the world or life is hopeless.

It also is important to be aware that some children and adolescents with depression may not value their lives, which can put them at risk for suicide.

Bipolar Disorder

Children and adolescents who demonstrate exaggerated mood swings that range from extreme highs (hyperactivity or mania) to extreme lows (depression) may have bipolar disorder (sometimes called manic depression). Periods of moderate mood often occur in between the extreme highs and lows.

During manic phases, children or teens may talk nonstop, need very little sleep and show unusually poor judgment. At the low end of the mood swing, they experience severe depression.

Bipolar mood swings can recur throughout life. Adults with bipolar disorder (about one in 100) often experienced their first symptoms during their teenage years.

Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Young people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are unable to focus their attention and are often impulsive and easily distracted. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder occurs in up to five of every 100 children.

Most kids with this disorder have great difficulty remaining still, taking turns and keeping quiet. Symptoms must be evident in at least two settings, such as home and school, in order for it to be diagnosed.

Learning Disorders

Difficulties that make it harder for kids to receive or express information could be a sign of a learning disorder. Learning disorders can show up as problems with spoken and written language, coordination, attention or self-control.

Conduct Disorder

Young people with conduct disorder usually have little concern for others and repeatedly violate their basic rights and the rules of society. It causes children and adolescents to act out their feelings or impulses in destructive ways.

The offenses these children and adolescents commit often grow more serious over time. Such offenses may include lying, stealing, aggressiveness, truancy, the setting of fires and vandalism. .

Eating Disorders

Children or adolescents who are intensely afraid of gaining weight and do not believe that they are underweight may have eating disorders. These disorders can also be life threatening.

Young people with anorexia nervosa, for example, have difficulty maintaining a minimum healthy body weight. Anorexia affects one in every 100 to 200 adolescent girls and a smaller number of boys.

Youngsters with bulimia nervosa feel compelled to binge (eat huge amounts of food in one sitting). After a binge, in order to prevent weight gain, they rid their bodies of the food by vomiting, abusing laxatives, taking enemas or exercising obsessively. Rates of bulimia vary from one to three of every 100 young people.

Autism

Children with autism, also called autistic disorder, have problems interacting and communicating with others. This disorder appears before the third birthday, causing children to act inappropriately, often repeating behaviors over long periods of time; some children bang their heads and rock, or spin objects.

Symptoms range in intensity from mild to severe. Children with autism may have a very limited awareness of others and are at increased risk for other mental disorders. It affects 10 to 12 of every 10,000 children.

Schizophrenia

Young people with schizophrenia have psychotic periods that may involve hallucinations, withdrawal from others and loss of contact with reality. Other symptoms include delusional or disordered thoughts and an inability to experience pleasure. It occurs in about five of every 1,000 children.

Treatment and Research: Sources of Hope

Now, more than ever, there is hope for young people with mental, emotional and behavioral disorders; most of the symptoms and distress associated with them can be alleviated with timely and appropriate treatment.

Researchers are working to gain new insights that will lead to better treatments and cures for these dysfunctions; innovative studies also are exploring new ways of delivering services to prevent and treat them.

Research efforts are expected to lead to more effective use of existing treatments, so children and their families can live happier, healthier and more fulfilling lives.

Find More Mental Health Counseling Articles

Spotlight on Psychology: Mental Health Counseling

If you are working towards a career in Psychology and would like to be in a position to help people with their problems and help them to remain in a positive state of mind and provide them with helpful insights into their lives, then you can be sure to be successful in your career as a Mental Health Counselor.

A Mental Health Counselor is a trained professional who counsels people – either individually or in groups like couples or families. A Mental Health Counselor helps generate and promote the best mental health and well being for his clients.

A Mental Health Counselor usually adopts a very holistic perspective while helping her clients – she will study the client’s external environment and the influence of the society on his life, and at the same time, she will look at the inner aspects of the client’s psyche like his emotional, behavioral and also the physical health. Thus, a Mental Health Counselor observes the client in an all-round fashion and then helps the client find the effective balance in his life.

To start working as a Mental Health Counselor, you would have to start out with a MA, MS or a MSW degree. Typically, these would be two year programs. During this Masters Degree program, you would also be working in an internship where you would be working directly with people. It is after obtaining the Masters Degree that you would be in a position to get your license in your chosen specialty. You can get a license in fields like

Educational, Career and School Counseling,

Rehabilitation Counseling,

Marriage and Family Counseling, and

Substance Abuse Counseling.

As a Mental Health Counselor, you can expect to earn an approximate salary between the range of ,000 to ,000 on an annual basis. If you want to develop your own private counseling practice, it usually takes about 5 years after getting your license to be an established Mental Health Counselor in private practice.

As a Mental Health Counselor, you would be in the position to help people with a variety of problems which they face in their daily lives. This can include issues like depression, aging, substance abuse or addiction, issues with career, stress, suicide, anger management, relationship problems, marital issues and so on. You will be helping people work their way through these and such related problems in their lives – and thus helping them to stay positive during the different ups and downs they may face during their lives.

Apart from seeing clients (either at your clinic or at their homes), you would also be involved with the completion of risk assessments or mental health evaluations of your clients, providing care and treatment programs for your clients by providing the required documentation and case records to other professionals who are also involved with the client. You will also be required to keep accurate records of your client files, and such other documentation.

If helping people is your calling, then a career as a Mental Health Professional can surely help you combine your passion and your career as one.

Mental Health Counseling Through Therapy

Unfortunately, many of us feel as if we are on the verge of burnout. We feel as if we have to worry about our children, our jobs, and our relationships.At times, we may feel as if we are spinning out of control.

It is as if we are engaging in a high wire act without a net. We become frustrated and angry with ourselves because we don’t think we’re achieving our potential. We can literally become lost in a sea of worry.

At one time, seeking therapy for such feelings of anxiety would have been considered socially unacceptable. A few decades ago, many people considered therapy to be an indulgence.

Mental health counseling had an incredible stigma attached to it. However, today we see celebrities including Brooke Shields, Anne Heche, Marie Osmond, and Jane Pauley who speak openly about seeking counseling for their problems.Cognitive Behavior Therapy is no longer considered the domain of the crazy and the weak.

Therapy can come in a variety of forms. It can involve face-to-face counseling, self-help books, CDs, and online forums. It has been said that there are as many as 100 therapy programs on the market today.

These programs share some common traits. First, they assess how the individual is thinking and identify any disruptions in thought patterns. It is important to get these thoughts out into the open in order to deal with them effectively.

Second, the programs attempt to figure out an individual’s basic beliefs and whether these beliefs are founded on reliable principles. Say, for instance, you become anxious about flying.

Through talk therapy, it is determined that this fear can be traced back to your concerns about your grandmother, who once had an unpleasant flying experience en route to Oklahoma.You might have been worried about your grandmother’s safety and that, in turn, has led to an irrational fear of flying.

The next step is to gather evidence in order to combat negative thinking. For instance, you might look for a statistic indicating how many crashes a given airline has during a year.

When you discover how infrequently accidents occur, your belief that flying is dangerous may be thrown out the window. The one sure-fire way to fight negative thinking is to counteract it with reliable facts.

Another technique you can use to combat anxiety is to develop coping mechanisms. In other words, in order to not let your worry get the best of you, you might try prayer and meditation, exercise, dancing, reading a good book, or soaking in a hot tub.

You should keep a list of relaxation techniques handy so that you can turn to them any time you are feeling particularly stressed out.You will have to get into the habit of relaxation. This can be quite difficult, especially for those with high-stress jobs. You may even consider taking a class in relaxation techniques. Once you utilize these techniques, you are likely to find yourself better able to concentrate better able to manage your feelings and better able to cope.

Literally millions of people have been assisted through cognitive behavioral therapy. While herbal remedies and prescription medications can alleviate symptoms, they do not address the root causes of anxiety. Until we begin to think positively, we cannot hope to attack the crux of our anxious feelings.

How do you find the therapist that’s right for you? To begin with, consult some of your trusted friends. Chances are someone in their families has been to a counselor within the past six months.

You’ll want someone who is easy to talk to, with whom you can share your innermost thoughts and feelings. If you try a therapist and you feel uncomfortable, by all means switch to someone else.Sometimes, finding the right counselor is a matter of trial and error.

Going through therapy can be a tough experience. You may have to delve into areas that you find to be uncomfortable. But it can be highly rewarding in the end.

You may find that you gain greater insight into your thought patterns, that you are better able to communicate effectively, and that you are feeling much less anxious. There is no reason to apologize for undergoing therapy. Seeking help is actually a sign of strength.

Mental Health Counselling Is A Great Idea

Mental health counselling can be an effective therapy as part of a wider treatment plan for an individual who is suffering from depression or an anxiety related disorder, or for people who have experienced a traumatic event in their lives and are finding it difficult to cope with, or for those who are struggling to deal with specific problems and issues. It is often a doctor who will recommend mental health counselling, however, many individuals will seek the services of a counsellor themselves, either by asking their doctor for advice or by approaching a counsellor directly.

What is counselling

Basically, counselling can be described as a type of talking therapy. It is usually delivered in a safe and private setting so that the individual concerned can relax and talk openly and freely about their particular problems or issues and the emotions or feelings that can accompany them.

It is described as a talking therapy because the counsellor will listen empathetically to an individual in order to understand the situation from the individuals point of view. In doing this a trained counsellor will be able to encourage an individual to see their situation more clearly, perhaps from a different perspective, and will be able to help them identify new ways of coping with their problems or circumstances. Counselling usually does not involve giving advice or telling someone what to do with their lives, it is more about exploring problems, identifying possible solutions and choices and obtaining clarity.

For counselling to be effective, it is essential that an element of trust develops between the counsellor and the person or persons receiving the counselling as only in this way can there be an open and free dialogue. It may take time for a person receiving counselling to lose any initial feelings of distrust, fear and embarrassment so quite often counselling will be offered over several sessions in order for a relationship to develop between the counsellor and the patient or client.

There are several types of mental health counselling services available, each drawing on its own particular theory of human psychology and development. There are also many different types of counsellors, some of who are trained to deal with a particular problem or circumstance. For example bereavement counsellors, counsellors who specialise in eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, and counsellors who understand the issues surrounding drug and alcohol addiction, as well as many others.

Counselling can take place on a one to one basis, or in group sessions, face to face or over the phone. It can last for just one session, a specific block of sessions or be open ended with no time limit at all. Regardless of the particular type of mental health problem involved, the first step to recovery is recognising that there is a problem in the first place.

When mental health counselling can help

Mental health counselling can be particularly beneficial for individuals who have a tendency to repress feelings like guilt, frustration, anger, resentment, sadness and so on and who find it difficult to cope alone and who for whatever reason, perhaps do not want to discuss how they feel with their friends and family. It can help an individual to gain new insights into their own particular circumstances and problems and to achieve clarity and direction in life. Most of all it can help an individual cope and improve their quality of life.

There are numerous circumstances where someone might seek the services of a mental health counsellor or be referred for counselling by their doctor and these include but are certainly not limited to:

Relationship problems, including separation and divorce

Problems at work or financial worries, dismissal, redundancy

Physical, sexual and/or mental abuse

Bereavement

Depression and anxiety

Post natal depression

Eating disorders

OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)

Alcohol and drug abuse

Phobias

Panic Attacks

Dealing with stress

Post traumatic stress

Finding a counsellor

In order to get the right kind of help it is important that you access the most appropriate type of counselling for you and as there are so many available options, it can be problematic if you decide to go it alone.

In the first instance, it would be advisable to speak to your doctor as he or she will be able to take into consideration your full medical history before recommending any particular type of therapy or counsellor. If you decide to seek the services of a trained counsellor independently, it is up to you to check out the cost and the credentials of any potential counsellor before you start.

Many voluntary organisations have counsellors and there are numerous private counsellors advertising in the press, phone books and on the Internet. However, you can find an accredited counsellor from the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy website at bacp or from the National Board for Certified Counsellors at nbcc if you live in the USA.