Anxiety disorders

 

Usually, the patient will come in after a prolonged and painful period of gradually building-up anxiety, which will usually culminate in full-blown panic attacks, tied in with insomnia, digestive disturbances and all kinds of psychosomatic complaints. The disturbances will no longer be in the realm of the purely psychological, they would have crossed over into the body, i.e. physical.

 It is then, and only then, in this « peak » or acute stage of anxiety, that a person will contact a therapist, often after having been advised to do so by the médecin généraliste, or GP. There might also be, more often than not, various scans, IRMs, blood tests, urine tests and whatnots to eliminate any underlying organic illnesses. The verdict being; everything is alright. But everything is not alright, and the feeling is one of utter misery, loneliness and despair.

 Without exaggeration, I can say that in my many years of practice, even the most acute forms of anxiety have found massive relief after two, or, one-and-a-half months of once a week therapy. This means from six to eight sessions. Six to eight sessions are necessary for an acute case to stop having unexplained panic attacks which leave them completely bewildered as to where their anxiety is coming from. From here on, one of two things can happen. The patient, having finally acquired the relief that the panic attacks are no longer happening and controlling their life, chooses to stop therapy and continue their life as before, with some adjustments of course, or, they choose to continue therapy and embark on a journey of self-exploration and a complete fortification and turn-around of their former anxious, fragile self, into a calm, composed, self-assured and strong individual, capable of holding their own in our demanding world. 

 The latter only happens in about five percent of cases. Most people only wish to get rid of anxiety, without necessarily tackling it, lifting the lid off and seeing what is underneath it. This is perfectly fine, and everyone’s intuition about how far they dare to go should be respected because it is always spot on. 

 However, what should be emphasized is that anxiety disorders are not that difficult to treat, despite the presumptions. Yes, eliminating anxiety completely is impossible for anyone aside from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character in Robocop. Anxiety, especially existential anxiety, is part of what makes us human beings. Yet extreme, debilitating forms of anxiety and panic attacks are relatively easy to get rid of. Across a wide spectre of therapies, the six-week to two month mark seems to be a constant. 

 So yes, there is definitely hope. In the next blog entry, I will explain what happens in the six to eight sessions that makes so much of a difference in lowering anxiety levels.