Therapy helped anyone with GAD & Panic attacks? - Anxiety Message Board

lindam72001 · 08-08-2006, 10:29 AM

My husband is suffering from GAD and Panic attacks. He has trouble breathing while at work and in enclosed areas. He hates his job( he has been employed there for 27 years} He has been taking only natural supplements such as st johns wort, sam-e, 5htp, L theanine, passion flower, valerium etc. He met with a phsyiatrist yesterday and he was offered lexapro. My husband is hesitant because of the sexual side effects. He is trying emdr therapy and cognative behavior therapies. Has anyone had any experience or success with therapy alone and no drugs? Please help, he is robbing my peace and happiness and he needs to make a good decision.

ICC · 08-08-2006, 11:10 AM

i was dx with GAD and PTSD a few years ago. i do take a klonopin on occassion if it's really a bad attack. i found thereapy to be my biggest help. I needed to learn ways to deal with the hurtful idiots of the world. it still amazes me how horrible people treat people.

shorebird · 08-08-2006, 02:16 PM

Cbt has helped me by far more than anything else I have tried and I went through a lot of different meds and therapies in the past. I am med free and feeling good these days but you need to work at the cbt exercises to get them to become ingrained. I still do the tea form exercise almost daily to keep in practise. Best of luck to your husband.

KArast · 08-08-2006, 05:43 PM

What is the "tea form" exercise? I start CBT with a new therapist tomorrow.....figures I'm even anxious abut THAT!

CircusSquirrel · 08-12-2006, 09:04 AM

I think therapy is always worth a shot. That said, I've been through years of all sorts of therapy---everything from CBT (which I believe helps somewhat, it gives you some techniques you can take away and use in real life) to EMDR to group talk therapy and many things inbetween. Everything worked great for a session or two (that's common, one can have a placebo effect not just from medication, but from therapies as well) then didn't seem to have much of an effect. Overall, perhaps I AM better for having had all this therapy and I just don't know it! The most helpful thing for me has been regular and consistent exercise. If you're too anxious to exercise, that can be a problem, but if you're not, get out there and move. There are studies that compare the effectiveness of Zoloft and exercise and the two were about the same.