What are some treatment options for anxiety problems?
Thirty years ago a person experiencing anxiety would have had a large variety of treatment options. There were probably a half dozen medications that were used to treat anxiety. Similarly, there were at least as many types of psychotherapy purporting to reduce anxiety problems. Fortunately, now choices are fewer. Why is it good to have fewer choices? Well, research, often supported by the National Institute of Health in the United States, began addressing the issue of effectiveness of treatments for all sorts of medical and psychological problems. Part of this was the result of insurance companies who were unwilling to pay for treatments that promised results, but that failed to deliver. Psychoanalysis is an example. People could spend years in analysis and still have severe problems with anxiety. What does research show to be our best treatment alternatives today? Two types of treatments, one pharmacological and one psychological, appear to provide the best results. However, neither i
