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With so many people in the United States suffering with anxiety disorders, the rush is on to find more effective treatments for their discomfort. And medication is the first place they look. Medications for anxiety combined with other therapies are the foremost interventions used today. We’ll be looking at the medications available for the various anxiety disorders, how to properly use them and what they can or cannot do.

Let me warn you, these tongue-twisting names may floor you, but just remember, it’s what they do for you, not their difficulty in pronouncing that counts. Our purpose is not to impress you with our medical knowledge, but to help you make important decisions about your health aided by information from the ADAA. We begin with these cautionary reminders: anxiety medications do not cure, they reduce symptoms basically so that other therapies may be administered; they should be used only with your doctor’s permission and care; and it is not for you to abruptly decide to stop any of the medications for anxiety, you do that at the direction of your doctor.

We’ll introduce you first to the antidepressants whose function is to alter something called serotonin, a neurotransmitter. These antidepressant drugs are the….You can check that name with your doctor - we’ll just call them SSRIs. The three SSRIs that you probably recognize are Zoloft, Paxil and Prozac and what they do is to treat all the disorders listed in our first paragraph. How they do it is to increase the output of serotonin level to the brain which should decrease your anxiety level.

Next let’s look briefly at the Tricylic (TCA) antidepressants, also effective in treating anxirty, which are Doxeprin, Anafranil and Vivactil. These antidepressants work in a similar way to the SSRIs and target basically the same disorders. In addition to increasing the concentration of serotonin, the TCA also affects the activity of a substance called norepinepherine. Medical reports indicate that while TCAs are effective medicines, their unpleasant side effects make them less preferable than the SSRIs.

Finally, the MAOI which are the first or the oldest of the antidepressants are Marplan, Nardil and Parnate, and are classified as inhibitors, because they work by blocking or inhibiting the influence of an important brain enzyme. The MAOI are generally prescribed by doctors in the treatment of panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder and social anxiety disorder.

Again, we recommend that before beginning any treatment including medication, you consult your doctor concerning both the benefits and the side effects of each of these drugs. There are other medical interventions such as beta-blockers and anti anxiety medication that are effective in relieving the symptoms of anxiety, but are usually short term treatment, and also carry some unpleasant side effects such as dependency and withdrawal symptoms.

As with all of us under medication of any sort, a common fear is one of being over-medicated to the extent of becoming addicted. Although this fear could certainly be realized due to careless oversight of what is happening with your anxiety medications, it doesn’t have to be. Both you and your doctor are responsible for seeing that side effects of the medications used are properly monitored and that the correct medications have been prescribed.

Hopefully this insight into medications for anxiety has been helpful and perhaps has given you a brighter perspective by knowing that anxiety disorders are definitely treatable by all the newest anxiety interventions now available to all who need them. May you be renewed in your quest for good health, physically and spiritually, and may you find it.

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