What causes an anxiety disorder to develop, and how can I control it without the use of prescription drugs?

I've had an anxiety disorder for as long as I can remember. But it is gradually getting worse, to the point where the simplest things will cause me to have a panic attack. It's taking over my life. Every therapist I've ever tried seeing has always just given me prescription after prescription. I want to know if any of you have this problem- if so, how do you deal with it? How do you calm yourself down? How do you cope with it?What causes an anxiety disorder to develop, and how can I control it without the use of prescription drugs?
Ive had an anxiety disorder for a while as well, and I deal with it without prescription drugs.





Basically, to deal with my panic attacks and general anxiety I will do one of 3 things.





1. If possible, I will take some time to sit alone and meditate, it really helps to clear your mind. I cannot suggest this technique more - it takes a while to get to the point where you can meditate easily, but it works better than any medication I've ever taken.





2. Write/Talk out my fears at that time. I will write down or say out loud what is causing my anxiety, and the more I read or say them, the stupider they seem.





3. Talk to someone about it. In the past I used to talk to my therapist about my issues, and it did really help, but now that I don't have health insurance, I talk to my girlfriend about it, and it really helps me out.





I hope these techniques can help you, they really help me.





I really dislike prescriptions and medications in general, I believe they cause more problems than they fix.What causes an anxiety disorder to develop, and how can I control it without the use of prescription drugs?
I have tried many psychiatric drugs which didn't work very well and if they did they had some horrible side effect. They do have group therapy at the clinic that treats me. including a group specifically for people with anxiety and depression, and it is led by a guy who an actual Master's degree from a legitimate school and a license from the board of behavioral health. They also do acupuncture, and--not at the clinic--bit in this city there is a woman Amy Weintraub and she does specialized yoga for depression and anxiety. I have seen therapists for this for 45 minutes out of a hour session teaching you meditation technique and when you want to discuss a problem they just say the can't solve your problems or make decisions for you. It is pretty much useless, but it works for some and I am sure you can find books on meditation at any bookstore..
When you get anxious, or panic, the body releases adrenalin.The adrenalin causes your body to overact ie the heart beat increases, you breath quicker etc , that in turn makes you panic more and then your body releases more adrenalin for fight or flight (which it is meant to do ) and then this makes you even more upset and you panic even more.The solution I found is to breathe into a paper bag (not plastic), and inhale your own carbondioxide.This slows down the increase in breathing and stops the cycle of panic frrom getting worse.It really works too.I found my panic attacks have virtually stopped altogether now.
There are certain personality traits we have that work together to create our anxiety disorders. We do not have a chemical imbalance or mental disorder. We just have a problem with the way we think. To gain control of your panic disorder, you have to educate yourself about it and learn what it is about YOU that is causing these symptoms to apear. If you go to anxietycompass.com, you will find a lot of information that will help explain things for you. Good luck!
You're not on the contraceptive pill are you? The pill made me go like that, it stopped when I stopped taking it. Some women can't handle the progesterone hormone the pill is based on. Just a thought anyway.
its very hard to control. I take xanax for it. It really calms you down.
Use an ANTI PANIC ATTACK breathing technique. Advice from a published psychiatrist on controlled breathing: (1.) Get a clock, or watch with a second timer. (2.) Practise for 5 minutes, 4 times daily, until proficient. (3.) Take a small breath in, and hold it, for 6 seconds. (4.) Think to yourself: ';RELAX';, just before breathing out. (5.) Try to feel a sense of releasing tension, as you breathe out. (6.) Breathe in for 3 seconds, then out, for 3 seconds. Try to make your breathing very smooth, and light, as you breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth, or nose. (7.) For the next minute, continue to breathe in, and out, every 3 seconds. (8.) Go back to step 3, at the end of the minute, and proceed through to step 7, doing this for 5 minutes. Use this at the very first sign of a panic attack starting, or any time you feel anxious, or tense. Similar, but simpler advice, from a clinical psychologist is to breathe in to the count of 3: (one thousand one; one thousand two; one thousand three) each takes around a second to say to yourself, in your mind, and out to the count of 3. Also see http://deeplyrelax.com %26amp; www.deepsloweasy.com/html/intro.htm Note: the controlled breathing only helps with the symptoms, as do medications/herbal remedies. Address the underlying cause, which requires some form of therapy; see http://your-mental-health.weebly.com/ re anxiety, %26amp; pages H*, %26amp; I. Imagine that the cause of your panic; your anxieties, fears, your self doubts, self recriminations, all the agonizing ';I'm-so-Stupids';; every painful ';I-can't-do-it'; are huge raging, hurtful bulls snorting and charging at you. You see them coming at you and you hold out your red matador's cape at arms length and simply let them charge right by. Every time they come at you, hold out your arm with the red cape and let them rage and snort and go right on past. Some people recommend nettle tea, with a little honey. Others use Lavender tea, Lemon Balm, Chamomile, but use no milk or cream with herbal teas, or Valerian (caution: use for 3 weeks; maximum!).





Know how these affect you before driving, or doing anything dangerous, and it is far better to use the treatments, rather than relying on herbal remedies. Free online PANIC COURSE - www.panic-attacks.co.uk also available by email. See the section on panic attacks at www.mind.org.uk also Ebooklet form. They recommend letting a panic attack run its course, without doing anything to treat it, so you KNOW you will survive it. The usual maximum is 30 minutes, until symptoms begin to subside. Also see www.anxietypanic.com/signs.html and http://www.onestepatatime.com (chatroom, and one free email is allowed to their resident expert on joining - free) and www.medicinenet.com/panic_disorder/artic鈥?and www.squidoo.com/controlpanicattack/modul鈥?and and www.healthyplace.com/communities and http://www.anxietynetwork.com Read: Power Over Panic, by Bronwyn Fox, %26amp; Panic Attacks Workbook: A Guided Program for Beating the Panic Trick by David Carbonell, %26amp; When Panic Attacks: The New, Drug-Free Anxiety Therapy That Can Change Your Life by David D. Burns M.D., from your bookstore, or Amazon.com. Most people are suggestible, to some degree, so you could either seek professional hypnotherapy, or more alternatives along those lines are shown here*. Use a relaxation method daily, like http://www.drcoxconsulting.com/managing-鈥?/a> or http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/mindbody鈥?/a> or http://www.wikihow.com/Meditate Tai Chi, Qi Gong, or yoga. Because many people can't access/afford professional therapy, I include the EFT, and EMDR variant for them to try, free of charge. The following is a variant of EMDR therapy, which has been used successfully for those people suffering from anxiety; it is easily learned, quick to use, yet can be very effective. Prior to using either of these methods, first sit comfortably, and take a deep breath. Then, without moving your head, move your eyes from the left, to the right, and back again, taking around a second to do so (say: ';a thousand and one';: this takes approximately a second).