According to a study conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health, nearly 40 million American adults around the age of 18 and more are facing the problem of anxiety disorder. This is a common psychiatric disorder. But, the great news worth to mention here is that it is treatable. However, if you have an anxious person in your family or anyone suffering from teen anxiety, you will feel it highly difficult to force him/her for the treatment. Particularly, when the anxious person is a teen, it will be more difficult for the parents to handle.
Why complementary and alternative treatment?
As compared to conventional treatment, more and more parents these days are opting for complementary and Alternative Therapies, which are denoted as CAT. Some of the options falling under this category are meditation, yoga and vitamin supplements. This shift is taking place because of the fear towards conventional therapies. Also, as per the research conducted by a Psychiatrist named Jason Eric Schiffman in the UCLA anxiety disorder program, the other reasons behind the shift of people towards CAT to treat teen anxiety are given below:
Mistrust towards pharmaceutical companies: Nowadays, the connection between doctors and drug manufacturers has become unclear and when the film ‘Love and other drugs’ was released, people began to raise legitimate questions like: How much persuasion, these companies have on physicians’ decision to prescribe some medicines? Also, it is pointed out that like many other businesses, these companies are also operating with raising profit to their shareholders as the aim. So, how much attention they give for production of quality medicines is the concern. Even though, many recent efforts have been made to prevent unfairness by restricting the way in which these companies and physicians interact, the general fear towards trustworthiness continues.
Side-effects: It has been found that medicines prescribed under conventional system of medicine towards teen anxiety tend to have sexual side-effects and this is another important reason behind the shift towards CAT. This side-effect is known to arise, particularly from medicines falling under the category of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors or SSRIs.
No relief: Schiffman has pointed out that only around 30-40 percent of people respond to the SSRIs and also for some severe conditions like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, the conventional methods of treatment might not even work. Even some people choose to go for CAT after trying out the conventional method and they lose hope and finally turn out to this alternative.
Human interest towards natural products: Nowadays, more and more people are opting for natural methods to get the required treatment for different conditions and this is another reason behind the increasing popularity of CAT as compared to conventional methods for treating teen anxiety.
Make best use of the treatment
So, if you are considering alternative treatment for your anxiety, the best thing you can do is to keep yourself informed about the different methods available out there like acupuncture, kava, yoga and other stress and relaxation techniques, where no medicines are used for providing the needed relief. Also, when you collect information in this respect, conduct a thorough research and also be careful about the selection of the right solution provider as there are some scams available out there who claim to treat .