When you find yourself in a bout of anxiety, your body is experiencing a heightened version of the fight or flight reaction. In the body, this reaction is maintained by the sympathetic nervous system, which is largely the counterpart of the parasympathetic nervous system. They both make up the autonomous nervous system. Greater activation of …
Winning over Anxiety – the Power of the Vagus Nerve Read More »
A combination of psychotherapy and medication has good empirical support for its effectiveness in the therapy of panic attacks. In more severe cases of panic attacks, when it is no longer possible to leave the house, medication may be needed to make psychotherapy possible. Among the various psychotherapeutic approaches, CBT targets maladaptive thought processes and …
Social Anxiety Dr Christian Jonathan Haverkampf M.D. This article provides a brief overview of social anxiety and its treatment. There are several psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological treatment options. Often, a combination of the two leads to superior results. Special emphasis is given to a communication-oriented approach. Since communication is the mechanism which is impaired, communication is …
Panic Attacks Dr. Jonathan Haverkampf, M.D. Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear that may include palpitations, sweating, shaking, shortness of breath, numbness, and the ominous feeling that something very bad is going to happen. The maximum degree of symptoms occurs within minutes. There may be a fear of losing control and various somatic …
Abstract – Panic attacks can interfere greatly with a patient’s social, professional and personal life. The first-line treatment is usually a combination of psychotherapy and medication. Medication broadly addresses two time horizons. In the short-run, benzodiazepines or benzodiazepine-like drugs reduces anxiety within twenty minutes to an hour, which is too long to treat an acute …
Anxiety and Panic Attacks Christian Jonathan Haverkampf, M.D. Abstract – Anxieties can cause incredible suffering, especially in combination with panic attacks, which are usually a short-lived but more intense form of anxiety. At the foundation is often a subconscious, or sometimes partially conscious, feeling that something in life is ‘out of sync’. Anxiety is often …
