Alternative Treatment For Anxiety

Despite much research, the exact causes of anxiety aren't fully understood. Life experiences such as traumatic events can trigger anxiety disorders and anxiety symptoms, especially in people who are prone to anxiety. Inherited traits can also play into the risk factors. In general, below are 5 of the most common causes of anxiety:

• Trauma: People who've experienced childhood abuse or witnessed traumatic events in their childhood are at higher risk of developing anxiety symptoms. Adults who experience a traumatic event later in life can also develop anxiety disorders and conditions.
• Stress: A significant stressful event or a chronic buildup of smaller stressful life situations may trigger anxiety — for example, health conditions and serious illnesses, a death in the family, work stress or ongoing worry about finances.
• Genetics: Family history can play a significant role in causes of anxiety disorders and symptoms. If you have a blood relative with an anxiety condition, you may have a higher risk of developing one yourself. Certain genetic traits and variations may make individuals more susceptible to anxiety.
• Other mental health disorders:People with other mental health disorders, such as depression, and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are often also prone to anxiety symptoms.
  Drugs or alcohol. Drug and/or alcohol use or misuse or withdrawal can cause or worsen anxiety.

Anxiety can manifest in many different ways, both physically and mentally. While there could be more in reality, many mental healthcare resources highlight the below 8 most common symptoms of anxiety.

Restlessness 
Restlessness often refers to our inability to sit calmly, relax, or respite during a time of anxiety. It can lead to other debilitating symptoms and can exacerbate other symptoms of anxiety as well, leading to panic, difficulty concentrating, and worry. Restlessness can also lead to trouble sleeping, which can have a profound effect on both mental and physical health. 

Impending doom or worry
Though these symptoms are all common, impending doom and worry are often one of the first symptoms a medical provider addresses during an assessment or appointment. These thoughts can revolve around ourselves, friends, and loved ones. They frequently arise and are prolonged when a situation is out of one's control. 

Panic episodes
Panic is common with anxiety. When we are suddenly overwhelmed, it could mean that we are experiencing a panic attack. Sometimes these episodes seem to come without warning or reason. Other times, they happen in response to a reminder of an underlying thought of anxiety.  

During a panic attack, we may feel like we're not in control or afraid of dying. Chest pain, trembling, hot flashes or chills, a choking sensation, and other physical symptoms are commonly associated with anxiety attacks.

Difficulty concentrating 
Anxiety can make us feel like we must be on constant high alert or keep us fixated on one thought. This, in turn, makes it challenging to concentrate or think clearly. 

Fatigue
The persistent feeling of being overworked, tired, and exhausted often comes with the territory of anxiety. Stress hormones, like cortisol, fill the body, leading to fatigue at any point during the day. It can build from the other symptoms we're experiencing, like difficulty concentrating and lack of sleep.

Trouble sleeping
When in an anxious state, our body may be on edge, and our mind may be in constant worry. This can lead to a disturbance in our sleep patterns. Intrusive thoughts and the stress hormone cortisol can keep us up long past the time we planned to go to fall asleep. The lack of sleep can exacerbate anxiety symptoms and lead to other mental and physical health challenges.

Obsessions/Compulsions
While anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are different mental health challenges, we may develop symptoms that behave in ways that look similar to OCD. For example, we may check the locks on their doors several times before leaving the house in response to the hypervigilance that can come after a trauma. OCD and those diagnosed with anxiety can suffer from intrusive, disturbing thoughts.  

Agitation
Agitation is a feeling of anxiety or nervous excitement. It is understood on a spectrum. Words like restless, uneasy, and tense generally describe mild agitation. When we're agitated, we may be fidgety or find it hard to sit still. Agitation can build to the point that we become short-tempered or continually irritable. Untreated trauma can contribute to aggressive or harmful behavior toward ourselves or others.

Yes, there are many ways to treat anxiety without the help of medication. At Stella, we offer DSR SGB as the main modality that targets a cluster of anxiety symptoms on a biological level. By regulating the sympathetic nervous system and resetting the brain's overactive fight-or-flight response to its baseline, we help the patients break the cycle of anxiety and regain a sense of safety and peacefulness in life. Study shows that dual level SGB (what we call DSR at Stella) can reduce anxiety symptoms by 50%. DSR SGB is a minimally invasive 20-min procedure that can provide fast and long-lasting relief without the intervention of medication.

Ketamine assisted psychotherapy (KAP)is another modality we offer that can help combat anxiety symptoms by helping the brain to create new neural-pathways and repair the damage to the brain's communication system caused by long-term stress hormones. While ketamine is a psychedelic drug in itself, the low-dose and controlled fashion of the infusion won't cause an addiction or reliance on the drug. When paired with Integration Sessions, the results can be long lasting.

Stella is a pioneer in providing multi-modality mental health care using science-based biological treatments. While traditional treatment for anxiety like medication or talk therapy can help patients relieve anxiety on a chemical and a cognitive level, treatment by Stella addresses the biological root cause of anxiety by treating the underlying dysregulation in the brain. By leveraging cutting-edge treatments like DSR SGB and Ketamine infusion therapy, we help patients regulate the brain's overactive sympathetic nervous system, and create new neural pathways that transform their belief system, which helps create a safe space for the patients' recovery without the constant attack from debilitating symptoms like panic attacks and hyperarousal.

If you want to find out if you are a candidate for Treatment by Stella, please call 908-293-7559 to schedule an intake assessment with our Advanced Practice Provider. Our trauma informed clinical team will create a curated care plan based on your symptoms, health history and experience.