Read up on Anxiety treatment options at Consumer Reports Health.

Anxiety

Key points about treatments

Everyone gets anxious sometimes. But if you worry so much that it interferes with your life, your anxiety may have become an illness. Doctors call this illness generalized anxiety disorder. We're calling it anxiety disorder for short.

There are several good treatments for anxiety disorder, but there are no quick fixes and no cures.

Which treatments work best? We've carefully weighed the research on treatments for anxiety disorder and put them into categories. We've ranked each treatment to show whether it works. You can find out more about each treatment by clicking on the links below. We've looked at how well these treatments work for adults and for children and teenagers.

For help in deciding which treatment is best for you, see How to use research to support your treatment decisions.

Key points about treating anxiety disorder

A kind of psychotherapy called cognitive behavioral therapy can work well for anxiety disorder, for adults, teens and children.
Medication (including some antidepressants and a drug called buspirone) can also help.
We don't know which works best: cognitive behavioral therapy or medication. Different treatments suit different people.
Your doctor may recommend a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and medication.
A non-drug treatment called applied relaxation also works well.
Medication can cause side effects. You should discuss them with your doctor.

This information was last updated on Mar 23, 2009

This information is for educational use only, and is not a substitute for prompt professional medical advice. Readers should always consult a physician or other professional for advice and treatment.
© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2009. All rights reserved.

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