This post is part of the Best of the Best on the S-O-S Blog for November

A number of people have recently asked my opinion of drugs for mental health and here’s something you may find interesting.
I am always looking for ways to combat Sydney’s social anxiety, Ehren’s generalized anxiety and my own panic attacks. I realize that for some the time comes when in order to live some semblance of life they must move to medications. I have learned so much about myself over the last two years as well as the how’s and why’s that my body does things that I really think sometimes we need to slow down and really listen to what our bodies are saying. For some of us it’s a little bit of that push and pull with our minds to overcome the negativity. I think if there are alternatives to medications we should explore them with open minds. If we rely on only those that just mask these symptoms we are not helping ourselves or our children at all.

So it was amazing to see an article today titled, “Anxious no more“, which discusses cognitive behavioral therapy. If you haven’t heard of Wikipedia describes cognitive behavioral therapy as:

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a psychotherapeutic approach: a talking therapy. CBT aims to solve problems concerning dysfunctional emotions, behaviors and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure in the present. The title is used in diverse ways to designate behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, and to refer to therapy based upon a combination of basic behavioral and cognitive research.[1]
There is empirical evidence that CBT is effective for the treatment of a variety of problems, including mood, anxiety, personality, eating, substance abuse, and psychotic disorders.[2][3] Treatment is often manualized, with specific technique-driven brief, direct, and time-limited treatments for specific psychological disorders. CBT is used in individual therapy as well as group settings, and the techniques are often adapted for self-help applications. Some clinicians and researchers are more cognitive oriented (e.g. cognitive restructuring), while others are more behaviorally oriented (in vivo exposure therapy). Other interventions combine both (e.g. imaginal exposure therapy).[4][5]
CBT was primarily developed through a merging of behavior therapy with cognitive therapy. While rooted in rather different theories, these two traditions found common ground in focusing on the “here and now”, and on alleviating symptoms.[6] Many CBT treatment programs for specific disorders have been evaluated for efficacy; the health-care trend of evidence-based treatment, where specific treatments for symptom-based diagnoses are recommended, has favored CBT over other approaches such as psychodynamic treatments.[5][7] In the United Kingdom, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommends CBT as the treatment of choice for a number of mental health difficulties, including post-traumatic stress disorder, OCD, bulimia nervosa, and clinical depression.

Focusing your thoughts on the here and now allow help to alleviate the symptoms of anxiety and over time and continued effort of the part of the sufferer it can bring them back into a existence which is not so worry and fear based.

So, in this article today it was so refreshing to find that “the Stanford study is part of a newer focus on analyzing non-drug approaches to mental health treatment.” What an amazing way of thinking. Like the article says not every approach is going to help every one similarly not every drug will help everyone but if we could at least start to lead ourselves back to health with the most powerful tool, “our own miraculous bodies” how transformational would that be.

Here’s an excerpt from the article and I recommend reading it because it’s that forward thinking and the thinking and doing of people who can help make these changes that give everyone a fighting chance of being mentally healthy and happy.

Today, the San Jose, Calif., resident is unrecognizable as the withdrawn, anxious man he was. While squarely making eye contact, Bringas described how a clinical trial using cognitive behavioral therapy at Stanford University in 2009 all but vanquished his nearly lifelong social anxieties.

It isn’t news that the well-known therapy would yield profound changes.

But the Stanford study generated a new kind of evidence: Brain scan images revealed the therapy caused dramatic changes in the brain’s inner workings.

This fall, Stanford researchers will start a new, five-year clinical trial to continue their study of non-drug treatments for social anxiety. As with the previous one, the trial will test the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness meditation in calming social anxiety.

The disorder affects about 7 percent of U.S. adults in varying severity, from the painfully shy to people deeply fearful of normal social interaction.

The behavioral therapy changes distorted thinking about oneself, and mindfulness meditation trains sufferers in awareness skills that reduce anxiety. The researchers test one of the two approaches on each subject.

MRI scans and personal accounts confirm that mindfulness meditation also reduces social anxiety, says Philippe Goldin, a clinical psychologist and Stanford researcher involved in the studies.

The new round of research will directly compare cognitive therapy and mindfulness meditation. Results thus far show the behavioral therapy and the meditation practice each stimulate different neural networks, Goldin says.

After the behavioral therapy, the prefrontal cortex – the seat of logical, analytic thinking – was more engaged in controlling reactions in the brain region from which emotions arise, the amygdala.

Cognitive behavioral therapy challenges patients to reconsider distorted thinking that generates negative self-views. Through gradual exposure to anxiety-arousing situations, it builds confidence as they realize their worst fears are unwarranted.

“Fear exposure” also breaks hardened cycles of avoiding anxiety-provoking situations.

Mindfulness meditation, in contrast, stimulates a brain network in the posterior cortical region that helps us pay attention. The shift directs the mind away from distorted self-perceptions.

It also appears to reduce social anxiety by interrupting habitual poor self-judgments and ruminations on self-defined negative traits, among other changes, Goldin says.

The discovery that each treatment stimulated a different neural network – hence a different mental approach – is critical, he said, as some people will mesh more easily with one type of treatment.

“Just like the same drug won’t help everyone, one form of mental training doesn’t necessarily help everyone,” Goldin says.

Brain scans for psychological research could ultimately prove useful in tailoring treatment approaches, says Judith Rumsey, a program officer with the National Institute of Mental Health who is overseeing the Stanford grant.

Read the full article

Life is about living not just getting by. It’s about laughing and smiling and experiencing all the wonders and joys that our senses have to offer us and embracing each moment. Live for now not for tomorrow. At least that’s what I tell my kids!

Originally posted on September 1, 2011