How Serious Is Anxiety?

Anxiety disorders are one of the most common psychiatric disorders. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), about 40 million American adults ages 18 and older suffer from them each year. The good news is that they also are highly treatable. But getting an anxious person to seek treatment can be a struggle.

Jason Eric Schiffman, MD, MA, MBA, a psychiatrist at the UCLA Anxiety Disorders programs says it’s one of the paradoxes of anxiety disorders. The severity of the disorder, the fear of being stigmatized, and general mistrust of conventional treatment may create obstacles to seeking help.

What Makes Alternative Treatments A Better Option?
The fear of conventional therapy could explain why complementary and alternative therapies (CAT), such as vitamin supplements, NLP, yoga and meditation — are becoming increasingly popular. There was a time not long ago when we trusted Western medicine more than alternative treatments, but today the opposite is said to be true.