Psychotherapy combined with pharmacological therapy for anxiety

Anxiety problems are very common in the general population, but unfortunately not everyone considers remedying them effectively and with long-term effects.

On many occasions, the priority is to "get out of the way", putting patches on what bothers us in the moment, without thinking about the psychological exhaustion that comes from feeling that way for many months or even years. Therefore, it is common for anxiety problems to go to the doctor with the idea that the professional is limited to prescribing psychotropic drugs against anxiety.

In this article we will see why it is important that this treatment is not limited only to the consumption of medications and also incorporates psychotherapy, and specifically cognitive-behavioral therapy.

• Related article: "Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: what is it and on what principles is it based?"

What are the most commonly used anti-anxiety psychotropic drugs?

There is a wide variety of anxiolytic-type drugs, and here we are going to see the most used. Of course, it must be borne in mind that the most popular ones do not have to be the most useful or effective for a specific person, and that it is always the doctor who supervises the particular case of each patient who has the knowledge and criteria necessary to select the drug to use.

Having said that, the most commonly used anxiolytics are these:

• Diazepam, or Valium
• Alprazolam, marketed as Trankimazin or Xanax
• Bromazepam, marketed as Lexatin
• Lorazepam, also known as Orfidal
• Clonazepam, or Rivotril
• Clomipramine, or Anafranil

What are its effects?

Each type of anxiolytic psychoactive drug acts in a different way on the nervous system, since there are different ways to produce similar effects in the human body. All of them cross the blood-brain barrier that separates the circulatory system from the central nervous system. and they interact with our neurons, triggering reactions in them that as a whole tend to go hand in hand with a drop in anxiety or its associated problematic symptoms.

However, as the active principles of these drugs are not intelligent entities that are clear about the objective of the treatment, sometimes interacting in an unexpected way with nerve cells or other parts of the body, leading to side effects unwanted. That is why the treatment of anxiety through psychotropic drugs should always be prescribed and supervised by doctors.

• You may be interested in: "Psychopharmaceuticals: drugs that act on the brain"

And what is cognitive behavioral therapy?

As its name indicates, cognitive-behavioral therapy is a model of therapeutic intervention in which both in the observable behaviors of the person as well as in his system of ideas and beliefs (that is, his processes cognitive).

Through this type of techniques and strategies that act in the double way of the physical and the mental, psychologists we help people develop patterns of thought and behavior that promote mental health and the ability to regulate one's emotions effectively.

Advantages of combining psychotropic drugs with cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety

These are the most notable advantages of resorting to the treatment of anxiety using psychotropic drugs of anxiolytic type and, at the same time, perform treatment through type psychotherapy cognitive-behavioral.

1. Learn to know yourself better

Cognitive behavioral therapy It involves getting to know yourself and your own and contextual processes better that are influencing the maintenance of the problem to be treated. We achieve this both in the psychologist-patient meeting sessions and through the tasks to be carried out by the latter between sessions.

Thus, by seeing in a more detailed and realistic way those aspects of the day to day that were reinforcing the problem without us we have realized it, we gain power to influence our mental health and we combat discomfort and its symptoms more effectively associates.

2. Stop depending on the schedule of drug use

For many people trying to overcome anxiety through the use of psychotropic drugs, knowing when the effects of these medications start to wane gives them extra cause for concern and fear.

For example, there are cases in which these people are more predisposed to experience anxiety problems just because they know that in about 20 minutes the effects of the anxiolytics they took will have practically disappeared, despite not being able to take more pills until a certain time due to the indications of the doctor. It is to a certain extent understandable that this occurs in those cases in which the psychoactive drug is seen as the only remedy for the psychological disorder that has developed.

Fortunately, If we combine pharmacological treatment with psychotherapy, the recovery of the state of health becomes "two legs"And the idea that the effects of anxiolytics are wearing off is not so worrying.

3. Modify habits to promote psychological well-being

Cognitive-behavioral therapy rarely addresses only the symptoms for which the person has consulted the psychologist. As a general rule, the aim is to produce a global change in the psychological well-being of the patient. Ultimately, the self-care and emotion regulation skills that patients enhance in therapy will not be applied only to that specific problem that made them feel very bad, but will be put to work in the rest of the areas of their day a day.

Also, even when this is not explicitly stated, in most cases the remission of the symptoms that generated greater discomfort produces a domino effect in other areas of life of the person, which favors the ability to be happy and feel in harmony with oneself.

4. Be able to adapt behavior if circumstances change

Psychotropic drugs do not react to the transformations that our environment experiences: if we go from suffering anxiety about not having a job to suffer anxiety about having a new job that we do not want to lose, probably the action of the drug will not adapt to this new circumstance. In part, this is why it is common to find the need to change medications, starting over with another product.

Instead, with cognitive-behavioral therapy these sudden changes in the day to day do not suppose a stop, since the transition from one series of exercises and habits to another occurs much smoother, so that the patient continues to benefit from the accumulated progress that he has managed to achieve up to that point. moment.

5. Doesn't mean serious side effects

Cognitive-behavioral therapy applied to anxiety problems does not pose a significant risk of serious side effects in the vast majority of patients, something that clearly differentiates it from pharmacological treatment, in which there is always a risk to take into account (if Well, the danger is mitigated by the fact of having medical supervision and being able to modify the treatment quickly following their instructions).

Are you looking for psychological assistance?

If you think you are suffering from anxiety problems and want to remedy them by going to professionals, I invite you to contact me.

I am a psychologist specialized in the cognitive-behavioral model and I have been helping both individuals and companies for many years; Through a process of several sessions, I can "train" you to learn to manage your emotional states and negative behavioral consequences of complications such as generalized anxiety, job stress, phobias, etc. In this way, you will learn to modify your habits and your behavior so that the problem you are experiencing loses its strength until you can overcome it in the short or medium term.

You can count on my services both in person at my office in Madrid and online through video calls; on this page are my contact details.

Bibliographic references:

• Azanza, J.R. (2006). Practical Guide to Pharmacology of the Central Nervous System. Madrid: Ed. Creation and design.
• Gould, R.A.; Otto, M.; Pollack, M.; Yap, L. (1997). Cognitive behavioral and pharmacological treatment of generalized anxiety disorder: A preliminary meta-analysis. Behavior Therapy 28 (2): pp. 285 - 305.
• Pull, C.B. (200). Combined pharmacotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 20 (1): pp. 30 - 35.
• Salazar, M.; Peralta, C.; Pastor, J. (2006). Manual of Psychopharmacology. Madrid, Editorial Médica Panamericana.