There are so many reasons that anxiety and panic creeps into our lives. It could be something very simple, such as spilling a cup of coffee. It could be something very emotional like a death within the family. On some days, you are able to laugh off that spilled cup of coffee, the very next day that same incident might make you burst into tears. Since every person has their own triggers for stress that means that every person also has their own ways of controlling anxiety as well. People who deal with anxiety find themselves becoming drained emotionally and physically exhausted.

Controlling anxiety should start with the thought process. In time, you learn to feel yourself becoming anxious and panicky. You are able to realize it’s happening, but the mere thought of how to get past it terrifies you. You need to redirect your thoughts the moment you feel the symptoms gripping you. Anxiety causes negative thoughts and reactions, but it doesn’t have to.

When you know you are dealing with anxiety, fight like crazy to push those negative thoughts aside. I know, that’s easier said than done. And it may seem almost impossible to do, but it is possible! I’m not going to say that it’s not a struggle, because it is. Eventually, controlling anxiety is something you can conquer. It’s very easy to let negative thoughts creep into your mind. Once you learn to recognize the onset of your symptoms, learn to breathe. Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Breathe in through your nose and out your mouth. Talk yourself through the occurrence with positive thoughts. Tell yourself that this is something
you will control, you will not let it control you.

The most important actor of controlling anxiety is relaxation! You are required to relax! Find something to do every single day, for at least 15 minutes, that requires very little thought. You could listen to music, practice yoga, soak in a warm bath, or curl up with a great book. Taking the time to cater to yourself and let your mind and body unwind is incredibly essential. It’s important for people who don’t struggle with anxiety as well. I never thought that I had time to relax. I worked full-time, took care of my children in the evenings, catered to my husband, cooked and cleaned, and very rarely focused on myself. I forced myself to start taking late evening walks. The fresh air cleared my mind and the physical exercise did wonders for my self-esteem. That time to myself became a key in controlling anxiety. I learned that I was in control. That’s what controlling anxiety is about – learning to recognize it before it takes over, and convincing yourself that you can and will beat it. Everything starts from your thoughts. Relax and give yourself more time.

Of course, the truth is that it varies between doctors, so an ADHD article tells an absolute, definitive medical position, but if you look at the facts, things really have changed a whole lot in the last ten years. The cutting edge in ADHD article research is now focused on the stories of kids who have been treated for ADD successfully without medication. There are many reasons why things have changed so much, so here are a few.

One of them is simply the fact that there have not been enough longitudinal studies done on the effects of using speed on kids. ADHD medication is usually made up of powerful stimulants, and although there has not been an epidemic of kids dying or anything like that, nevertheless, there is no one who knows for sure if these medications are really as safe for kids as they are claimed to be by the pharmaceutical industry. According to one ADHD article that I read, the reason that treatment by medication became so popular in the first place has to do with the tremendous amount of money which has been invested into ADHD articles by the pharmaceutical industry to claim that the medications are safe. More than one ADHD article questions this wisdom and says that, not only are the medicines not safe, but there are more effective treatments available today.

Some of the treatments advocated in an ADHD article are things like NLP, or various behavior modification programs, but many doctors say that they have gotten good results through simple things like diet. Now that my kid has developed ADHD, I think that I will try out what these articles have to say. Even if I can not find the solution in any ADHD article, it is worth trying if it means that there is a chance that my kid will not have to take medication.

General Anxiety Disorder, impacting approximately 500,000 people in the U. S. alone, is also called Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and consists of the following symptoms, which I will include in a scenario:

JJ anticipated EVERYthing, from what my boyfriend said about her after she left the room to what her grades would be like in graduate school, which was years away.

JJ would apologize for the exaggerated worrying she would do, over and over and over, and then worry that she had burdened me too much with her worrying ways.

JJ was hard to be with when she was in this state of General Anxiety Disorder, especially when we were just arriving somewhere and she was jacked up, shifting about in her seat, acting as if any minute someone would enter the restaurant, party, or even restful living room and kidnap her at gunpoint.

Then JJ would be exhausted, after having spent less than an hour at a store or movie, for example.  If we were studying, she stare off, expressing the feeling of having a blank head, kind of nub.  Or she would be grouchy as hell over the smallest, most insignificant things, over minutiae that hours earlier she had been all antsy about the outcome of.

And JJ slept very little the worry or restlessness eclipsing natural tiredness or normal falling-to-sleep habits/patterns. Sometimes, she would be sick to her stomach, literally.

She had trouble in her other social circles, at school, and at work. She would come over to hang out, and within a matter of minutes, was clutching my arm repeatedly and having me investigate outside for creatures or criminals or was interrogating me about my having once talked to her long-distance chat-room boyfriend, accusing me of starting my own affair with the guy.

On many occasions, however, you would have no clue that JJ suffered with or from General Anxiety Disorder. She was calm and confident and even supportive of others in their own life challenges. One day, I was amped up over a car accident (caused by a hit and run driver who slammed the hell out of me and had to be chased down). She gave me one of her pills (I know this aint legal. Let me be.) That pill had me flying! Turns out, it was Xanaxa medicine prescribed by her shrink for the General Anxiety Disorder.

I tell the symptoms by putting them in a narrative format because I am not a medical practitioner. But I would swear by that little pill, the size of half a jelly bean. Why worry? It is a condition no one should have to suffer, and no one should nurture or aggrandize, for, as I think it was Mark Twain who said Worry is an investment on a product/property you will never get to own. And that’s a paraphrased version, but I am not going to worry about it, especially after seeing what those with General Anxiety Disorder go through with worry, and especially since JJ will likely read this and do all the worrying all over again for me.

All these is very stressing to me but I know JJ feels much worst. To be worrying about everything altogether and most of the time. What we can do for people like JJ is to be supportive. Try not to do anything to make her worry or give her any stress.

First a disclaimer: while I am a mental disorder veteran, having a mother, brother, best friend, and several boyfriends and husbands who have struggled with everything from depression to schizophrenia, and while I have ADD, I am not a medical expert or professional or even paraprofessional and therefore any discussion of borderline personality disorder treatment here is based on research and is not, as they will tell you, to be taken as advice.

Next, a loose (not-all-that-technical) definition of BPD is in order: Bi-polar Personality Disorder attaches itself with symptoms of emotional imbalance or inappropriateness. The BPD person typical has an all-or-nothing, good-or-bad, black-or-white approach to the world and way of receiving the world. I think in terms of extremes with no leveling off, while a clinical expert would say, for example, that a person with Bi-polar Disorder experiences emotions that overwhelm cognitive functioning (as said by writers at PsychCentral). The BPD person can have intense mood swings. (I always think of manic-depressives, like my Mom, though psychotherapists will distinguish the two disorders, claiming they are not the same. In fact, keep in mind that I may be overlapping Bi-polarism with Borderline Personality here.) The BPD person is often one who is angry, controlling, and/or in your face one week, then meek, even obsequious the next. Anyway, I digress to the nuances or suggestions of a few kinds of possible borderline personality disorder treatment.

One strongly suggested if not requisite borderline personality disorder treatment is psychotherapy with a very hard, almost inhumanly detached (with love) professional.

Medications are the second most common, most important variable in the borderline personality disorder treatment plan. Again, depending upon who is administering treatment, what degrees or characteristics of the disorder show, and depending upon the theories and practices in existence thus far, chemical borderline personality disorder treatment can include anti-psychotics, neuroleptics, and/or anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medicines.

Just as my ADD requires, and just as addictions and other problems need, a combination of borderline personality disorder treatment plans or methods is best. Therapy, in combination with medications or alternative treatment procedures, works on the many levels a combination needs to: on the biological (for any chemical imbalance or deficit), physical (self-protection, especially for suicidal BPDs, is taught not bought), and on the mental (whereby medication and life skills practice and changes are also necessary in most cases, evidently.

Patients are encouraged to consult their prescribing physician or psychiatrist if new symptoms appear, if they become worse, or if suicidal thoughts occur at any time during treatment, which occur more often in patients under the age of 18. Since the signs and symptoms of many psychological disorders overlap, patients may be diagnosed with more than one mental illness, therefore the same precautions should be observed whether the patient has major depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, or any other psychological disorder. For most antidepressants in this class, the patient will not start experiencing relief from symptoms until after at least one week of therapy at the earliest. The average length of time varies, but is usually two to three weeks, and in some patients may take longer. Of course, if symptoms do not subside, possibly a dose adjustment may be in order.

According to various online references, some patients have experienced various Zoloft side effects during treatment including insomnia, agitation, panic attacks, restlessness, fatigue, impulsivity, and mania. Other symptoms may include dizziness, dry mouth, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, or urinary retention. Zoloft should not be taken if alcoholic beverages have been consumed either. The patient should wait and take the next dose the following morning. This medication should always be taken with food or milk as well, not on an empty stomach. Patients should also avoid driving or other activities requiring alertness until they have taken it long enough to know how they react to the drug. Another possible side effect of Zoloft is weight gain, which is common in some patients, as is decreased appetite in others. Zoloft should also not be taken if you are pregnant, lactating, have liver or kidney disease, or have a history of seizures or heart attack. Patients should also not abruptly stop taking this medication without being instructed by their physician or psychiatrist. Debilitating symptoms may return or become worse, which could put the patient back to square one in their treatment.

Zoloft is not a drug to be taken lightly off. Patients should always consult their psychiatrist before taking or stopping the drug.