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Running head: ANXIETY REFLECTIVE ESSAY 1
ANXIETY REFLECTIVE ESSAY 6
Anxiety Reflective Essay
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Anxiety Reflective Essay and Literature Review Report
Anxiety refers to the body’s natural response to stress. It gets characterized by a feeling of fear or apprehension about what is to come. In extreme cases, especially when the feeling lasts for more than six months, the affected individual might develop an anxiety disorder. In such a case, the individuals get advised to seek medication that will include the use of antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and Celexa and other forms of treatment like therapy. However, most individuals do not always complete their healing processes as prescribed by the doctors or physicians. Instead, they get involved in an on and off medication process that can make the affected individuals experience some symptoms of withdrawal when they go off the medication. They may start experiencing the symptoms if anxiety again. The symptoms of anxiety that such individuals may suffer due to removal include rain zaps or pulse sensations in a person’s head, dizziness, and nausea. Various scholars have illustrated the impacts of the on and off anxiety medication and offer literature review reports and encourage individuals always to follow their prescriptions to completion.
Literature Review
Anxiety disorders form one of the primary prevalent psychiatric disorders in the world and get linked with a high burden of illness. The increase in the anxiety disorder cases gets associated with the fact that in primary care, the implications of the condition is often unrecognized and undertreated. The treatment gets administered when a patient has shown distress or suffers from the complications of the disorder. For instance, according to the European study, the people who seek for professional treatments represents only 20.6 percent of the total population with anxiety (Bandelow, Michaelis & Wedekind, 2017). Of the entire individuals who seek treatment or contact the health care services, 23.2 percent do not get the treatment, 19.2 receives physical treatment, 30.8 drug treatment, and 2. 4 percent receive both the drug and psychological treatment. Lack of professionalism in the treatments form one of the reasons that result in an on and off medication. The patients do not get sufficient information on why they should complete their dosage once they start feeling better. According to the Dutch study on primary care, only 27 percent of the persons with anxiety disorders get guideline-oriented care. Various studies have illustrated the reason for multiple cases of withdrawal symptoms amongst the anxiety patients due to on and off treatment.
During the treatment, the patients are put into various medical processes. The antidepressants used for anxiety take between 4 and 7 weeks to start relieving the symptoms. The use of these medications is limited to the chronic anxiety problems that require ongoing treatment. However, most people do not always complete the whole treatment process. The practice makes the condition recur, necessitating an on and off medication that has a significant impact as it can result in the withdrawal symptoms during the off phase. The antidepressants used during the on phase are SSRIs like Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Lexapro ad Celexa. Most people often go to the off-stage because of the side effects associated with SSRIs. The implications include agitation, nausea, drowsiness, sexual dysfunction, enhanced sweating, drowsiness, and even diarrhea (Flores et al., 2015). Such effects may stir an off-stage among individuals.
Even though physical dependence is not as fast to develop with antidepressants, depression is still a primary issue. According to Lader & Kyriacou (2016), if a person with anxiety discontinues undertaking the antidepressants quickly, withdrawal can be triggered. The retreat gets connected to symptoms such as extreme depression and fatigue, anxiety, irritability, insomnia, and flu-like symptoms. Thus, when a patient goes off anxiety medication, they will experience severe withdrawal symptoms. Most patients realize when they are ready to taper off antianxiety medications when they experience side effects that they do not like. In such a situation, they will start feeling too dependent on them, or this can happen when the medication becomes less effective (Lader & Kyriacou, 2016). However, a patient mustn’t stop taking antianxiety medications.
Moreover, from the findings of Lader and Kyriacou (2016), doctors often prescribe an antidepressant to help boost the mood of anxiety patients. However, as soon as people start feeling better, individuals might assume they no longer need medicine and go off medication. The result is withdrawal symptoms, and they may want to begin the medication again, leading to a continuous on and off medication. The practice has adverse impacts on a person’s life health and especially on the rain as the antidepressants often helps in the restoration of the normal functioning of the naturally occurring mood-regulating substances in the rain referred to as transmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine. When stopped, this restoration process gets hindered, and this, in general, impacts the individual’s mental health. The patients should thus attempt to ensure that they do not stop the medications unless instructed by the doctors after consultation on the impacts.
Reflection
People who suffer from anxiety have distinct ways of dealing with it. In most cases, the individuals who have experienced the condition often consider medication using the antidepressants. Some individuals find therapy as a healing mechanism, and this helps them relief from the various form of stress they suffer. I think therapy works best for most people, especially to the individuals that have had their thoughts occupied with the need to commit suicide. I have had an experience with a woman who suffered from anxiety so much that she phoned her husband that she wanted to jump off the roof. She thought that was the only way to stop the stress that was engulfing her. However, the husband came to her rescue and took her for both therapies that would help in her psychological well-being and got administered to take antidepressants. She did not like the drugs and hoped that one day she would be med free. A work trip had coincided with her prescription. She was due to take the second packet of pills the day she got home, but this did not happen as she did not make it in time and was thinking that she was now better as the impact of anxiety had reduced over time. One day when she was brushing her teeth four days later after missing the antianxiety drugs, she felt her blood run cold. She had mixed reactions. She was thrilled that she had not taken her medications for about four days without even realizing it, and this was an indication that she had come from far. Also, she got terrified that it could mean she was suffering from withdrawal symptoms.
She later went the wrong way of ultimately giving up on the drugs. She started feeling dizzy, a blinding headache, and sometimes a strange detached feeling that made her think she was not present in her life. She felt that she was waiting for a train to hit her, ready for the impact. She later resolved that she was to go back and visit a doctor. It would help her y getting the appropriate advice on how she would get through the withdrawal symptoms she was feeling. The practice resulted in an on and off medication that troubled her and would have otherwise avoided if she were to maintain her medications.
From the illustration, indeed, individuals often attempt to get treatments when they suffer from anxiety. However, the moment they start feeling better, they ignore the prescriptions and avoid the drugs without thinking of the possible withdrawal side effects and how it can interfere with their mental well-being. Most of them fail to realize the impacts that the full dosage will have in their recovery period. I believe that accepting that one needs medication to get through the anxiety condition is a huge step, but contemplating life without it can be insurmountable. The secret to full recovery is putting one foot firmly in front of the other and never look down. Never ignore the prescription instructions and work closely with the doctor or therapist to ensure that everything gets done as directed. The practice will ensure that one gets not involved in on and off medication, and this will help reduce the symptoms associated with withdrawal and relapse, also resulting in a full recovery.
References
Bandelow, B., Michaelis, S., & Wedekind, D. (2017). Treatment of anxiety disorders. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 19(2), 93.
Flores, Á., Saravia, R., Maldonado, R., & Berrendero, F. (2015). Orexins and fear: implications for the treatment of anxiety disorders. Trends in neurosciences, 38(9), 550-559.
Lader, M., & Kyriacou, A. (2016). Withdrawing benzodiazepines in patients with anxiety disorders. Current psychiatry reports, 18(1), 8.
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