Our last series of Tips have focused on a poll we conducted in 2007 on the effectiveness of popular anxiety treatments. Our goal was to get a real-world perspective on which anxiety treatments provided the best results. The overall conclusions are as follows:

The most effective anxiety treatment:
Personal Coaching/Counseling/Therapy

Anxiety treatment that provided the best long-term results:
Personal Coaching/Counseling/Therapy

The combination of anxiety treatments that provided the best results with the least negative effects:
Personal coaching/counseling/therapy, self-help information, regular exercise, regular deep relaxation, and stress reduction.

The best self-help anxiety treatment:
Good self-help information

The least effective anxiety treatment:
Chiropractic care

Anxiety treatments that produced the most negative effects:
Medication, psychiatric care, acupuncture, chiropractic care.

Anxiety treatments that provided little or no noticeable benefit:
Over 30 percent of respondents said that chiropractic treatments, vitamin and mineral supplements, acupuncture, and herbs provided little or no noticeable difference.

Anxiety treatment that caused the most people to feel worse:
Over 30 percent of respondents said that the combination of medication and psychiatric care made them feel worse. This is three times higher than the next runners-up (acupuncture and chiropractic care).

How do these results compare with the latest research?
Studies conducted from 1993 to 2004 showed that the most effective form of anxiety treatment was the combination of medication and therapy (commonly referred to as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy).

More recently, however, studies have found that medication actually provides very little benefit. In fact, according to a recent comprehensive study on the effectiveness of medication, less than 25 percent of those who took medication actually found it helpful. It’s interesting to note that this same study found that those who took placebos found them to be more helpful than medication.

Another recent study found that the combination of good self-help materials in combination with anxiety therapy provided the best overall results. The study also found that this combination provided the best long-term results as well.

Our poll results are consistent with those from recent studies.

What our experience has shown:
Based on the many years of experience both as anxiety sufferers and as professional anxiety coaches/counselors/therapists, the most effective way to overcome anxiety disorder is with the combination of personal coaching/counseling/therapy, good self-help information, and effective self-help strategies. We’ve also found that this combination is the ONLY approach that consistently produces successful and lasting results.

Why is it important to know this information?
It’s our experience that far too many people struggle with anxiety needlessly. In fact, it’s sad to hear how many people waste time and money on anxiety treatments that provide limited or no results.

Unfortunately, you can waste a lot of time and money on treatments that CAN’T produce lasting results.

For example, we frequently talk with people who have been on medication for over 20 years (and many times, on multiple medications), yet their anxiety has grown worse. We also talk with people who have poured a lot of money into homeopathic treatments, but their anxiety condition didn’t change. We also talk with people who have tried anything and everything to get rid of their anxiety, but to no avail. Some people spend years trying this and that, yet still have anxiety disorder.

Again, this is truly sad. Based on our experience, we believe it is far better to focus on those anxiety treatments that actually produce lasting results, then persevere with them until you regain your normal health.

When you work with anxiety treatments that CAN produce lasting results, the rest is just a matter of effort and time. All of us at anxietycentre.com have recovered because we worked at the strategies that are proven to provide lasting results.

We want to encourage you to NOT waste your time and money on anxiety treatments that CAN’T provide lasting results, but to spend your energy and time on those anxiety treatments that CAN and DO provide lasting results time and time again. When you do the right things, you get the right results. Hopefully our poll results, which are based on the real-world experiences of hundreds of people from around the world, will help you identify the right direction to success so that you can finally overcome your anxiety condition and get on with the rest of your life.

Have a great week!

For more information on anxiety symptoms.