Handling Anxiety

Anxiety, as we have covered, is ever so prevalent in our lives. Sometimes, it’s manageable, and sometimes, it’s not. That is why in this part, we will focus on treatment plans and its importance to cure psychological illnesses at early or severe stages.

In our country and across the globe, some stigma associated with Mental Health still persists. The resistance and reluctance to seek timely support does exist even as we are aiming for advancements in awareness and promoting more open conversations.

As a mental health professional with considerable experience and exposure to working in clinical and hospital set-ups, and treating people with moderate to severe mental illness, I have witnessed families regretting their lack of awareness and holding onto stigmas which caused a delay in seeking timely help.

Before we understand the treatment plans in detail, let us understand the role of a Psychiatrist, Clinical Psychologist and Counselling Psychologist briefly.

• Psychiatrist
  A medical doctor who specializes in psychological disorders including substance abuse disorders. Psychiatrists are qualified Mental Health Professionals who assess physical causes to diagnose psychological illnesses and prescribe medicines. Psychiatrists are eligible to conduct procedures likes RTMS and electroconvulsive therapy.
• Clinical Psychologist
  They mainly work to conduct psychometric assessments on patients to diagnose psychological disorders given by the psychiatrist. Clinical Psychologists are further trained in various psychological-based therapies to provide psychotherapy.
• Counselling Psychologist
  Similar to clinical psychologists, they are also equipped to conduct many psychometric assessments and trained in psychological-based therapies to conduct talk therapy for psychological concerns that may or may not be a diagnosed disorder. Their methods also focus on the person which emphasizes on positive psychology and behavioural skills.

Please note that only mental health professional with a medical degree like psychiatrists are referred to as doctors.

The treatment plan for any disorders is as follows:

• Psychiatric evaluation and clinical diagnosis.
• Counselling or Therapeutic intervention.
• Supportive treatment plans like lifestyle management or modifications, creating conducive environment, supporting caretakers.

The above is just the typical treatment plan but depending on the condition of the diagnosed mental disorder, the extent and order of the plan can vary. Depending on the individual cases, treatments can consist of both pharmacological treatment and talk therapy/counselling together, which is then followed by lifestyle modification and so on. Whereas in other cases, treatment plans may consist of only pharmacological treatment or talk therapy/counselling on their own.

Something important to note here is that while effective, the process of talk therapy/counselling requires longer duration as it is focused on working collectively towards one goal at a time. The person must cooperate with their therapist to consciously work on the end outcome they set at the beginning of the counselling sessions. The role of the therapist is to guide and direct with the right techniques, but the ownership lies with the one seeking help. Of course, that is not to say that you cannot go back to your therapist with challenges and concerns, you can always request for more support when needed.

In general, anxiety treatment typically involves medication, psychotherapy, relaxation techniques and lifestyle modifications like cutting down on unhealthy food (caffeine, carbonated drinks, chocolate, etc.), saying no to alcohol and recreational drugs, getting better sleep, managing your environment, understanding your own condition, and noting down factors that affect the management of your disorder.