Monday, May 26, 2008

Can anxiety be caused by a chemical imbalance?

Anxiety can be regarded as one of the main causes of depression, because it can make it difficult for a person to be comfortable with themselves, around people or even outside of their home. There appear to be many different causes of anxiety, which can sometimes make it difficult for people to quickly figure out the exact cause of their anxiety. It is sometimes caused by past trauma, by environmental factors or even by a person’s brain chemistry. Research is still being done, but it appears that some people with anxiety experience it as a result of an imbalance of certain chemicals in their brain.

For people who don’t seem to have any clear reason of why they might be suffering from anxiety on a regular basis, it is thought that they could be suffering from a chemical imbalance in the brain. There are a number of chemicals in the brain that can affect a person in such a way if the right levels are not present, including chemicals like serotonin, cortisol, epinephrine and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). When all the chemicals are present at the right level in a person’s brain, chances are that this is not the cause of their anxiety; however, if a person has too much or too little of one or more of these chemicals, it could quite possibly be the reason for their anxiety. Tests are still being done on why someone would have this problem, but there is treatment available for anyone with this kind of imbalance. There are different medications offered to patients with these kinds of imbalances that can help to correct the imbalance and ward off some of the anxiety they are experiencing.

Anyone who has questions or concerns about possibly suffering from anxiety should seriously consider consulting a therapist or counselor. Many will avoid doing this because they don’t feel comfortable, or even feel a little anxious about going in to see a therapist or counselor in person. There is an answer to this problem; online therapy. Online therapy has been around for a while now and is becoming more popular all the time. People with concerns of a mental health nature can now look for a therapist online and then message the counselor they find. The online therapist or counselor will then answer any questions or concerns the patient may have through e-mail. The therapist can also work with the patient to find out why they might be experiencing so much anxiety and can then provide the appropriate treatment. Many people who have gone through online therapy have been successfully treated for their depression and anxiety. Online therapy does not limit the kind of treatment or help that a person can receive. It is the same as regular therapy, except that it is online and does not require a person to leave the comfort of their home if they do not want to. Online therapy is completely confidential and offers a more discreet way for people to seek the help that they need.

2 comments:

Paul said...

We (www.luminentcounseling.com) prefer on-demand telephone counseling to email/IM counseling. There are advantages to both but with the telephone the therapist can use verbal clues. In general we find on-demand /on-line counseling effective when (1) a person wants to speak with a counselor now (in the moment counseling), (2) the person wants to remain anonymous, (3) the person can not speak to a counselor face to face (physical, time, or psychological limitations).

We also believe it’s important that the counselor is state licensed.

Good luck with your blog, it’s good to see more positive articles about online counseling.

Jennifer Baxt, NCC, DCC said...

Thanks for the support Paul. I believe in audio/video online counseling to be the most satisfactory for my clients and myself. I understand why people want either phone or text based sessions and since I have been doing both, it has gotten easier to read people's emotions through text and telephone counseling.