Sometimes the most important goal in life can be to find the best way to manage anxiety without medication. It may be the stressors of life that become unmanageable or the minor disturbances that come up inconveniently. Just as we all have universal needs for food, shelter, movement, and fresh air, emotional health and well-being are connected. On some level, we have to look at our fear “gone wild” and inquire about its root causes. Mainly, the decision to not receive Anxiety Treatment without Medication comes from listening to yourself and choosing a way that feels right for you.
Treatment for Anxiety Disorders
Treatment for anxiety disorders is commonly the use of medication and psychotherapy, but there are also options to achieve calm nerves without drug treatment. Through the movement of the physical body, consumption of the healthiest foods and vitamins, talking to someone to tackle anxiety down to its roots, anxiety treatment without medication is also viable and could result in anxiety healing, which is totally achievable.
Here is a guide for the treatment of anxiety without the use of medication. Just be sure to consult a doctor and let them know what you plan to do so they know.
Treatment for Anxiety Disorders Without Medication
Most commonly, if you seek anxiety treatment without medication, some sort of mind-body approach would be effective. A model of treating the mind and emotions can start with empathy. You may do this with yourself, a friend, or a psychotherapist. Support groups are also a dynamic way to address it, as knowing you’re not alone is an enormous relief.
Anxiety can look and feel like a sense of
- Irritation
- Overwhelm
- Nervousness
- Helplessness
- Distress
- Confusion
These feelings can become prevalent and feed anxiety because some of your essential needs are not being met. The key is to “listen,” “explore,” and “discover” with empathy what your true and long-standing needs are. Some of the most fundamental needs contributing to anxiety when they are not met may be the need for:
- Protection
- Peace
- Order
- Emotional safety
- Acceptance
- The ability to pursue one’s dreams and fulfill them
- Meeting basic financial sustainability
- Achieving harmony in close personal relationships
Physical Activity
Always, always, always get moving! Sometimes the key to achieving calm nerves can be through a 30-minute workout like walking, house cleaning, taking the stairs, or visiting the gym. All of us know exercise is a healthy must for anyone, yet getting around to it calls us to change our usual habits and commit to feeling better. If you commit to some physical activity once a day, your anxiety may feel less important and your worries less needed. Exercise distributes energy throughout your body and strengthens your ability to buffer the effects of stress.
Meditation
Meditation is a fundamental way to still the mind and notice your fear thoughts and is an optional daily treatment for anxiety without medication. Meditation involves deep breathing, which feeds the brain and calms the nervous system. Learning to be still and not stay busy all the time can shift your life dramatically and lengthen the span of your life. Meditation provides that much-needed break throughout the day. Inviting meditation into your life invites your inner voice to be heard more clearly.
Healthy Diet
Food is medicine. Certain foods calm nerves and strengthen your immunity. High protein and low carb diets rich in essential B-vitamins are good for the nervous system. Avoid caffeine or skipping meals, which only affects an imbalance and leaves you drained at the end of the day.
Psychotherapy
Choosing to speak to a mental health professional can help you with the long-standing issues contributing to anxiety and depression. Psychotherapy can help you to let go of toxic relationships, set important boundaries, and access the personal support you may need so that you don’t struggle alone. Along with life-affirming changes in the body, the knowledge and support you can receive from a therapist fuel your emotional progress.
Reflection and Self Care
Listening to your situation and your inner voice can guide you away from choosing medication treatment and teach you natural ways to take hold of it instead of calming nerves daily. You may decide that medication is not the only option. As you listen to where your feelings of anxiety take you, these alternative treatments can help mitigate situational depressions, relieve burnt-out conditioning, and spark you into investigating your needs. Such treatment can change your life into fullness as you gradually express your feelings through writing.
Hypnosis and Biofeedback
Biofeedback is an instrument that promotes the ability of the anxious person to notice and bring awareness to the function anxiety places on the body. Some studies show it can help relieve the pain in the body associated with stress.
Hypnotherapy helps relax the anxious person or anyone looking to get rid of a bad habit. This relaxation response can help the patient get deeper sleep, which is also an essential way to combat anxiety and regenerate the body from compounded stress in the brain. While aiding the sympathetic nervous system, many health benefits ensue and decrease hyperactive nervous system responses.
Anxiety Treatment in Southern California
Whichever path you choose, know that there are natural ways to calm the nerves and aid the body’s system without causing chemical imbalance or experiencing the side effects of prescription medication. You can change your brain through the medicine of food and the magic of grounding your body through physical exercise. You can make life-changing progress with the approach to heal the brain, targeting your diet and employing beneficially adaptive coping skills. This motivation is life-affirming, and from the sheer inspiration you muster, anxiety can be a sign for us to learn to take better care of ourselves.
If you, or someone you love, are struggling with anxiety and seeking treatment in Southern California, call (858) 258-9883, and the medical team at The Mental Health Center of San Diego can help.
