Anxiety Help
If you feel like you are anxious of panicky a lot of the time, speak to your doctor and explain how you feel. You could always speak to a nurse in school or college first.
Nice is the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and makes recommendations to health professionals around certain areas of care. Nice has produced guidance (for over 18s) on anxiety and suggests that healthcare professionals should offer people with anxiety medication, therapy or self-help.
Medication
The doctor may prescribe you with antidepressants called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors or SSRIs which may help to calm you down and feel differently about things. Antidepressants usually take around two-four weeks to work properly so don’t worry if you do not feel better overnight.
Some people experience side effects by taking antidepressants so do tell your doctor if you experience any symptoms after taking the antidepressants as they may be able to give you a different type which doesn’t affect you in the same way. The Nice guidance suggests that benzodiazepines should not be prescribed for panic disorder.
Don’t be afraid to ask your doctor questions:-
What type of antidepressant are you prescribing me?
Why are you prescribing me this type of antidepressant – why is it best for me?
How long do I have to take them for?
What are common side effects?
What is the alternative if I don’t want to take medication?
Therapy
You may be offered a course of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), which is a type of talking therapy that helps you to understand your thoughts, feelings and behaviour and helps you to think about things differently. You will work with a therapist to find ways to change the way you think and behave. You may also learn some techniques to help you relax.
You should receive between 16 and 20 hours of treatment in total. This is usually provided as weekly sessions of 1–2 hours each, and the treatment is usually done over four months. Sometimes it’s more appropriate to have a shorter programme of CBT (8–10 hours in total) with ‘homework’ to practise what was learned between sessions.
Don’t be afraid to ask your doctor questions:-
Why do you think I will benefit from therapy?
Who will my therapy sessions be with?
How long will I have the sessions for?
How long will it be before I start to notice a difference?
Why are you suggesting therapy for me rather than medication?
Self-help
There may be things that you can do to help yourself. The doctor or person working with you might talk through some ideas with you about how to do this. It might include reading particular books that may be based on CBT techniques, getting involved with self-help groups or doing exercise to improve your mood. Your GP should catch up with you regularly to see how you're getting on.
There are further suggestions for places to get information and help in the next section.