We are not yet terribly successful in treating anxiety quickly. More often than not people report having had anxiety for years, even decades. So for them, this question is asked more in desperation.

Most people do find a solution to their anxiety and either live with minimal anxiety that they can cope with, or live anxiety-free. It is a treatable condition.

The quickest way to make anxiety go away is with drugs. But of course there are drawbacks. Benzodiazepines are too addictive for long term use and can cause rebound anxiety, which is worse than the initial anxiety! SSRI’s like Celexa often have unbearable side-effects and many people report putting on weight.

But the big drawback of drugs is that they treat only symptoms, not problems, so you always need them.

CBT likewise treats symptoms, negative thinking and avoidance. Psychologists will tell you that these are the cause of anxiety, but believe me, they are wrong. I believe that anxiety doesn’t have psychological causes when it is free-floating (it does for specific phobias). Anxiety is largely physical and you need to treat the root physical cause. I recommend Killing Anxiety From The Roots.

I also recommend checking out The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook USA Editionand UK/Europe Edition. I think this is the best all round practical book on dealing with anxiety disorders.

But even in your darkest hour, when you ask the question does anxiety go away, i can assure you that it does. Keep seeking a solution and you shall find it.

While you are taking these medications it can be very hard to keep the weight down. Obviously careful eating and regular exercise will help, but many people find that exercise and diet are not enough to actually lose the weight they put on. Probably, the only sure-fire way to lose weight is, under your doctors supervision, to come off the drugs or at least reduce the dose.

If you or your doctor are not sufficiently happy with your progress in terms of the depression or anxiety that the drug was treating, then you will have to decide whether short term weight-gain is more or less important than your mental well-being. You could also see if your doctor would be prepared to move you to another anti-depressant, Serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are not so frequently associated with weight gain however the doctor may not be prepared to prescribe these due to cost or may not feel they are right for your symptoms.

If you do stop taking antidepressants altogether then losing the excess weight you gained becomes much easier. Lots of people make one common mistake: they think that coming off the drugs is all they need to do. Wrong.

Coming off the SSRI’s is just the first step. Normally, your metabolism will return to normal so you won’t put more weight on, but the weight you have gained can be stubborn. Over time, it will decrease on its own but that can take months and years depending on how much weight you gained.

You have to face it, there are no short cuts. Losing weight will take some effort on your part. You should:

Cut down on calories, but not too drastically. You don’t want to loose weight quickly as it has a habit of coming back. Make a note of your average daily food intake and reduce the number of calories by about ten percent.

Then you have to start an exercise regime and make sure you include plenty of cardiovascular exercises. Running and swimming are best, but cycling and walking are also good. It is important not to overdo it as you will just born out or lose motivation. Start of just with short exercise periods you can cope with and move up gradually until you can exercise for about an hour. There are some good books on the subject The Eden Diet: You Can Eat Treats, Enjoy Your Food, and Lose Weight is a best seller in the USA. You Can Be Thin: The Ultimate Programme to End Dieting… Forever is a best seller in the UK. 

The other useful thing is to add some anaerobic exercises which build muscle. Although muscle is heavier than fat it acts to increase metabolism, meaning you burn more calories and therefore more fat!

It’s hard to know how long weight loss will take as everyone is different. But you have to be patient.

It would be great if people shared their personal experiences below.

Some people have clinical depression, which we can describe as having a persistent low mood with no identifiable reason (sometimes called melancholic depression), and others have atypical depression where mood can be effected by events and circumstances. Often, people with these kinds of major depression also feel anxiety.

It is not surprising that there is a link, after all the chemical causes of both anxiety and depression are somewhat similar. Both anxious and depressed peoples tend to have low levels of various neurotransmitters in the brain. They key neurotransmitter effecting both anxiety and depression is serotonin and many medications and supplements that are suitable for depression also effect anxiety and vice versa.

For instance, 5-HTP is a popular anti-depressant supplement but is also touted as a possible anxiety solution (and also an aid to insomnia and various other mood disorders).

The drug Xanax (alprazolam) is an anxiolytic (anti-anxiety drug) but its users that are also depressed often report a brief alleviation of depression symptoms. Interesting as Xanax works on GABA receptors which are not known as being directly related to depression. (I mentioned this here just out of interest, Xanax is not a suitable anti-depressant in most cases as it is highly habit-forming when taken over a long period of time.)

Mindfulness Meditation is one of the best solutions for anxiety and depression. The technique, which requires persistence, is easy to learn. I great start is the book The Mindful Way through  Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness (USA), available also in the UK and Europe here. It comes with a CD with some mindfulness meditations on it and is written by Jon Kabat-Zinn, respected expert on using meditation to recover from anxiety, depression and stress related disorders.

Of course the classic anti-depressants, the SSRI’s like Prozac and Celexa, are often prescribed to people with anxiety and panic disorder, and with reasonably good results.

So the good news is that if you are suffering from both anxiety and depression the likely have the same cause and therefore the same solution.

Rebound anxiety is thought to be caused by the fact that many drugs (including benzodiazepines and SSRI’s) achieve their goal by fooling the brain into believing that levels of certain brain chemicals are higher than they really are. The brain then cuts down on its own production of said chemicals leaving you deficient unless you keep taking the drugs.

The answer is to not get hooked in the first place. But failing that, it is best to withdraw slowly, to taper off from the drugs. This will allow your body to compensate by making more and more of its own chemicals.

That is why medication alone is never the answer to anxiety and panic attacks, only a symptomatic cure and one with major downsides.

More of a problem is when children start to experience unreasonable anxiety. Unreasonable anxiety is hard to define, but if it is interfering with education, development or socializing then you can be pretty sure it has gone too far.  Some children can develop phobias of school or of going out alone. These insecurities may manifest as panic attacks or move in different directions like eating disorders or self-harm.

Often childhood anxiety can manifest as irritability, panic attacks, phobias, fear of being alone, difficulty sleeping, bed wetting.

The most important thing to do is to get help. Schools, doctors surgeries and health clinics should all be able to offer advice. If the school has a counseling service then that is a good place to start.

Treatment wise, children are generally not prescribed medication such as SSRI’s or Benzodiazepines unless it’s really necessary. Indeed drugs like prozac may cause psychological symptoms to worsen in children.

Luckily, children are quick learners and can respond well to therapy and counseling, and can be taught to relax.

Lastly, it is important for parents and caregivers to make sure the child feels loved and accepted. This in itself can be a big part of the solution to childhood anxiety.