Panic attack medication is one method of trying to reduce or stop your symptoms. Which drugs are the best and are they all they're cracked up to be? Find out in this article.

Benzos

Panic attack symptoms are commonly treated using this drug. It has various uses but for panic attacks it's ability to calm a person down is it's greatest benefit. This calming effect leads to eliminating or minimizing agitation,anxiety and finally anxiety attacks. This drug is known to work quickly and because of that it can be used to eliminate a current anxiety attack or upcoming attacks. The biggest drawback with this drug is that it can lead to physical dependency or addiction so it is not well suited for long term use.

SSRIs

This drug is usually the next most commonly given drug for people that have depression and anxiety symptoms. This is because anxiety at an elevated level is what leads to anxiety attacks. These drugs help by minimizing the anxiety a person feels which leads to minimizing or eliminating panic attacks. These drugs go by the names of paroxetine and citalopram.

Drug Alternatives - CBT

A relatively new therapy coined "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy" (cbt) is commonly referred to as the leading non drug treatment for panic attack sufferers. The idea behind this therapy is that panic attacks are caused by a fear of panic attacks occurring. If you remove the irrational fear then there is nothing left to cause the panic attack.

This medical concept is known as a "positive forward feedback loop". CBT utilizes this by having you identify the what the triggers of your panic attacks are. Once you know what they are then you can identify them when they start and then minimize or eliminate them. If you eliminate the cause then you eliminate the effect as well right?

This describes the main organizing principle behind CBT when it proves to be effective. That is it gives you a framework to identify the starting stages of an imminent panic attack so that you can apply a rational though process to it. If done enough times it will become habitual. In time by lowering your exaggerated effect to anxiety you will start to think like a person who does not suffer from panic attacks.