Can Counseling Help People With Anxiety Disorders?

Arthur Rackham for Undine

Counseling can work wonders for people with anxiety disorders. The tools a counselor can give people stricken with any of these disorders or even just occasional panic attacks, coupled with the ability to speak with an unbiased party about their issues can take the place of medicine for the treatment of panic disorders. However, several factors will determine how successful counseling will be for the treatment of panic disorders. Very often, it takes a combination of counseling, medication and personal effort to see big results.

For counseling to help with any kind of anxiety disorder, the sufferer has to be willing to try to make it work. If a counselor suggests something like exposure therapy, the sufferer has to trust their counselor and try not to let their fear get in the way of treatment. Oftentimes, counseling will fail in treating panic disorders because the sufferer can't or won't allow their counselor to help them.

In order for a counselor to help a panic disorder sufferer, it is best if the counselor is well suited to the counseled. If there is anything about the counselor that makes the sufferer uncomfortable or defensive, it will be difficult to get results. On the other hand, it does take time for a person to become comfortable with and begin trusting their counselor. Therefore, if you are just starting counseling, give it a while before you switch counselors. You may find that as you get to know your counselor, your treatment works better and better.

The intensity of the anxiety disorder will also have a lot to do with how well and how fast counseling will help. For example, if a sufferer cannot leave their house without having a panic attack, going to counseling is going to be hell for them. It will be awhile before that person is able to feel safe going to see their counselor. Furthermore, it is harder to break the cycle of a panic disorder when it has been festering for a long time and has had the chance to become severe. Panic attacks become like a habit for many people. Sufferers get so used to them that they expect to have one and subsequently do because of their negative thinking. Counseling can and does help people like this, but it takes patience on the part of both the counselor and counseled.

A good counselor will have great listening skills, be understanding and have a comprehensive knowledge of ways to treat panic without medicine (see a prescriber or psychiatrist for that). They may tell you to try to get regular exercise, eat healthy foods, try exposure therapy, keep a journal, etc. All of these things are small steps on the road to chipping away at panic disorders. However, with the right counselor, right advice and enough time, a sufferer cannot only lessen their panic, but they may see it go away altogether.

Mental Illness and Social Stigma

Below you will find an article I wrote many years ago about stigma, probably soon after I realized I had to live with it. 

Depiction of the isolation and grief
associated with mental illness,
courtesy of Baker131313 

Unfortunately for those among us who suffer from a mental illness, there is a certain stigma that comes with any diagnosis. Because mental illnesses are not visible on x-rays and in blood tests, some people doubt the credibility of sufferers. Even though mental illnesses are diagnosed, treated and researched by professionals every day there are still those people who would view them as an excuse to be different or make fun of the people who suffer from them. There are even those who know they exist, but remain unsympathetic.

When someone who is suffering from a mental illness displays symptoms of it they will often hear remarks like "snap out of it" or "what's wrong with you?". People who witness someone having an anxiety attack or a mood swing often don't display the same sympathy they would for someone displaying symptoms of something less "emotional." This is even true of some healthcare professionals. Oftentimes this callous treatment and lack of sympathy make the sufferer feel even more isolated, depressed and anxious than they were to begin with. Fear of displaying these symptoms in public keeps many people with a mental illness from holding a job and leading a "normal" life.

Another aspect of the stigma attached to mental illness is the assumption that everyone who suffers from them is "crazy." Certainly there are mental illnesses that render the sufferer insane, but there are many victims of these illnesses that are far from being crazy. Mental illnesses are frequently misunderstood along with their victims. It is much easier to dismiss someone as insane than it is to attempt to understand these people and their diseases.

Of course there are some people who are afraid of people with mental illness. Some of these diseases and disorders are unpredictable and at times very frightening. It is natural to fear them. Unfortunately, this fear leaves the sufferer with fewer opportunities for friendships and other healthy relationships.

Victims of mental illness are often aware of the stigma that comes with being mentally ill. Unlike sufferers of most other disorders, people with mental illnesses have to deal with being judged as a consequence of being sick. Again, unlike other illnesses, fear of being judged or disliked can make many mental illnesses worse.

No matter how much proof of these diseases exists or how much evidence there is of the horror their victims suffer, some people continue to treat them as "fake" illnesses. Hopefully, in the future, people will treat sufferers of these illnesses with more sympathy and less denial.

Note: If you are a victim of mental health stigma, check out NAMI, an organization fighting to end the stigma associated with mental illness.