Paxil has a long list of potential side effects. Some common Paxil side effects include dizziness, loss of appetite, dry mouth, diarrhea, and nausea. Insomnia, blurred vision, difficulty concentrating, anxiety or nervousness, increased urination, sexual side effects, gas, skin tingling or numbness, and weakness are other possible side effects of Paxil.

GlaxoSmithKline, the makers of Paxil, was ordered to include birth defects as one of the potential side effects of Paxil in 2005. Paxil is one of the many medications that a woman should not take if she plans to get pregnant or is not using birth control and could become pregnant due to the risk of birth defects.

Paxil is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). Paxil and other SSRIs including Prozac and Zoloft work by increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain. It is not surprising that a medication designed to treat one psychiatric illness is effective in treating others. Many psychoactive medications treat more than one mental illness. For example, Seroquel is an anti-psychotic medication, but it is also used to treat anxiety and bipolar disorder.

Though the list of potential Paxil side effects is considerable, many people take Paxil without having bothersome side effects. Others may have so many problems with side effects that they cannot take Paxil. The way the body responds to medication varies from person to person.

People who have trouble with the side effects of Paxil should discuss the problem with their doctors. Sometimes, the doctor only needs to adjust the dosage to alleviate the side effects. Paxil side effects may also decrease after the person has been taking the medication for a longer period of time. If the side effects of Paxil continue to be bothersome, the doctor may discuss other treatment options for posttraumatic stress disorder. Unfortunately, finding the right treatment for any mental illness may take time. Identifying the right medication can often involve trying several medications before finding the best medication for the individual.

Not everyone who is disorganized or saves clutter is a compulsive hoarder. Compulsive hoarding is due to fears or psychological needs that the saved items satisfy temporarily. Hoarders who are empty-nesters may be saving every object possible that reminds them of their children due to difficulty transitioning out of their parenting role to the role of parents of grown children. People who had frequently lost their possessions in childhood may compulsively acquire and hold onto as many possessions as possible in adulthood.

Hoarding behavior may be fueled by obsessive thoughts of loneliness or insecurity about not having necessities. Some hoarders have experienced threats to their self-images which can magnify a sense of insecurity. Many hoarders have a childhood history of poverty or an inability to retain their possessions or necessities. Often, hoarders have close relatives who are also hoarders.

Hoarders often have a tendency to overvalue their possessions. In a society in which people are inclined to throw away and replace broken objects, hoarders often save broken objects with the idea that they will fix the objects even if the object is not likely to be fixed. Not only do hoarders save items that they might need in the future, hoarders often save objects in case the item may be needed by someone else in the future.

The hoarding behavior may be considered OCD since the compulsive act of hoarding is continued even if the person experiences distress from the clutter. The person may be embarrassed by the clutter or may receive eviction notices. Some hoarders find themselves in trouble with city officials for having a fire hazard.

Though the compulsive nature of hoarding and the psychological drive to hoard resembles OCD, some may argue that hoarding is not OCD since it is not effectively treated by OCD medications. Hoarding treatment is typically cognitive-behavioral therapy to address the hoarding behavior and the underlying psychological needs and fears.

If someone simply cleans out the home of a hoarder without addressing the causes of hoarding behavior, the hoarding behavior is likely to worsen. A hoarder who loses all their possessions is likely to be overwhelmed with anxiety without having the necessary coping skills to avoid alleviating anxiety with hoarding behavior. Though compulsive hoarding has clear similarities to OCD, experts remain divided on whether compulsive hoarding is a subtype of OCD, a possible OCD symptom, or a separate condition entirely.

Some people have experienced fainting with anxiety attacks. Fainting, also called syncope, is caused by a decrease in blood flow to the brain. Though most episodes of fainting subside within minutes without causing injury, people may get hurt when they fall to the floor when they faint. This is especially dangerous for the elderly.

When someone faints, the person loses consciousness. Fainting is a fairly common condition. Fainting during an anxiety attack can be caused by intense fear or emotional distress. Anxiety attacks can also cause fainting from hyperventilation. Breathing during anxiety attacks often becomes fast and shallow which can lead to hyperventilating.

With the rapid, shallow breathing of anxiety attacks, fainting occurs due to the high levels of oxygen and rapid release of carbon dioxide. The resulting low level of carbon dioxide causes a constriction of the blood vessels of the brain. The decreased blood flow in the brain may cause fainting or lightheadedness. If a person is aware of their rapid breathing, the person may learn to consciously slow their breathing during an anxiety attack.

Fainting from anxiety attacks can be due to vagus nerve stimulation. The vagus nerve is located in the neck, chest, and intestines. This nerve may become stimulated in response to emotional distress or fear. Vagus nerve stimulation can cause nausea, clammy hands, and fainting. Fainting from vagus nerve stimulation is called vasovagal or vasomotor syncope.

If possible, people experiencing lightheadedness during a panic attack should sit to help avoid injury if they faint. Other conditions can make a person more susceptible to fainting. Heart, nerve, and circulation problems can cause fainting. Fainting can also be caused by drug use, medications, alcohol use, and excessive hunger or low blood sugar. Typically, fainting during anxiety attacks is not cause for alarm. Most people who have fainted from anxiety do not have any medical conditions causing the fainting.

Obsessions caused by OCD are disturbing thoughts that cause anxiety. Compulsions are ritualistic behaviors that temporarily alleviate the anxiety caused by the obsessions. Examples of compulsions are excessive hand washing, checking and rechecking items, or arranging items in a particular order. The person has extreme difficulty controlling these thoughts and behaviors.

Psychiatrists may prescribe different medications for treating OCD. Effexor OCD treatment is often used when other medications have failed to be successful in controlling the symptoms. In addition to treatment for OCD, Effexor can be used to treat depression, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and social anxiety.

Effexor is an antidepressant in the class of antidepressants known as serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRI). Effexor and antidepressants like it work by altering the levels of serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain.

The generic name of Effexor XR is venlafaxine HCl. Effexor XR is the extended release form of Effexor. The capsules come in dosages of 37.5 mg, 75 mg, and 150 mg. The psychiatrist may prescribe a combination of capsules for the desired total dosage strength.

Effexor XR is taken once a day with food. The person should try to take Effexor XR at the same time every day. Common Effexor side effects are dry mouth, insomnia, dizziness, nausea, sexual side effects, and constipation. Other common side effects of Effexor include loss of appetite, sweating, and nervousness. Effexor has not been approved for the treatment of children.

If side effects of Effexor are bothersome, the person should discuss this with the doctor. People should not stop taking this medication without consulting the doctor. If the symptoms of OCD continue, the person should talk to the doctor about other possible medications or treatment. As with other antidepressants, Effexor can take weeks to be effective. Unfortunately, it can take some time for people to find the best OCD treatment for them.

Though PTSD is commonly associated with trauma experienced during combat, any trauma that the person perceives as life-threatening or causes severe emotional distress can cause PTSD. In some cases, witnessing a horrific event is enough to cause PTSD.

In addition to combat situations, common causes of PTSD include severe car crashes, rape, sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, domestic violence, and other types of interpersonal violence. The similarities among the PTSD causes are typically seen as threatening to the person’s sense of safety.

Other possible causes of PTSD include receiving a diagnosis of a terminal illness, experiencing natural disasters, and witnessing violent attacks on others. Witnessing violence such as a child witnessing domestic violence or witnessing terrorist attacks can be just as psychologically devastating as experiencing the trauma directly.

Some people are more prone to developing PTSD. Experts have identified certain risk factors that make someone susceptible to PTSD. PTSD is a complex problem. What one person experiences as a trauma without developing PTSD could trigger PTSD in someone else. Risk factors for PTSD include the having a learning disability or psychiatric illnesses prior to the trauma, the severity and duration of the trauma, and repeated traumatic events.

For people who do not have PTSD, this disorder can be difficult to understand. PTSD causes the person to relive the traumatic event in flashbacks or nightmares. Someone with PTSD often has a heightened vigilance and anxiety. Since many people with PTSD tend to avoid talking about the trauma, friends and family may have limited knowledge of the actual event that triggered the PTSD.

There are effective treatments for PTSD. The road to recovery can be slow progress which can be extremely frustrating. The person may feel that they are finally getting symptoms under control and then experience a flashback or nightmare that robs them of their sense of progress. The person should try to remember that the occurrence of a symptom does not erase the progress that has been made.

A person who has PTSD often has elevated anxiety and intrusive, vivid, and emotionally traumatic nightmares or flashbacks during which the person reliving the trauma. One perspective of PTSD and the reliving of the traumatic memory is that the traumatic memory fails to be integrated properly into the person’s memory. Therefore, this emotionally-charged memory remains in the forefront of the person’s mind and is easily triggered. Due to the lack of integration, the memory also retains the intense emotions and feeling as if the event is recurring that integrated memories normally lack.

One common therapeutic approach to PTSD treatment is exposure therapy similar to how phobias are treated. In both cases, the person is exposed to the trauma or fear-triggering stimulus in a safe environment with the support of a therapist. With PTSD, the person may be asked to describe the traumatic event in detail.

The therapist may have the person progress gradually through this treatment. The individual may describe only the beginning of the event or a less-detailed account at first. In subsequent treatments, the person may be asked to describe more of the event. The location of the trauma may be visited at some point.
A relatively new therapy for PTSD is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) which is founded on the principle that the traumatic memories have not been successfully integrated. The goal of EMDR is to assist the person in reprocessing the memory so that it causes less emotional distress.

During the EMDR treatment process, the therapist guides the client through identifying and replacing negative thoughts and beliefs that are associated with the trauma. The therapist uses clicks, tones, or the client’s eye movement to encourage the reprocessing of the traumatic memory.

Family therapy is often recommended as part of PTSD therapy. The family is impacted by the condition and rarely has sufficient insight into the condition. PTSD is not easily understood by those who experience the condition much less those who don’t have the condition but have a relationship with someone who does. Family therapy can provide education about the disorder. The emotions of all family members are discussed. The therapist may help the family communicate effectively, resolve conflicts, and cope with their emotions.

Some therapeutic techniques for PTSD are related to the type of trauma experienced. For example, someone who developed PTSD from a sexual assault or rape may receive therapy from a sexual assault counselor who helps clients recover from sexual trauma.

In my experience, truly believing something bad is going to happen is the most terrifying part of a panic attack. The physical symptoms of panic attacks can mimic a heart attack and cause additional anxiety for many people. These physical symptoms of anxiety cause fear of a heart attack which exacerbates the already elevated levels of anxiety.

Identifying the symptoms as just a panic attack and acknowledge that there is no real danger can help diffuse the panic attack. This is easier said than done, but it does become easier with practice. Acknowledging the panic attack for what it is can help avoid adding to the anxiety by worrying about a perceived threat or heart attack.

Some people who have panic attacks take medication at the onset of symptoms. The physician or psychiatrist may prescribe a medication for panic attacks that is only taken as needed. A daily anxiety medication may be prescribed to reduce the likelihood of experiencing panic attack symptoms.

Isolating is very common for people who experience panic attacks, because the person begins to fear panic attacks. The fear of panic attacks causes the person to retreat to living in a comfort zone. If the person experiences panic attacks in crowds, the person may start avoiding stores and the public in general.

The behaviorism perspective explains why a person with panic attacks may struggle with isolation. Panic attacks in public places can be perceived subconsciously as a punishment for being in public. Behaviorists would call this positive punishment. Since staying at home does not cause a panic attack, the lack of panic attacks is a reward, or negative reinforcement according to behaviorists, for staying at home. The shaping of behavior with reinforcement and punishment is a process called operant conditioning.

Isolation is extremely detrimental since the person’s comfort zone tends to decrease in size over time. In my case, I started out avoiding stores. Then, I avoided going out public at all. My comfort zone was my home. Then, my comfort zone continued to shrink until I was practically confined to my bedroom and could no longer even check my mail without experiencing terrible anxiety. I was surprised to find out that this is actually a common course of the illness.

So, I’ve begun to challenge myself to go out in public at least once a week. Going out in public has decreased the anxiety tremendously. I encourage anyone who suffers from anxiety or panic attacks related to being in public to try their best to force themselves to be outside their comfort zone regularly.

How Does Wellbutrin Work?

Two neurotransmitters that can cause depression symptoms at lower than normal levels are dopamine and norepinephrine. Wellbutrin works by blocking neurons from reabsorbing dopamine and norepinephrine that they release. This leaves more norepinephrine and dopamine active in the brain.

Uses for Wellbutrin

A physician may prescribe Wellbutrin for adults who suffer from depression or anxiety. Major depressive disorder and seasonal affective disorder are the most common psychiatric illnesses treated with this medication. Wellbutrin is also prescribed to help people quit smoking. This medication is not prescribed to people who have eating disorders or seizure disorders. The person may need to take the Wellbutrin for at least four weeks before the person experiences the full benefit of the medication.

Side Effects of Wellbutrin

Like many medications, Wellbutrin has a risk of serious side effects. The risk of the serious side effects increases if the person is taking a dose higher than 450 mg. Common side effects of Wellbutrin include nausea, dizziness, sleep disturbances, sore throat, dry mouth, weight loss, flatulence, constipation, and gas. One benefit of Wellbutrin for anxiety instead of other antidepressants is that Wellbutrin has less sexual side effects than many antidepressants.

Wellbutrin and Anxiety

Though Wellbutrin is typically prescribed for depression, a psychiatrist may prescribe Wellbutrin for anxiety disorders. Two reasons a psychiatrist may do this is if the patient is also suffering from symptoms of depression or if the patient has not be treated successfully with anti-anxiety medication. Unfortunately, finding the right medication for anxiety is trial and error. There are no diagnostic tests to use to identify what medication a person needs to treat an anxiety disorder successfully. If the symptoms of anxiety continue or worsen, the person has bothersome side effects, or suicidal thoughts occur, the person should discuss these problems with the physician.

People with phobias tend to avoid the object or situation that they fear. This is counterproductive. Many treatments for phobias use exposure therapy. A phobia treatment involves exposing the person with the phobia to the feared object repeatedly to show that no danger exists. This is a process that is done repeatedly with a gradual increase in intensity.

A psychological process called extinction is reducing a fear response to an object by repeated exposure that does not have negative consequences. After repeated exposure to the object of the specific phobia without danger, the mind learns that the object is not dangerous after all. This gradually reduces the fear that the phobia generated.

Recent research has been done on increasing the effectiveness of extinction therapy as phobia treatment. The study showed that extinction is most effective if the person is exposed to the feared object to trigger the memory of the phobia three minutes to six hours before extinction treatment for phobias begins. This elicits the phobia memory and causes it to be rewritten during the exposure therapy. If the memory is not provoked first, the exposure therapy for phobias forms a new memory instead of rewriting the memory or learned response that is causing the phobia.

The three minute to six hour period of time in which the repeated exposure to the feared object is most effective for rewriting the memory and reducing the fear response is called the consolidation period. The study suggested that if the extinction training occurs after the consolidation period and forms a new memory, the person does not have the same relief from phobias. Instead, when the person is presented with the feared object, the phobia memory and the harmless memory formed during the extinction training are in competition. The person may react in a phobic response, especially if the person is experiencing high levels of stress.

Research like this on the ability to rewrite memories so that they are less traumatic provides hope that the anxiety disorders such as phobias and PTSD can be treated effectively without medication.

Cymbalta had been previously used as an acute generalized anxiety disorder treatment in adults. Now, a clinical trial has shown that Cymbalta is also a safe and effective maintenance treatment for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Since this anxiety disorder can be a long-lasting, chronic condition, a new treatment option is considered possibly beneficial for those who may not be happy with the results of their current treatment methods.

Using Cymbalta for generalized anxiety disorder helps reduce the anxiety symptoms and increase the individual’s ability to function normally. In addition to using Cymbalta for anxiety, Cymbalta is used to treat major depression, fibromyalgia, and diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Possible Cymbalta side effects include diarrhea, headaches, nausea, dizziness, dry mouth, constipation, and fatigue. The exact way that Cymbalta works in not understood, but this is not uncommon among many psychoactive medications.

Other generalized anxiety disorder treatment methods include antidepressant medication, BuSpar, and cognitive behavioral therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a type of psychotherapy that is focus on changing thought processes and behavior. A patient receiving cognitive behavioral therapy will often form and work on completing treatment goals. It is a proactive type of therapy.

Generalized anxiety disorder is a fairly common psychiatric condition. Nearly seven million Americans suffer from generalized anxiety disorder. Generalized anxiety disorder symptoms impair the person’s ability to function socially and occupationally.

In addition to therapy and prescribed medication, the person with generalized anxiety disorder may help the condition by living a healthy lifestyle which includes a healthy diet, regular sleep routine, relaxation techniques, and exercise. Kava, vitamin B, folic acid, and valerian are alternative medications for anxiety disorders including generalized anxiety disorder.

Lifestyle changes and alternative medicines for generalized anxiety disorder do not necessarily eliminate the symptoms. A person should not stop taking prescribed medication without first discussing the treatment with the physician or psychiatrist.