How to Stop Anxiety Without Medication

Anxiety is an collection of negative emotions that usually comes from feeling apprehensive about a situation, person or event. Although anxiety is normal, excessive anxiety can be a sign of a mental disorder. It can inhibit you from leading a healthy life by focusing on your reactions rather than the situation at hand, according to Bob Montgomery and Laurel Morris. Although medication can help reduce anxiety, it does not help you develop coping skills and can cause dependency and unpleasant physical side effects. Through practicing self-confidence exercises and stress reduction techniques, you can manage anxiety without the use of prescription medication.

Things You'll Need

• Pen
• Paper

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Instructions

• 1

  Write down a list of your main worries. Rank these worries from most to least important, and for each one imagine the worst possible scenario. Allow at least 30 minutes to imagine what would happen during the worst possible outcome, followed by a 5-minute break. Go back to the scenario, and make yourself think of alternative outcomes, as Montgomery and Morris recommend.

• 2

  Write down your worry behaviors. When you are anxious you act out in order to deal with your worries, according to Montgomery and Morris. These actions may seem to serve as a distraction from worrying, but in fact they can increase your anxiety as you struggle to focus on something else. When you begin to worry about something, consciously avoid falling into your habit of these behaviors and acknowledge your anxiety.

• 3

  Reduce or eliminate caffeine. Consuming more than 2 cups of coffee or other caffeinated beverages a day can increase your vulnerability to anxiety and panic attacks, according to Montgomery and Morris.

• 4

  Limit alcohol intake. Drinking can cause an overproduction of lactate, a byproduct of alcohol that increases anxiety, according to Montgomery and Morris. Alcohol is considered a drug, and is often abused by those who suffer from anxiety because it is mistaken as a relief from anxiety. Excessive drinking can lead to alcoholism and depression when the drug lowers serotonin levels in your body.

• 5

  Create a coping statement. Anxious thoughts lead to anxious feelings, which means you'll need to replace those unhealthy thoughts with something to soothe your anxiety. According to Montgomery and Morris, a coping statement acknowledges your anxious thoughts and helps you reduce symptoms by creating a plan of action, and what you will do when those feelings or thoughts arise.

• 6

  See a counselor. A behavioral therapist can work with you to reduce anxiety through mental exercises and one-on-one sessions.