Chest Pain Anxiety Treatment

The horror of an anxiety attack can be so intense, victims often feel as though they are in a death-defying situation. This reaction often results is heart palpitations or chest pain, which can feel like an actual heart attack. You can relieve your chest pain anxiety by applying a number of strategies.

Medication

• Chest pain anxiety can be treated using benzodiazepines and antidepressants. Your physician may prescribe anxiolytics or alprazolam, which include benzodiazepines, or Imipramine, an antidepressant. To determine if these medications are appropriate for you, consult with your physician. They can also be addictive and may cause serious side-effects. Before prescribing them your physician should advise you of any risks involved. Although medications can help to treat chest pain anxiety, they are most effective when coupled with behavioral therapy.

Behavioral Therapy

• Two of the most effective forms of anxiety treatments are cognitive behavioral therapy and exposure therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on the patient's thinking pattern and the irrational behavior he displays as a result of this thinking. The chest pain resulting from panic attacks is often triggered by a deep irrational fear or phobia that the patient has toward certain situations. Through cognitive behavioral therapy he learns how to realize what causes these irrational thoughts and how to manage them.

  Exposure therapy places the patient in an environment where the therapist presents her with simulated or real images designed to address the root of her fear. For example, if she has a phobia snakes, the therapist will present her with actual or imagined images of the snakes. In this controlled and therapeutic atmosphere, the patient is taught how to face the source of her phobia, how to gradually abandon her fear of it, and how to gain more self-control.

Exercising/Relaxation Techniques

• In the case of mild anxiety attacks, exercising can help to relieve your pain altogether. Panic attacks often result from stress, and exercising for 30 minutes three to five times a week is highly recommended. For maximum effect, do an hour of aerobic exercise on most of these days. This can include walking, jogging, biking and swimming.

  Relaxation techniques such as meditation and breathing exercises can help to stabilize your erratic heart rate thereby alleviating your chest pain anxiety. While undergoing a panic attack, breathe in and out slowly while counting to 10. Repeat this as often as is necessary, until your heart palpitations subside. These techniques help to soothe your turbulent thoughts, thereby increasing your emotional health.