Treatment Resistant Anxiety

Treatment resistant anxiety is very troubling for a patient with anxiety because it seems as if nothing will help. However, there are strategies and approaches that can help assuage treatment resistant anxiety.

Medication

• It is first necessary to make sure the patient has been on a high enough dose of medication for a long enough period of time. Often treatment resistant simply means that the medication dose has been inadequate.

Substance Abuse

• Next, it is necessary to confirm that the patient is not abusing substances. Substance abuse can undermine the treatment of anxiety completely.

Depression

• If the patient is suffering from depression, the treatment of anxiety can be undermined. A therapeutic provider can confirm that the patient is not suffering from depression.

Medical Conditions

• It is possible that instead of anxiety, the patient is suffering from a medical condition. It is important to check for and rule out the following conditions: thyroid disorder, arrhythmia and complex partial seizure.

Panic Disorder Patients

• Panic disorder patients who have been unresponsive to other drugs frequently respond to high-potency benzodiazepines, monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors, serotonin reuptake inhibitors or various combinations of these drugs.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

• Patients with generalized anxiety disorder who are unresponsive to benzodiazepines may respond to buspirone or a tricyclic antidepressant.