An anxiety attack, sometimes referred to as a panic attack, can be a very terrifying experience. The symptoms of anxiety attacks can be very confusing as usually the person has no idea as to why their body is reacting in the manner it is.

If you have experienced some of these unusual symptoms (below) while experiencing anxiety let me help you to understand it better and try and put your mind at ease.

From the 14th to the 16th century in Europe, it was believed that people who experienced blasphemous, sexual, or other obsessive thoughts were possessed by the Devil. Based on this reasoning, treatment involved banishing the “evil” from the “possessed” person through exorcism. In the early 1910s, Sigmund Freud attributed obsessive-compulsive behavior to unconscious conflicts which manifested as symptoms. Freud describes the clinical history of a typical case of “touching phobia” as starting in early childhood, when the person has a strong desire to touch an item. In response, the person develops an “external prohibition” against this type of touching. However, this “prohibition does not succeed in abolishing” the desire to touch; all it can do is repress the desire and “force it into the unconscious”.

Research into the causes of social anxiety and social phobia is wide-ranging, encompassing multiple perspectives from neuroscience to sociology. Scientists have yet to pinpoint the exact causes. Studies suggest that genetics can play a part in combination with environmental factors.

If you are suffering with anxiety, beating it should be your first priority. Having suffered with anxiety problems that lasted off and on from more than 20 years, I know very well how devastating anxiety and panic attacks can be, and the havoc they wreak upon your life. But it really doesn’t have to be that way.

Many anxiety sufferers turn to medication in an attempt to control stress and alleviate anxiety and panic attacks, but unfortunately, anxiety medications are not always a panacea to restore emotional balance and calm. In fact, anxiety medications do not “cure” anxiety at all — they merely attempt to lessen the symptoms by suppressing the emotional range of the sufferer.

It is also well-known that many anti-anxiety medications have a wide variety of side effects, ranging from weight gain to sexual dysfunction; and in some circumstances, the medications can even make the patient’s anxiety worse. Fortunately there are alternative methods of restoring balance and eliminating anxiety, without the use of prescription medications. Let’s take a look at a few of the most common methods of controlling and even eliminating anxiety without resorting to potentially dangerous drugs.