Beyond pharmacology: A narrative review of alternative therapies for anxiety disorders
This review investigated alternative methods like EMDR therapy for anxiety disorders because traditional pharmacological treatments are associated with numerous side effects.
Article Abstract
“Background: Anxiety disorders significantly reduce patients’ quality of life. Current pharmacological treatments, primarily benzodiazepines and antidepressants, are associated with numerous side effects. Consequently, there is a continual search for alternative methods to traditional therapies that are less burdensome for patients and broaden their therapeutic options. Our objective was to determine the role of selected alternative methods in the treatment of anxiety disorders.
Methods: In this review, we examined recent evidence on alternative treatments for anxiety disorders, including physical activity, mindfulness, virtual reality (VR) technology, biofeedback, herbal remedies, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), cryotherapy, hyperbaric therapy, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. For this purpose we reviewed PubMed and after initial search, we excluded works unrelated to our aim, non-orginal data and animal studies. We conducted second search to cover all minor methods.
Results: We included 116 studies, which data is presented in Tables. We have investigated which methods can support treatment and which can be used as a stand-alone treatment. We assessed the risks to benefits of using alternative treatments.
Conclusion: Alternative treatments significantly expand the options available to patients and clinicians, with many serving as adjuncts to traditional therapies. Among the methods presented, mindfulness has the most significant therapeutic potential.
—Description from publisher
Article Access
Open Access
Antos, Z., Zackiewicz, K., Tomaszek, N., Modzelewski, S., & Waszkiewicz. (2024). Beyond pharmacology: A narrative review of alternative therapies for anxiety disorders. Diseases, 12(9), 216. Open access: https://doi.org/10.3390/diseases12090216
Date
September 16, 2024
Creator(s)
Zuzanna Antos, Klaudia Zackiewicz, Natalia Tomaszek
Contributor(s)
Stefan Modzelewski, Napoleon Waszkiewicz
Topics
Anxiety/Panic/Phobias
Practice & Methods
Comparative Studies
Extent
44 pages
Publisher
MDPI
Rights
Copyright: © 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
APA Citation
Antos, Z., Zackiewicz, K., Tomaszek, N., Modzelewski, S., & Waszkiewicz. (2024). Beyond pharmacology: A narrative review of alternative therapies for anxiety disorders. Diseases, 12(9), 216. Open access: https://doi.org/10.3390/diseases12090216
Audience
EMDR Therapists, Other Mental Health Professionals
Language
English
Content Type
Article, Peer-Reviewed
Access Type
External Resource, Open Access