The Science Of Anxiety

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Certainly antidepressants, like the serotonin reuptake inhibitors (Prozac and others) have proved very helpful in treating anxiety; some doctors think they are even more effective against anxiety than they are against depression. Although no one knows exactly why these antidepressants work, one important clue is that their effects don't show up until after a few weeks of treatment. The pathways for toning down anxiety are apparently much more resistant than those for ratcheting it up.

It's a mistake, however, to think that pills alone can soothe your neurochemistry. Remember the cortex? That's where you would expect psychotherapy to work, increasing the repertoire of calming messages that can be passed along to the amygdala. Certain desensitization techniques can also help the brain learn, through the hippocampus, to be less reactive. Of course, you have to do it right. Reliving a trauma too soon after it happened could also make the memory harder to erase.

There are no guidebooks to tell you when it's safe to venture out again. In many ways, the whole country last September was made part of an unwitting experiment in mass anxiety. Our brains are even now in the process of rewiring themselves. How successfully we navigate this delicate transition will depend a lot on our genes, our environment and any future attacks.

--Reported by Alice Park/Bethesda, Leslie Whitaker/Chicago and Dan Cray/Los Angeles