Treatment is the medical or therapeutic intervention that remediates a disease or disorder. Often abbreviated as Tx, this includes medications (both prescription and over-the-counter), therapies, and dietary supplements, among others. Each has benefits and risks, though, that the physician and patient need to consider.
Primary prevention aims to prevent diseases from developing by controlling risk factors and reducing exposure to them, for example, milk pasteurisation or vaccination. This is the best way to prevent illness, but it’s not always feasible or practical, particularly for diseases with a long incubation period, such as HIV.
Secondary prevention involves early detection and diagnosis to reduce the likelihood of complications from a disease, for instance, screening programmes for cancer or regular blood pressure checks for heart disease. It also includes lifestyle interventions to control symptoms, such as smoking cessation or lowering caffeine intake.
Anxiety disorders can be highly treatable. Psychotherapy is usually used in combination with medication, such as benzodiazepines or antidepressants. Effective treatments include cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), relapse prevention therapy and contingency management. CBT helps you to identify situations that may trigger anxiety and work out ways of dealing with them, such as i) learning relaxation techniques or ii) practising coping strategies such as i) talking things through with a therapist or ii) taking a ‘controlled approach’ – eg. refusing to drink or take drugs in certain situations, in exchange for vouchers, medication take-away privileges and prizes. This teaches you to challenge negative, irrational thoughts and replace them with more realistic ones. Other therapies, such as EMDR, have been shown to be effective for post-traumatic stress disorder but aren’t yet well proven for other types of anxiety.