A Guide To What Works For Anxiety Disorders - Mental Health First Aid

MassageOur ratingOur ratingGAD? Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia ?PTSD and ASD? Specific Phobias ?Social Phobia? OCD ?WHAT IS IT?Massage involves the manipulation of soft body tissues using the handsor a mechanical device. Massage is often done by a trained professional.One of the aims of massage is to relieve tension in the body.HOW IS IT MEANT TO WORK?This is not known. However, it is possible that massage reduces stresshormones or reduces the body’s physiological arousal.DOES IT WORK?GADA small study of adults with GAD found that massage reduced anxietyon the day of the massage. However, longer-term effects were not found.PTSD and ASDOne study of children with severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) gave regular massages over a month. These children werecompared to a group that watched fun videos while sitting on an adult’slap for the same amount of time. The children given massages hadgreater reduction in anxiety than the comparison group.Other anxiety disordersThere is no evidence on whether massage works for Social Phobia,Panic Disorder, Specific Phobias or OCD.ARE THERE ANY RISKS?There are no known risks.RECOMMENDATIONThere is not enough evidence to say whether massage works foranxiety disorders.MeditationOur ratingOur ratingGAD? Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia ?PTSD and ASD? Specific Phobias ?Social Phobia? OCD ?WHAT IS IT?There are many different types of meditation. However, they alltrain people to focus their attention and awareness. Some types ofmeditation involve focusing attention on a silently repeated word or onthe breath. An example is transcendental meditation. Others involveobserving thoughts without judgment. An example is mindfulnessmeditation, or vipassana. Although meditation is often done for spiritualor religious reasons, this is not always the case. Some meditationmethods have been used within Western psychological treatments. Anexample is Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR, see page 33).HOW IS IT MEANT TO WORK?Meditation may reduce anxiety by aiding relaxation. Also, mindfulnessmeditation might help people to distance themselves from negativethoughts.DOES IT WORK?GADThere have been two studies looking at GAD and meditation. Onecompared transcendental meditation with muscle biofeedback andrelaxation therapy. No difference was found between the groups.However, the study did not have a comparison group receiving notreatment. The other study involved people with either GAD or PanicDisorder. Meditation combined with exercise, relaxation and hypnosiswas found to be more effective than education about anxiety disorders.However, it is unclear whether meditation or other components led tothe benefit.Social PhobiaThere has been one study comparing a stress-reduction programbased on mindfulness meditation with Cognitive Behaviour Therapy(CBT, see page 29). Meditation was found to be less effective.Panic Disorder and AgoraphobiaSee section above on GAD.51