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Article: Relieving Anxiety: Therapy or Drugs? // Relaxation Exercise, Humor Could Be The Best Medicine
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- May 29, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1994 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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Brief therapy or medications will help most people with general
anxiety disorders, at far less cost than long-term treatment,
according to a report this past year by the Institute for Behavior
and Health in Rockville, Md.
Dr. Robert DuPont, a psychiatrist and the lead author of the
report, explains that anxiety disorders often go untreated or
masquerade as physical symptoms such as back pain or indigestion.
"They're easy to trivialize," he says, "but are more common than
depression or alcoholism."
If the anxiety goes undetected, patients may undergo costly
diagnostic procedures and be put on medical regimens doomed to
failure. Yet evidence is mounting that short-term therapy using ...