The Holistic Treatment Of Anxiety
Resilience Medicine is a Holistic and Integrative Approach to medicine.
In this article you will learn about the Resilience Medicine treatment approach to anxiety.
Article Overview
Intro To Holistic Anxiety Treatment
There are many different types of anxiety disorders, but the most common one is GAD, or generalized anxiety disorder. Other forms of anxiety include OCD, PTSD and cPTSD (a complex form of anxiety and trauma) and specific phobias. Often, anxiety is suffered in secret and may also be accompanied by low moods and sleep disturbances and can sometimes include panic attacks.
The Resilience Medicine Holistic approach to treating anxiety incorporates cannabinoid (cannabis-based) medicines, mindbody approaches, therapeutic diets, prescribed combinations of nutraceuticals & medications, increasing passion and connection and creating a resilience environment using evidence-based and evidence-informed interventions stacked together for to help you feel better faster.
In this article you are going to learn about each of these holistic approaches in detail, how to use them for your healing journey, the latest research evidence and review an anxiety case study using the resilience medicine holistic approach to healing from anxiety.
Chronic Illness & Anxiety
Chronic illness, especially chronic pain conditions and neurological conditions as well as connective tissue disorders, hypermobility syndromes like hEDS and also chronic fatigue and long covid can also cause or worsen anxiety.
Some patients often experience anxiety years before the onset of another chronic condition while other people have never felt anxious until they got sick with something else, but have been struggling now with both conditions, anxiety worsening other symptoms or pain making anxiety worse in a vicious cycle.
Hormone changes like going through perimenopause can also cause or worsen anxiety. It can be a very frustrating lonely journey since when you suffer from anxiety, your life often gets smaller as you cut more and more things out in an attempt to maintain a calm nervous system and avoid triggers. Other chronic symptoms also impact anxiety levels in the brain and so must be treated together since they are often connected instead of just treating the symptoms of anxiety in isolation.
Measuring quality of life with anxiety
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The Resilience Medicine Toolkit for Anxiety
The Resilience Medicine holistic approach involves incorporating interventions from 6 main categories: Cannabinoids & Power Plants, Diet + Microbiome, Mindbody, supplements & botanicals, Passion and connection & creating a resilience environment.
In the clinic, we also use functional medicine tests and approaches to further personalise treatment based on biomarkers, gut markers and genomics in some cases. We also, where needed, use medications, often with prescribed combinations of nutraceuticals.
These categories were chosen based on Dr Dani’s 15 years of experience using this holistic treatment framework with her patients. Often it is when things from different categories are ‘stacked’ on top of each other to create a unique integrative plan or ‘stack’ that gives the most benefit in anxiety, since everyone’s illness is slightly different.
It’s also worth remembering that even if you have tried some of these things before on your own, it is often getting the right combination of things done at the right time that makes a big difference.
It can be very overwhelming and confusing trying to navigate all of the pieces of a holistic treatment plan on your own. Having expert guidance helps remove this confusion and overwhelm and makes sure you are on the best treatment path.
Medical Cannabis for Anxiety
Medical cannabis is a legal medicine in the UK, now available on private prescription from a specialist doctor. Medical cannabis are whole plant medicines which contain over 100 active cannabinoid compounds, which are thought to work together to deliver the medicinal effects although the main cannabinoids used for dosage currently are CBD and THC. The different strains or chemovars, can produce different therapeutic effects for anxiety, making it a highly personalized medicine.
Often people have tried recreational high doses of THC and found that this worsened anxiety or caused a panic attack. That is because THC does opposite things in the brain at different dosages and with vs. without CBD. Medical cannabis for anxiety is very different to recreational cannabis.
Medical Cannabis can often help patients those who have failed other approaches, to get a quick win in terms of anxiety symptom relief and starting of a positive neurological ‘cascade’ leaving them more able to engage with other aspects of a holistic treatment plan.
Most patients see a significant improvement within the first month of therapy across multiple symptom clusters that often go along with anxiety including improved mood, stress, pain symptoms if present, sleep and mental function. This is possible because medical cannabis works on our endocannabinoid system, which is involved in all of these functions.
Hemp CBD oil wellness supplement products available over the counter at health shops are not the same as medical cannabis. Hemp CBD oil non-medical products do not contain any measurable THC and are not made as medicines. For mild stress, they can be helpful for some people. However, for more severe anxiety disorders or PTSD, medical cannabis which contains other plant cannabinoids including small doses of THC is usually needed to get the best medicinal effect.
Medical cannabis can be incredibly helpful for anxiety, including GAD, OCD, PTSD, phobias and other forms of anxiety like panic disorder especially where the standard medications and/or Psychotherapy approaches have not been effective on their own.
Medical cannabis can be combined effectively with brain relaxation and brain training simple techniques to make them ‘stick’ faster and provide more relief while changing brain anxiety networks.
Medical cannabis can also help with more global mood and sleep disturbances, including trouble falling asleep and staying asleep (not waking up in the night) even when sleeping pills have not worked or made you feel hungover.
Medical Cannabis works on our endocannabinoid system (ECS) dysregulation, our HPA axis stress response system as well as our serotonin system and inflammation pathways. All of these mechanisms are involved in anxiety according to the latest research.
For anxiety, specific strains and types of medical cannabis are chosen for day vs nighttime, based on minor cannabinoid and terpene profile and the mode of delivery into the body so it is most effective for the anti-anxiety effect without making you feel sleepy during the day and then able to get a deep restful sleep at night.
This is because some types of cannabis can have the opposite effect and can make anxiety worse or not be helpful before sleep.
Dr Gordon is the most experienced cannabinoid medicine physician in the UK, has trained the first UK psychiatrist physicians in the prescribing of medical cannabis for anxiety and has treated thousands of patients with medical cannabis first in Canada and in the past few years in the UK since it has become legal. She also uses a more holistic individualized approach to cannabinoid therapy due to her expertise in Integrative & botanical medicine in addition to her conventional medical qualifications.
Altered States and Psychedelics for Anxiety
Currently, there are clinical trials and studies ongoing for the use of psilocybin and other plant compounds for the treatment of anxiety, OCD, end-of-life anxiety and PTSD with promising early results, but they are not yet available outside of a research study in the UK.
Mindbody Medicine for Anxiety
Relaxation response techniques can lower stress, stimulate the vagus nerve and reduce brain ‘noise’ levels substantially to lower baseline anxiety levels. Techniques to activate the Relaxation Response, based on Dr Gordon’s experience studying these techniques at Harvard University with Dr Benson who discovered the Relaxation Response nearly 50 years ago, can make a huge difference. Other specific techniques such as mindfulness-based programs and techniques to reduce ‘body noise’ such as PMR are chosen based on your specific symptom profile.
To be most effective, the mindbody techniques should be tailored to each patient, especially because some people in the beginning can experience what is called paradoxical anxiety when they attempt to do some of these techniques on their own. These issues can be overcome with guidance.
Diet and Microbiome for Anxiety
Certain types of diets may influence and improve anxiety, due to the effects on factors such as the microbiome, affecting neurotransmitter levels and hormone pathways including insulin and stress hormone regulation. It’s often important to tailor the diet based on things like symptom cluster profile, anxiety type, gut and blood biomarkers and other factors which are assessed as part of the treatment plan.
However, starting by balancing blood sugar and insulin levels by reducing ‘free’ sugars in the diet, eating low glycemic index whole foods and dramatically reducing processed foods and processed carbohydrates is a good starting point if you suffer from anxiety.
Medications for Anxiety
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), such as fluoxetine and sertraline, are commonly prescribed as first-line treatments for generalized anxiety disorder.
Alternatively, Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRIs) like venlafaxine and duloxetine may be prescribed to modulate both serotonin and norepinephrine neurotransmitters, which may work better for some people for contributing to mood regulation (low moods).
For short-term relief or situational anxiety, Benzodiazepines, such as diazepam or lorazepam, can provide rapid relaxation; however, their potential for dependency and side effects warrants cautious use and are not a good long-term solution in most cases.
Beta-blockers, typically used for heart conditions, have also been found to be effective in some people in managing the physical symptoms of anxiety, such as palpitations and tremors but sometimes cause fatigue limiting their use.
Some patients with anxiety have tried many of these medication options and found them either unhelpful or having intolerable side effects. In these cases, novel therapeutics such as medical cannabis can help as part of a holistic approach, alongside other integrative therapies when first line drugs have failed or not been appropriate.
Supplements for Anxiety
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), such as fluoxetine and sertraline, are commonly prescribed as first-line treatments for generalized anxiety disorder.
Alternatively, Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRIs) like venlafaxine and duloxetine may be prescribed to modulate both serotonin and norepinephrine neurotransmitters, which may work better for some people for contributing to mood regulation (low moods).
For short-term relief or situational anxiety, Benzodiazepines, such as diazepam or lorazepam, can provide rapid relaxation; however, their potential for dependency and side effects warrants cautious use and are not a good long-term solution in most cases.
Beta-blockers, typically used for heart conditions, have also been found to be effective in some people in managing the physical symptoms of anxiety, such as palpitations and tremors but sometimes cause fatigue limiting their use.
Some patients with anxiety have tried many of these medication options and found them either unhelpful or having intolerable side effects. In these cases, novel therapeutics such as medical cannabis can help as part of a holistic approach, alongside other integrative therapies when first line drugs have failed or not been appropriate.
Therapeitic Resilience Environment for Anxiety
Functional Testing for Anxiety
There is no standard blood test to diagnose anxiety, it is a clinical diagnosis.
From stress tolerance and resilience testing to looking at the gut microbiome for biomarkers, circadian rhythm dysfunction, and factors like COMT gene mutations which affect neurotransmitter levels in anxiety, functional medicine testing can also play a role in the holistic treatment of anxiety. These tests are optional. In some cases, they can help further personalize treatment based on genes and biomarkers.
Case Study for Anxiety
Gemma, 38 years old, suffered on and off from anxiety since her early 20s but became worse after the birth of her first child
Goal: Conquer anxiety to feel more confident and at ease with socialising and parenting
History: After trying medication as well as CBT, she was looking for a different approach
The plan: after a thorough integrative assessment, Julie was started on a specific medical cannabis plan to reduce anxiety during the day and get to sleep at night. She was also started on a personalised diet and nutraceutical protocol and started a simple breath-based nervous system relaxation practice done alongside her medical cannabis dose.
Outcome: 3 months later, she was no longer having regular panic attacks, felt much happier (improved moodd, less lows), and felt calmer during the day. She no longer had issues getting to sleep so she woke up feeling more rested and had more mental bandwidth to handle stress.
Next Step
In summary, using a specific, evidence-based holistic approach to treating depression and related mood disorders can dramatically improve your mood and quality of life even if you have failed multiple treatments in the past. To take the next step in your journey, book an initial consultation with our expert physicians.
The London Resilience Clinic specialises in the holistic treatment of fatigue, pain and mental health conditions for children and adults.
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