Anxiety: Therapy Works

It is widely accepted that many of humanity's best and brightest minds also suffered with debilitating mental struggles from bipolar disorder to anxiety...Vincent Van Gogh, Abraham Lincoln,  Franklin D. Roosevelt, Virginia Woolf, Buzz Aldrin, Ludwig Von Beethoven...the list goes on. In this article, Charles Darwin's struggle with anxiety and the many failed attempts at treatment are discussed...including an attempt in 1865 by a certain Dr. John Chapman that involved having Darwin spend several hours each day encased in ice. Not surprisingly this treatment, and all of the other treatments he received, failed.  The one and only thing reported to have helped, was when Darwin stopped working and walked or rode in the Scottish Highlands or North Wales he found his health would be "restored." Unfortunately for Darwin, mental health treatment and the connection between physical and emotional health was little understood and rarely addressed. Had Darwin been alive today, he undoubtedly would have received a very different kind of treatment (therapy!) and very likely would have found some relief. There is plenty of rigorous research that demonstrates that therapy, particularly a form of psychotherapy known as "cognitive-behavioral therapy" (CBT) can be highly effective in treating anxiety disorders. It's clear that many people suffer from anxiety, including some of the most famous and influential people in history. If you suffer from anxiety, you may want to bypass packing your spine with ice for several hours a day and go for a walk or, better yet...find a therapist!