3 ms·
I'm not 100% sure. I think so, possibly in the same way that exposure therapy can be helpful. On rare occasions when I've forgotten to take my propranolol dose
by spangry 11y ago
I'm not 100% sure. I think so, possibly in the same way that exposure therapy can be helpful.
On rare occasions when I've forgotten to take my propranolol dose, I think I experienced less severe panic reactions to provoking stimuli compared to in the past. This might be due to higher levels of 'exposure' when taking propranolol without a concurrent onset of panic symptoms, leading to a partial reversal of 'fear conditioning' (perhaps better characterised as 're-conditioning'?)
In my case I've found it to be very effective at treating the symptoms of my panic disorder, which are mostly physical/autonomic nervous system mediated. I think beta-blockers wouldn't be as effective for anxiety disorders where the symptoms are mostly 'mental' (e.g. catastrophic thinking, irrational anxious beliefs etc.).
tl;dr - Propranolol is great for 'physical' anxiety, possibly not as effective for 'mental' anxiety
- taurath 11y agoWonderful description - thank you very much. Sounds very promising as a treatment for post-CBT resistant anxiety, which is a simple word for what I have. I can feel a physical fear response coming on and a large drain in my willpower resources based on very small stimuli that aren't cognatively fear-inducing. Sounds like this could help calm my overactive fight or flight system - its been on my list to try for a long while.