How To Get Anxiety Medication

When you have a headache, it’s easy to reach for an over-the-counter pain reliever. But when it comes to mental health conditions like panic attacks or other anxiety symptoms, the path to treatment can seem much more complicated. The good news is: It doesn’t have to be that way.

Nearly 60 million adults in the U.S. experience mental illness, and if an anxiety disorder puts you among them, anxiety medications can be a great option for managing symptoms and feeling better. 

After connecting with you and performing an evaluation, a licensed healthcare provider can help you find the best treatment for your needs. 

Below, we’ll break down exactly how to get prescribed anxiety medication, whether you can get meds without seeing a doctor, and key differences between the common types of anxiety medication.

Healthcare providers are the only ones who can prescribe medication for an anxiety disorder, but you can go about getting an anti-anxiety medication prescription in a few different ways: 

• A primary care provider (PCP) can be an excellent place to start if you already have an existing relationship with one and they know your medical history. 

• Physician assistants can also prescribe anti-anxiety medications.

• Psychiatric nurse practitioners specialize in mental health and can help you with medication.

• Psychiatrists can also write you a prescription. If you’re not sure how to find one, you can ask your primary care provider for a referral to a psychiatrist who specializes in anxiety.

• With telehealth psychiatry, you can get anxiety medication without leaving home. Many qualified psychiatric providers offer online consultations. This way, you can get the support and medication you need without the hassle of a doctor’s visit. 

These healthcare providers might also recommend additional forms of treatment, like psychotherapy or group therapy (there are even anonymous support groups if you’d prefer).

Whatever route you take, it will probably involve some follow-up appointments to evaluate how your anxiety treatment is working. 

Not sure what to say at your initial appointment? Totally understandable. Our guide on how to ask your doctor for anxiety medication can give you some pointers. 

Now, you might be wondering how to get anxiety medication without seeing a doctor. The short answer is that you can’t. 

In order to get any prescription medication, you’ll need to interact with a licensed healthcare professional.

As we went over, primary care physicians, psychiatrists, and psychiatric nurse practitioners can prescribe anxiety medication. Some specially trained psychologists in Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, and New Mexico can also prescribe anxiety medications.

And if seeing a prescriber in person isn’t convenient or possible for you right now, there are online mental health services that can help ease some of your anxiety symptoms. 

These online resources will still require a prescription from a licensed healthcare professional, but make it possible to get that prescription from the comfort of your own home.

The first step in addressing anxiety is to meet with a healthcare professional who can conduct a psychiatric evaluation. This usually involves answering some questions about your symptoms and medical history. It might take place over a few conversations or through self-evaluations.

Based on what you share, they may provide a formal diagnosis and create a treatment plan just for you.

While the best way to determine if anxiety medication could help you is to consult with a healthcare provider, it can also be useful to reflect on any signs of anxiety you see in yourself. Some common symptoms of anxiety include:

• Feeling restless or on edge

• Getting easily fatigued

• Struggling to concentrate

• Feeling irritable

• Experiencing headaches, muscle aches, stomachaches, or unexplained pains

• Finding it hard to control feelings of worry

• Having sleep issues, like trouble falling or staying asleep

Curious about which medication may be right for you? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved several effective treatment options for anxiety. Below, we broke down how they each work.

Antidepressants

It might seem like antidepressants only treat, well, depression, but they’re also a popular treatment for anxiety and other mental health disorders. They work by targeting certain neurotransmitters in your brain to help regulate your mood and how you respond to stress.

There are two main types of antidepressants used for anxiety: SSRIs and SNRIs. Both can be effective for treating anxiety, so it really depends on which works better for you.

SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, help manage your serotonin activity. Many healthcare professionals consider them to be “first-line” treatments for anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder. 

Some of the most commonly prescribed SSRIs can be prescribed in their generic or brand-name form and include: 

• Fluoxetine (Prozac®)

• Paroxetine (Paxil®)

• Escitalopram (Lexapro®)

• Sertraline (Zoloft®)

Like most medications, SSRIs can cause side effects, although most are mild and don’t last for very long. Potential side effects include headaches, sleep issues, and changes in appetite.

SNRIs, or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, act on serotonin too. However, they also target another neurotransmitter called norepinephrine. 

Norepinephrine does a lot: It helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle, stimulates your cardiovascular system, and is involved in your body’s fight-or-flight response, among other things. Low levels of norepinephrine are tied to symptoms like lethargy and poor concentration. 

As a cardiovascular system stimulant, norepinephrine helps maintain proper blood pressure and a healthy heart rate. It increases blood sugar and breaks down fat to create energy for the body. 

Two commonly prescribed SNRIs are venlafaxine (Effexor®) and duloxetine (Cymbalta®). 

Like SSRIs, these medications can cause side effects. Common side effects of SNRIs include nausea, sweating, tiredness, and more.

It’s also important to note that these medications don’t work instantly. It may take some time before you feel any changes. Our full antidepressants list covers additional medications to consider and provides more in-depth information on how they work. 

Benzodiazepines

Benzodiazepines are used to treat anxiety and panic disorders by providing fast-acting relief. They work by increasing the effects of GABA, a neurotransmitter that creates feelings of calmness and can counteract anxiety symptoms. 

Common types of benzodiazepines include:

• Alprazolam (Xanax®) 

• Clonazepam (Klonopin®)

• Lorazepam (Ativan®) 

• Diazepam (Valium®) 

The pros: These types of medications work faster. 

The potential cons: You can build a tolerance for them more quickly, so you’ll ultimately need more of the drug to get the same effects. This means that they can become addictive, so healthcare providers usually prescribe them for a shorter period of time.

An increasing understanding of the dangers associated with this class of drugs has led doctors to prescribe them less frequently.

Buspirone

If antidepressants and benzodiazepines aren’t the right fit for you, buspirone (BuSpar®) can be an alternative. While it doesn’t work for everyone and may take a few weeks to reach its maximum effectiveness, it can be used as a long-term treatment. 

Similar to benzodiazepines like Xanax, buspirone can effectively treat anxiety — but that's where the similarities end. Xanax has an effect that comes on right away. It's a controlled medication that carries the risk of abuse, addiction, and other long-term harms.

Buspirone is safer, but it takes a few weeks to start working.

Beta Blockers

Beta blockers are a type of blood pressure medication that slows down the heart rate and suppresses anxiety-driven sweating and trembling, resulting in a feeling of lower stress levels. 

Most of the time, beta blockers are prescribed for those with cardiovascular health problems, like hypertension. Although the FDA doesn’t approve them for treating anxiety disorders, some providers might recommend beta blockers off-label to treat the physical symptoms of performance anxiety.

Common off-label beta blockers include propranolol (Inderal®) and atenolol (Tenormin®). Ultimately, beta blockers won’t affect your brain in the way that benzodiazepines or SSRIs do, so you won’t feel emotionally different after using them. 

Now that you have an overview of the most common types of anxiety medication, you might wonder how much they’ll wind up costing you.

That all depends on factors like your insurance, the type of mental health medication you’re being prescribed, and the supply you get per prescription. For instance, if you have health insurance through your employer, you may have to cough up a $10 or $20 copay for a month’s supply of medication. 

Generic anxiety medications tend to be less expensive than brand-name ones. Talk to your healthcare provider about your options so you don’t have to drain your bank account. 

If you don’t have health insurance, don’t panic just yet — there are ways to access affordable antidepressants without insurance. 

Getting anxiety medication is likely less complicated than you think. You just need the right information to get you started.

Here’s what’s important to remember: 

• The first step is talking to a healthcare provider. A few different healthcare professionals can prescribe anti-anxiety medications, including primary care providers, psychiatrists, physician assistants, and psychiatric nurse practitioners. In addition to making sure you get the best anti-anxiety medication for you, they may also recommend different types of therapy, like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or online therapy.

• There are many different types of anxiety medications. Even the ones that work similarly aren’t exactly the same. The medication that works for your friend might not work for you — and that’s perfectly fine. Results aren’t instantaneous, either. It might take a few weeks to experience the maximum effects of your medication. Just make sure you’re checking in with your healthcare provider so you can reevaluate your treatment if need be. 

• Anxiety medication can be affordable. Once you have a prescription, you can head to a pharmacy to pick up your medication or have it delivered directly to your doorstep. And while costs vary depending on what insurance you have and what you’re prescribed, generic versions of mental health medication can make the process easier on your wallet. 

Still have questions? Our online mental health services can give you additional tools and strategies as you take steps toward getting the help you deserve.