21st June 2023

Treatment

The mainstay of current NES treatment is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). This will allow one to learn coping techniques to deal with the NES and hopefully improve them over time. Part of treatment is learning the warning sign of an attack, as this will help the patient regain control of the attacks. One way to regain control and avert an attack is by the patient challenging and answering their anxious thoughts, such as will they injure themself, will it be embarrassing, or will they die. Another way is for the patient to distract themselves, by doing things like counting, talking to someone or playing a game, or by grounding where they pay attention to each of their senses and what they are experiencing in the present. The indications that the treatment is working are that the patient will start to have more warnings, the warnings will be less anxiety-provoking for them, the warning symptoms will be longer, they will be conscious and aware during some of their episodes, and eventually they can avert some of the attacks.