Venlafaxine worked well for me ONLY during dose changes. I don't know why! Once the dose was stabalised I had no energy /no drive and little pleasure in doing things. I would recommend to see how it works for you. Make sure you see SOME improvement before increasing the dose, otherwise i'd try something else.
I discontinued Venlafaxine and started Ritalin. It turns out I had undiagnosed ADHD which wasn't being helped by SSNRIs - in fact they made that side of things worse.
The withdrawal of Venlafaxine wasn't too bad for me. I had help with Diazepam to come off. Also, starting the ritalin helped my motivation during the withdrawals.
Could be a similar situation for you, if you aren't responding well to anti depressants?
What's your diagnosis?
Officially I have SA, agoraphobia, panic disorder, and OCPD. The social anxiety causes all the other problems. If I can fix social anxiety, I will fix the others.
The effexor made me much worse and I was only on it for aboot 2.5 weeks. I am trying out Remeron now.
I am not sure if I have ADHD. I have always done well in school. I do process information slower than most people however. Like in school I would always be the last person to finish the test. Also, for math classes I had much difficulty in finishing the test on time and would often have to finish the test after class. The teacher would give me extra time to finish but I always did really well on the tests.
I have heard that stimulant have helped a lot of people with SA. Its possible I have that inattentive ADHD.
I have read aboot SCT...
Sluggish cognitive tempo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It basically describes me somewhat...especially with processing info slower.