I take Celexa 60 mg once a day and it has really helped me. That dose has been questioned now because some people have problems with their heart (a prolonged Q wave) supposedly at that dose so the FDA has put a warning about it. My psychiatrist did a lot of the trails years ago on Celexa and he thinks the heart problems appearing now are due to the generic version.
I have been taking Celexa for 6 years. I was is psychotherapy 3x per week initially 6 years ago for ~ 6 months then 2x per week, gradually decreasing the therapy to ~ monthly now. I was 34 at diagnosis. My psychotherapy focuses on cognitive behaviour modification. I also started cycling for 30 minutes per day, EVERY day at that time and continue this today. Anxiety release through exercise has really helped me. I am not athletic looking and a bit overweight but I cycle religiously and it makes a huge difference. I limit caffeine intake and make sure I rest daily.
I was crashing for a time ~ 4 years ago and my psychologist wondered if the pharmacy had messed up my meds. Turned out they had substituted the generic form for my Celexa. My GP then said "no substitutions" on my prescription and things went mush better. My psychiatrist told me that all the studies on generics focus on whether they can find the med/metabolites in the bloodstream after you take it. He says that is irrelevant. Celexa and other neurotransmitter meds must work on the brain synapses. Generics may or may not cross the blood-brain barrier to actually affect your seratonin level; he thinks they don't do what they are supposed to do. I will only take non-generic citalopram-Celexa. Another thing to note is that if you go off these meds and try to go back on, you have a 20% chance of not responding to them when you restart. If you go off again, you have a 40% change of not responding if you decide to go back on.
I really think you need a combination of therapy, meds, exercise, rest and diet to live well with this disease. When I was your age, I was just finishing my degree and I was living silently with OCD-tourtured, struggling, scared. I found ways to cope-I actually made positive reinforcement tapes and listened to them repeatedly to fill my mind with new "automatic" thoughts (read Shad Helmstetters 'What to Say When You Talk to Yourself" and consider making some tapes-he also wrote "The Words of Self-Talk"-I used to wonder why he did not have a script for 'I will not kill anyone today, I am not a mass murderer' LOL). The positive, hopeful, relaxed automatic thoughts I programmed myself with still pop up now 17 years later when I am extra stressed. They help but I have to tell you, they were a bandaged solution for me. They got me through uni but after marriage and two kids, I crashed and needed real help. Now, my therapy is setting me more free all the time-but I would not be at this point without meds.
I really hope that you will find some way to live well with this and to get your life back. I have been where you are at and it is really scary and discouraging but it can be better than what it is right now-just work at taking care of yourself and your "beautiful mind".