who on here is Not medicated?

[Lavinialuna]

now I just take Xanax on and off on an as needed basis, funnily though my doc said I should just take the Lexapro as it is "safer" then Xanax as Xanax is said to cause loss of concentration, but i'm guessing this is because Xanax is a drug which is more likely to be abused and taken in higher dosses then the SSRI so it gets a bad rap.

Yes, I agree. In my experience they would rather give a person dangerous mind altering anti-psychotic medications than anti-anxiety medications. The side effects for antidepressants are 10 times scarier (like sudden death, suicide and seizure) but they are more concerned about possible abuse. It makes me furious.
From the research I have done, antidepressants/anti-psychotics work directly in your brain, where as anti-anxiety meds only block negative stress hormones from effecting your body. Seems like antianxiety meds are a safer solution to me. And as far as dependence is concerned, anti-anxiety meds are at least as hard to discontinue, if not more so IMO.

I am not medicated, but I know from past experience that if I explain why I'm not medicated some people will become very angry. But I might as well, because it is the truth. Speaking from my own experience, and my own experience only, I have found that psychiatric medication causes mental illness. With the possible exception of minor tranquilizers such as Valium, I have found that every psych drug I have taken causes frightening symptoms of mental illness. What is equally frightening is that psychiatrists often don't recognize the drug as the source of the symptoms, so one has to risk appearing paranoid or otherwise delusional in discontinuing the medication. Anyway, I don't dare touch the stuff. I occasionally take Ambien for sleeplessness, but I don't use it more than once a week, and I don't think it counts as a psych med. The real psych meds I don't touch with a ten-foot pole.

Anti-depressants made me suicidal and irrational. In my case, I totally agree with you.

Well it is interesting that so many who have responded on this thread aren't taking medication. Does it mean a lot of people who take SSRIs are helped by them and don't feel the need to seek help from internet forums? Or is it that SSRIs are more helpful in treating depression and not anxiety? Or are drugs not as helpful as the drug companies would like us to think they are?

I think you could be right on all three counts.

 

[greggy]

I stopped taking meds about 6 months ago and now feel exactly the same, awful! I think they work for some people but not others, I do think counsiling is the way to go for these people

 

[skins]

Anti depressants do have their place...if your suicidal you defienetly need that mood stabilzing aspect to them...any annoying side effects are going to be the least of your problems at a time like this.

 

[MikeyC]

I'm not on medication and never have been. I have been close to wanting antidepressants during my lowest stages, but never went through with it. I was scared of the side-effects, mostly. And the cost.

I am doing a little bit better these days, anyway, so taking medication would only hinder me.

Medication of any type works for some people and doesn't work for others, so you really have to take it as a case-by-case basis rather than a population.

 

[JuicyFruit]

I don't take any drugs to help anxiety or depression. You need to go see a doctor to get that kind of stuff, no? I occasionally take "sleeping pills". I don't know if you call it sleeping pills but uhhh you get the point

 

[hidwell]

I take Pristiq and have done so for 2 years. It helps a little in controlling mood but my anxiety is still here and so is my depression is it any wonder that I have no hope for any future.

 

[planetweirdo]

I take Zoloft and It helps with my anxiety. I still have a lot of anxiety issues but be for I started taking medication my anxiety was out of control to the point that I could not function, and could not leave my home at all.
Medication works for some but not for others. I don't think that people (esp. people with severe disorders) who have never tried medication before should be to afraid to try it because it may really help them. I know that many people have had a bad experience with medication, but there is also a lot of people that is help by it.

 

[OceanMist]

I don't take meds. I used to take them and didn't see any difference.

I believe people should defeat anxiety by action of their own.

Exposure, exposure, exposure. Massive exposure.

 

[MollyBeGood]

^I agree Ocean Mist-"Exposure"...then run home and lock the door!