Do antidepressents actually help?

Post Reply New Topic

They provide a leg up, indeed. But according to a book I have dealing with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, directly fighting anxiety does not really work. The more attention you give to your anxiety and try to directly fight it the worse it gets. You have to learn to feel things normally and go on with your life, so to speak. Normal CBT is somewhat limited actually compared to ACT. Its actually similar to meditation really, or exercising to process things.

On the other hand, lexapro does work for me, in a way prozac does not. That and ADHD meds, though the mood swings are terrible with them and I feel like I need something stabilizing along with Vyvanse, such as abilify. It all makes me feel like a different person, but I was unhappy with the person I was, and I needed to change. The first step is recognizing the problem, whatever that may be. You have to recognize how you are fighting your anxiety and paying it attention is unproductive and something you want to stop.

That book I am currently using is the Minfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety, though I think I more depressed that anxious really. It is very methodical, so methodical and pedantic I feel like mostly skimming it, but I think it can help me greatly.

Prozac was of no help to me at all. Citalopram worked for a while, but the effect seemed to ware off.

Now on Venlafaxine (Effexor) and it helps with the anxiety levels, but not so much the depression side of things. That's something you have to learn to manage and cope yourself...In my experience anyway.

I'm just not a fan of its *ahem* side effects.

I've been on Venlafaxine for a few month, the positive effects is that my dark feelings disappeared, I was always thinking about bad stuff, sometimes even wishing that I'll go to bed and never wake up. So the meds worked for me.
The negative effects (they are called antidepressant for a reason), I lost all my libido, and that also included any strength to perform or getting it up, and when it did, simply wouldn't finish. I also gained weight, and had the feeling some of my intellectual capabilities where down, like if I opened a book I'll get tired of reading after 1 or 2 pages, almost if I couldn't read anymore.
So yep, the medication works, but they still suck. So I'll say if we can never use them and try anything else before being put on meds is highly recommended.

Used them for a while 20 years ago. Great as a temporary measure to free up emotional energy to cope with other aspects of life, but hell to wean off from once those other things were more under control.

Good luck.