Mental Health Off the meds with psychotherapy?

[Survival0200]

Has anyone here benefitted from psychotherapy so much, that you have been able to drop meds?

I've been to the psychotherapy for anxiety issues, and it has helped a bit, but my doctor thinks I don't need any meds at all.

"You just have to use the tools and methods you learned in the psychotherapy", she says.

Then I say, "I'm not 100% fine, so could you prescribe me something?", and then she's like "No, I'm not going to prescribe you anything."



I would like to read about your experiences with anxiety and psychotherapy.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Was your psychotherapy just talk therapy or were you taught specific techniques to manage anxiety (ed Mindfullness or CBT).

 

[Nurse Ratched]

Has anyone here benefitted from psychotherapy so much, that you have been able to drop meds?

I've been to the psychotherapy for anxiety issues, and it has helped a bit, but my doctor thinks I don't need any meds at all.

"You just have to use the tools and methods you learned in the psychotherapy", she says.

Then I say, "I'm not 100% fine, so could you prescribe me something?", and then she's like "No, I'm not going to prescribe you anything."



I would like to read about your experiences with anxiety and psychotherapy.

I know how well this sucks. I really tried to do the non medicinal approach and talking was fine as I did feel better after the session but it did NOTHING for the rest of the day and night . I wasn't on any meds at all and asked for maybe 10mg. of valium or .05 xanax and I got a big fat NO !!I wasn't using any street drugs or any scripts at all and she thought her expertise outweighed my misery. And it was more than just one....I tried 3 and they were all the same. I said fuck this horseshit and fuck the mental health system. Got some Kratom and weed and cured my own damn self. It's been 3 years and my anxiety and depression is gone. I know this doesn't work for everyone but when NO ONE will help you , you have to help yourself.

 

[Survival0200]

Was your psychotherapy just talk therapy or were you taught specific techniques to manage anxiety (ed Mindfullness or CBT).

We did something like: 1) a safe place excercise, 2) imagine you were watching your life as a movie - and 3) think about a river, that takes your anxiety away... Things like that.

Usually when I'm anxious I can't really concentrate at all, so those are practically useless then. :/

 

[Zephyn]

my anxiety is so bad i struggle to even open up/talk to a therapist

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

Consider proactive habits like exercise, yoga, and socializing. A lot of the time, in the more liberal democracies, they recommend such habits before use of substances. Also, long-term, SSRIs are probably superior to benzodiazepines in anxiety.

 

[Jabberwocky]

We did something like: 1) a safe place excercise, 2) imagine you were watching your life as a movie - and 3) think about a river, that takes your anxiety away... Things like that.

Usually when I'm anxious I can't really concentrate at all, so those are practically useless then. :/

Quite a few years ago I went to a specialist anxiety clinic. Before they got into any psychological stuff they taught patients to monitor and control their physiological response to anxiety-provoking stimuli. Basically it boiled down to recognising that what you feel as psychological distress is significantly driven by the way you breath and what your heart rate is doing. So exercises to monitor your breathing and heart rate and then techniques to control them were the emphasis. I found it extremely helpful. I got so good at the techniques that eventually I could slow my breathing and heart rate down even when I was peaking on amps.

However, my anxiety came from intrusive thoughts that I could not stop ruminating on and no amount of therapy did much good in stopping them. So I still needed medication to control them. In combination the practical physical stress/anxiety management techniques, some cognitive behavioural therapy, and a low-dose antipsychotic basically freed me totally from anxiety except under extreme conditions. It did also have ECT at one point which probably helped too.