Good for you, QUEEN OF WANDS. I admire your strength and courage. You are being an advocate for yourself too. Wanting to get better is important. Believing you can is so important too. Be an active participant in the process. A treatment plan that you helped frame is important. See here: http://phobias.about.com/od/glossary/g/treatplandef.htm

DocJohn talks about psychotherapy here: http://psychcentral.com/psychotherapy/

Not all mental health professionals are created equally. Do not hesitate to ask questions. Do not suffer in silence. If the side effects of medication are great, ask for something different. If therapy does not seem to be working, say so. As you already know, getting better is hard. Even so, it should not have to be harder still because of medications and/or therapy that are not helpful.

Wishing you the best.