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Are there ways to get well without meds?

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It depends on your definition of wellness. What do you hope to achieve in therapy? What do you hope to achieve in life? What's your potential? Do you have others supporting you?

Only you can answer these questions for yourself. No one can answer these questions but you.

If you can with the help of therapy (talk therapy or group therapy, etc.) and friends/family support start feeling better and doing things in life that you love, then you have answered your question about needing medications (you don't need meds).

No physician or therapist can predict the future for you. Neither can he or she knows with a satistically significant percentage of certainty how you will respond on a particular med. He or she cannot predict if (and how long) a med will make you feel better.

Can people get better without meds? I think most people can! That's if they have good support.

With the help of my hubby and my counselor, I've been med-free for over 2 years! Meds never helped me feel better (long-term). I chose to initially take meds because I had a lot of anxiety and didn't know how to cope. I thought I might hurt myself (which I never even tried). I was diagnosed with depression and PTSD. I had support but felt my problems were too petty or insignificant compared to others' problems or I needed just to get over it, deal with my problems on my own. It created a lot of guilt and shame inside of me. I hid behind meds. Meds were my excuse to not try to be happy. Meds incapacitated me, and I figured it was better than being so anxious all the time.

But, me on meds . . . it's not living.

I think when I began to accept that I was different, that after 2001 I was forever changed, then I was able to work on my own issues without meds.

Wellness for me is defined as being med-free and living my life the best way I know how. I don't have to find everything in this world easy. I know I'm an anxious person. I know I have panic attacks.

Some people injure their backs and have pain for the rest of their lives. I've seen people work through their pain. Those few that want to work through their pain do it because they choose to persevere.

Mental illness is not so different from physical illnesses.

I choose to persevere. I have learned how to cope without meds. I'm so glad did.

No one can predict for you and say "if you do this ____ then you'll feel better." What works for me may not work for you.

My point is . . . I don't believe psych medications transform people's lives; people transform their own lives.

I hope you find your own answers and do what's right for you. (((((huggs)))))))