I personally don't think that in the big picture antidepressants help with anxiety at all. For some people they do work. Paxil seems to be more effective for OCD type anxiety. You might get lucky with one.

My clinic is very anti benzo. It took a year of horrible anxiety with paranoia and trying different things before my doc would give me klonopin, a benzo. The benzo's like xanax, klonopin, valium, ativan, and lots of others are highly effective for anxiety and one like xanax can be taken only as needed which is the best way to take it.

We tried buspar, Vistaril, muscle relaxers, nothing touched it so he went against general policy. I think they are mainly afraid of law suits but benzos have very real dangers. I am a recovering addict so more risky. Addiction would be that if I took more than prescribed and then went looking for more and the purpose was to get high. I have never done that the year I have been on it. I take it as prescribed and feel I should cut my current dose in half.

I have not developed any tolerance to it so I have not had to increase dose. That is very odd for me because I usually have a high tolerance to all drugs. The chances are quite high that I am developing a physical dependence to it. Meaning if I stop taking it I will have withdrawal symptoms. Someone taking higher doses (mine is pretty low) for a long time and then stop cold turkey risk having seizures and stuff. No one should ever stop cold turkey with anything but do a very slow taper. Some people here have told stories of being on pretty good sized doses of klonopin for many years and then stopping and having very long and protracted withdrawal. I think it varies. Some people say they got off of them in a couple of months with out trouble. The risks are very real though. I decided to take klonopin knowing full well what the risks were. I knew it would work and it has worked beautifully. I have barely had an ounce of anxiety and what I was having was putting me at high risk of suicide as I just could not handle the constant no relief with the paranoia. So for me the benefits out weigh the risks but the risks are real. Someday I may have to go through horrible withdrawal or maybe I will be on it for life. I really don't care. I would rather have quality of life even if you told me it would knock five years off of my life for sure. That would just be five more years of misery.

I think it depends on severity of symptoms and people should try non med means and see if they will work. My buddy has it really really bad and he has a bottle of xanax but he refuses to take it. He runs and works out a lot to get rid of the energy and the anxiety convinces his he is going to have a heart attack so he has to get his heart in good shape. He stays busy all the time to keep his mind off of it. He constantly battles it on his own and I see him really snap at his kids out of frustration which is not good. And he is really suffering. But that is how he chooses to deal with it. I have been practicing meditation, mindfulness, and relaxation stress relieving techniques for twenty years and I just could do those when the anxiety was that bad.

The most recent med for anxiety is buspar. It seems like it is a dud to me. Why they haven't come out with new ones that work since the benzo's I have no idea. Valium came out in the 50's I think. Mothers little helper.

It is really going to depend on the psychiatrists views on all of this. Some will prescribe them some won't. You should be educated before you decide and see if non med means like meditation, mindfulness, exercise, relaxation techniques, and stress reduction will help.



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