My son self medicated and also had prescriptions. He was on Paxil for a few months, then he went off of it. He had to detox from seven different things all at once, including opiates. This is what I believe: the longer you are on certain meds, the harder it is to get off of them. My son had anxiety, depression and OCD. Really I think he's autistic. But, he was able to detox from all of the medications over a year. And then he learned how to deal with his anxiety and OCD with self taught behaviour modification. He started eating better, changed his sleep schedule, starting getting active (hikes, biking, etc.) and began to stabilise his mood and behaviour. I think he pushed himself to address his issues because he didn't want to go to therapy. Now he works 20 hours a week and goes to university 20 hours a week and has very minimal stress, no anxiety, no depression and no OCD. But I still think he's autistic, because it doesn't just go away.