[jenna1997]

In June of last year (2017) I had a nervous breakdown and experienced crippling anxiety for months -- I believe this was due to an overwhelm of stress and living at home with parents, and unresolved deeper emotional issues and depression.

Therapy has been helping a lot, but I'm still low, lost, and disconnected in my life and relationships. I still have bouts of depression and I'm still recovering from the breakdown.

I'm debating if I should go on antidepressants -- in your experience, have antidepressants made the results of therapy even better? I've read somewhere that they can help you delve into your issues even deeper.

Any feedback would help a great deal.

[Carmina]

Didn't for me, got in the way. But others will say different so I guess it depends.

I have bipolar. I need to take an antidepressant for depression and mood stabilizer for mania. Meds have changed my world. No amount of therapy alone could make me feel as stable and well as I do. I think meds and therapy go hand in hand. For me anyways.

[Nike007]

At least for me, medication really helps me. I was on it for a couple of years, and due to family and their stigma of mental illness, I was taken off of it. And then I went into severe depression. And then I found a medication that worked for me and everything was good. Now my medication doesn’t work, and I feel awful. So I feel, at least for me, that I need to be on medication. But I am doing therapy too, and I don’t think I would be as good (even though I’m quite awful) as I am without therapy. So for my own personal experience, both medication and therapy is needed. I have had anxiety though for as long as I have remembered and depression decided to join the fun (joking here). I hope you figure out what’s best for you.

[jenna1997]

Originally Posted by Nike007

At least for me, medication really helps me. I was on it for a couple of years, and due to family and their stigma of mental illness, I was taken off of it. And then I went into severe depression. And then I found a medication that worked for me and everything was good. Now my medication doesn’t work, and I feel awful. So I feel, at least for me, that I need to be on medication. But I am doing therapy too, and I don’t think I would be as good (even though I’m quite awful) as I am without therapy. So for my own personal experience, both medication and therapy is needed. I have had anxiety though for as long as I have remembered and depression decided to join the fun (joking here). I hope you figure out what’s best for you.

Thank you -- this really helps. Before in my life, I never thought I'd have to go on antidepressants -- it's just I'm in a crisis type situation and I have a very trapped mindset/tunnel vision thinking. I've read somewhere that medication can help therapy be even better. I'm not sure if this is true...

Anyway sending you love and thanks for your insight <3

[Nike007]

Originally Posted by jenna1997

Thank you -- this really helps. Before in my life, I never thought I'd have to go on antidepressants -- it's just I'm in a crisis type situation and I have a very trapped mindset/tunnel vision thinking. I've read somewhere that medication can help therapy be even better. I'm not sure if this is true...


Anyway sending you love and thanks for your insight <3

You’re welcome. If you feel that you are in a crisis, you should talk to your doctor about it.

I have read that medication and therapy is the best thing known at the moment to treat mental illnesses because a lot of the time, especially in cases of more severe mental illnesses, medication helps make the symptoms not have as strong as an impact, making it possible to do therapy. Therapy can be a lot of work, and if you don’t have motivation, are tired all the time, and can’t focus either due to depression or anxiety, etc., then medication can help alleviate these symptoms enough so you can start doing therapy. That’s just the general idea. But not all medications work, and it depends on each person. It’s a long process, sadly.

[Rose76]

I didn't feel that antidepressant medication changed how I responded to therapy. It gave me more energy to get through school and hold down a job. That vastly improved my life. It helped me to become self-supporting and be able to leave my parents' home. That made my life feel more satisfying.

I think most of us will go through life with some unresolved issues. In the meantime, we have business to take care of. I judge the value of psych meds by how they help me do just that.

[jenna1997]

Originally Posted by Rose76

I didn't feel that antidepressant medication changed how I responded to therapy. It gave me more energy to get through school and hold down a job. That vastly improved my life. It helped me to become self-supporting and be able to leave my parents' home. That made my life feel more satisfying.

I think most of us will go through life with some unresolved issues. In the meantime, we have business to take care of. I judge the value of psych meds by how they help me do just that.

This is a super helpful response, thank you. This is what I thought -- I'm basically in a place where therapy is helping very well with understanding and healing deeper issues (which contributed to my breakdown), but due to the build up that led to the breakdown, I am experiencing a stress-induced depression. My mood is ok, but I feel physically and mentally depleted, no energy to get myself out.

Thanks again, this was helpful. Hope you are doing well, too!

[jenna1997]

Originally Posted by Nike007

You’re welcome. If you feel that you are in a crisis, you should talk to your doctor about it.

I have read that medication and therapy is the best thing known at the moment to treat mental illnesses because a lot of the time, especially in cases of more severe mental illnesses, medication helps make the symptoms not have as strong as an impact, making it possible to do therapy. Therapy can be a lot of work, and if you don’t have motivation, are tired all the time, and can’t focus either due to depression or anxiety, etc., then medication can help alleviate these symptoms enough so you can start doing therapy. That’s just the general idea. But not all medications work, and it depends on each person. It’s a long process, sadly.

That totally makes sense. Yeah, therapy is going really well for the most part, but my moods have been unstable and anxiety and panic attacks are still a huge problem since June (a looooong time to not be ok if you ask me). I am physically and mentally depleted. I have noticed a trend where I'm doing ok but then swing into deep sadness, crying spells, and depression -- and this does not help me progress in therapy at all. I'm hoping maybe medication can perhaps help speed up my recovery and improve the results of therapy in this manner?

Again, thank you so much -- really means a lot.

[Pixie1]

Originally Posted by jenna1997

In June of last year (2017) I had a nervous breakdown and experienced crippling anxiety for months -- I believe this was due to an overwhelm of stress and living at home with parents, and unresolved deeper emotional issues and depression.

Therapy has been helping a lot, but I'm still low, lost, and disconnected in my life and relationships. I still have bouts of depression and I'm still recovering from the breakdown.

I'm debating if I should go on antidepressants -- in your experience, have antidepressants made the results of therapy even better? I've read somewhere that they can help you delve into your issues even deeper.

Any feedback would help a great deal.

Ii’s a personal choice but you should know that some antidepressants are very good for anxiety such as Celexa. I take a very low dose & it helps tremendously with anxiety. Good luck!

[Nike007]

Originally Posted by jenna1997

That totally makes sense. Yeah, therapy is going really well for the most part, but my moods have been unstable and anxiety and panic attacks are still a huge problem since June (a looooong time to not be ok if you ask me). I am physically and mentally depleted. I have noticed a trend where I'm doing ok but then swing into deep sadness, crying spells, and depression -- and this does not help me progress in therapy at all. I'm hoping maybe medication can perhaps help speed up my recovery and improve the results of therapy in this manner?


Again, thank you so much -- really means a lot.

I’m going to say my experience is really rare. But I have had one time where I went on an antidepressant and it literally relieved all my depression symptoms within a few days for a few months. It felt good in that time but then it came back, so it wasn’t a cure all...

But yes, if the medication you take or try does work out, then it should help you in terms of therapy.

For me, I find therapy quite helpful. But sadly I have only an hour session (50 minutes technically) and by the time I talk about everything I’ve thought of about half of the things that have popped up in my mind between sessions, the session seems to be over. So I get kinda frustrated, but... My therapy sessions are a lot different than when I first did them. I started with CBT, then mindfulness-based CBT, and I just kinda do a talk therapy with things added into it from different therapy techniques.

And I’m sorry about the physical and mental depletion. I have feeling this way too lately. You are not alone. But I hope things get better for you.