Would you ever take anti anxiety medication?

[Excited Penguin]

I actually do have an idea about what you're talking about. More than you think.
=)

[Excited Penguin]

I have a feeling you're not really retarded, but just acting like it. Get over yourself.

[Losty]

I swear we can't have a thread without either of you being unnecessarily rude. Sigh.

I get what you're saying EP, the meds can only treat the symptoms of anxiety but not the cause, unless the cause is a chemical imbalance in which case the meds can actually treat the cause.

According to my doctor I have a bit of both, but let's pretend I don't have any chemical imbalance.

I need to continue working with my therapist to determine the exact triggers of my anxiety/panic attacks/flashbacks and such and continue learning the best ways for me to deal with them so they cannot completely take over my life. Buuuut...in the meantime if I don't take my meds I will not be able to function in my day to day life.

[robvalue]

Medication can help you cope while you're sorting out your issues. Sometimes you need a boost to get enough strength to properly help yourself. This has been the case for me both with anxiety and depression.

[Cyberman]

Just about every form of over-the-counter medication, as well as many prescribed ones, is designed to treat the symptoms of a condition instead of its cause. Whether a headache or a virus, we take something that will remove the experience of feeling them while the body tries to repair itself. The broken leg analogy still stands (as it were).

[Longhorn]

Oh dear sweet lawdy no. Smartest man in the room meets smartest man in the room.....

[MentalGiant]

No. I hate doctors and have a healthy distrust of pharmaceuticals. Even more so seeing the kind of 'doctor' I have to pay hefty ransoms to have listen to me and pretend to give a shit about my problems. Working through your problems to gain a healthy perspective on your own is hard, but no one knows better than you do the who, what, when, where and why you are at this point having these problems. And even more importantly, no one else knows better the right solution/steps to take to move forward to have a happy, productive life again. I have found meditation to be most helpful in exploring, confronting and coping with anxiety personally, especially when it comes to figuring out things to try in day to day life to get my anxiety levels down without pharmaceutical drugs or other intoxicants. 

I never found pharmaceutical DRUGS (lets call them what they are) to be 'miracle fixes' or particularly helpful either. They were little more than legal intoxicants that numbed the pain a bit and made you just fucked up enough to not give a shit at a about your problems ATM but still able to function well enough in daily life. A very small step up from street drugs if you ask me. They didn't help anything on any meaningful level though, if anything they impeded the ability to critically think and figure out how to move forward on a longer timescale than your next appointment. But that's how psychiatrists make their money- throwing pills at you like candy and hooking you into 'therapy' indefinitely. They wouldn't have a job if they actually fixed your problems seeing as the continuation of your issues is their source of income. That's just my opinion though. Everyone has to do what they feel is right for themselves.

[Kitty Galore]

Would and do.

[DespondentFishdeathMasochismo]

No. I hate doctors and have a healthy distrust of pharmaceuticals. Even more so seeing the kind of 'doctor' I have to pay hefty ransoms to have listen to me and pretend to give a shit about my problems. Working through your problems to gain a healthy perspective on your own is hard, but no one knows better than you do the who, what, when, where and why you are at this point having these problems. And even more importantly, no one else knows better the right solution/steps to take to move forward to have a happy, productive life again. I have found meditation to be most helpful in exploring, confronting and coping with anxiety personally, especially when it comes to figuring out things to try in day to day life to get my anxiety levels down without pharmaceutical drugs or other intoxicants. 

I never found pharmaceutical DRUGS (lets call them what they are) to be 'miracle fixes' or particularly helpful either. They were little more than legal intoxicants that numbed the pain a bit and made you just fucked up enough to not give a shit at a about your problems ATM but still able to function well enough in daily life. A very small step up from street drugs if you ask me. They didn't help anything on any meaningful level though, if anything they impeded the ability to critically think and figure out how to move forward on a longer timescale than your next appointment. But that's how psychiatrists make their money- throwing pills at you like candy and hooking you into 'therapy' indefinitely. They wouldn't have a job if they actually fixed your problems seeing as the continuation of your issues is their source of income. That's just my opinion though. Everyone has to do what they feel is right for themselves.

I partially agree with that first paragraph. It's true that there's really no one who knows more about you than yourself. You can't just walk into somewhere and tell them a little about yourself, then expect someone to tell you something about yourself that you don't already know. I also have a major distrust of pharmaceuticals. I do have some defense of psychologists though. I have found that having someone to talk to can be helpful. Going in and having a place to talk about what's on your mind, is something that isn't easy to come by if it's not with a psychologist. Most people don't care and a psychologist can sit down with you and won't say anything judgmental to you about what you have to say. It can be a good place to go in with some thoughts that have been bothering you, then lay them out and look at them in a way that's not difficult to deal with. 

As far as means of trying to naturally fix the issues. I try to eat the healthiest diet that is even conceivably available to man. I only buy foods that I research and discover have a very high amount of beneficial nutrition. I don't eat anything bad. Has that really helped me? Well it has in many ways, but it hasn't really gotten rid of the issue of anxiety that still sometimes comes up. I find that when I am at my happiest is when I am not really talking to anyone, not really engaging in any discussions online. Sometimes I will wake up in the middle of the night and I will have people writing replies to me in my sleep and it wakes me up. That's probably because I spend so much time on the internet. I always imagined that if I had some people to spend time with then that would alleviate so much of my stress. I always just wanted to have some friends that I could love and make me feel loved and accepted. I just find people hard to deal with in general though. I am trying to use okcupid, but that hasn't come to fruition. 

I agree with that second part, you've pretty much summed up how I've felt about pharmaceutical companies since I was in middle school. I literally quit taking prescription drugs when I was in middle school, because I didn't trust any of the stuff that they were giving me. I am strongly, strongly, STRONGLY  opposed to abusing drugs and that's what prescription drugs seem like to me. They talk to you for like 20 minutes about your symptoms and have very little concern for what is actually going on in your life, or what may be causing how you're feeling. It feels like a very unscientific process. I would trust drug companies a little more if they actually took chemical scans of your body and tested them with the drugs that they're using on you. I want to feel like the chemicals that they're putting in my body actually make some sort of positive effect, not just guinea pig you with a ton of shit that they trial on you until something works. Literally that's all they do is throw shit at a wall and see what sticks.

[brewer]

I would trust drug companies a little more if they actually took chemical scans of your body and tested them with the drugs that they're using on you.

For the most part, there are no "scans/tests" that can be run for mental health issues. The diagnosis and treatment is based on history and symptoms.

I'm sorry that both of you (MG and DF) have such distrust and disdain for the mainstream (allopathic) medical community. If these feelings are true, there are other options that are available.