Posted by Selkhet on January 14, 2004, at 23:34:05
Hi everybody, I'm new to the online community here, but hopefully I've spent enough time wandering around previous posts to be sort of up to speed on how things work. It seems like a really supportive group, and I'm hoping maybe some people could offer a newbie some pointers...
After many years of feeling mildly depressed, and lately suffering from increasingly severe anxiety--obsessively worrying about things, to the point that the worrying was actually causing me to fail at them, going through endless recriminations for mistakes I've made, especially expensive ones, being constantly uncertain of myself and on edge in social situations, not trusting any of my emotions or interactions with people around me, etc--I finally decided to get myself into therapy. I didn't go before now because I never felt like I was doing "badly enough" to warrant it, but the last few months were pretty hard and finally provided the incentive to go. Also, I'm just tired of feeling bad.
So, this is a positive development, but I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed. I had my second session with my therapist today, and I met with a pdoc (if I'm using the term right) to talk about meds. She thinks I'd be a good candidate for SSRIs and recommended Lexapro for mild depression and GAD. I've overcome what used to be a very strong aversion to the idea of medication, but I'm still not sure I want to leap into it so quickly. On the other hand, I really want to stop worrying so much!!
Any suggestions? Have people here had much success with just therapy, or is it a good idea to do meds, too? Any suggestions for therapy sessions? I lucked out with therapists--got one I like and trust first try--but I don't have anything to compare it to. And I'm worried she thinks there's no reason for me to be there. I'm very good at giving people around me that I'm in total control of my life and have it all together, and I think I'm doing the same thing with her. How do I open up??
Thanks
poster:Selkhet
thread:300968
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040109/msgs/300968.html