Dear BellyButton:

I too got off anti-depressant and other psychiatric medications/ drugs. I took those, big dosages most of the time, for 17 years. I tried to get off a few times and failed. The longest time I was off was three months of so. That was in 2011/12. I experienced intense anxiety attacks and was in way worse shape than I was before taking all those drugs. I gave in at one point and saw a psychiatrist again, got on a different anti anxiety (less agitating, luvox instead of the zoloft i was on before) as well as on the tranqualizer I was on before. After quite a few monts I started getting off again, this time while seeing the new psychiatrist regularly, tapering off with his advice of what to take and how much. I was also in psychotherapy with another professional, learning skills to regulate my emotions and doing a lot of exercise and yoga.

I eventually stopped alltogether all the drugs and it has been almost a year and a half. I can’t believe I made it! Not an easy ride since but the anxiety attacks, the worsening that you are experiencing- and that I did- that is gone and life is better now, better than what it was before all the psychiatric drugs and of course, way, way better than during the months after stopping all of them.

Since I went through this, let me know if there is anything else I can share with you (be back to computer in a few hours).

anita

Hi BellyButton,

Medication can take the edge off, but the causes of anxiety and depression run a little bit deeper.

Let me explain a bit about the subconscious mind. Your mind’s job is to keep you safe. And in order to do this, it looks at what is going on to determine if there is a connection to a past perceived threat. If it sees even the smallest connection, it sounds an alert. This “alert” is the fight-or-flight response. It causes all kinds of stress hormones to be released, causing elevated heart rate and breathing, as well as limited problem-solving ability. It causes you to focus on detecting threats, and really nothing else.

Can you see how this relates to anxiety and paranoid thoughts? Depression also occurs as a result of this response. The stress hormones decrease your brain’s production of serotonin, and your body and mind just plain become tired from being on “high alert” all the time. The result can be depression.

Medication can help balance your brain chemistry, but the ultimate solution is to stop the mind from perceiving so many threats in the first place. It is important to note that your own thoughts can trigger the fight-or-flight response. Let me give you an example.

I had an emotionally abusive “friendship” when I was a teenager. I thought that my “friend” acted the way she did, because I was a bad person. Eventually, I did stick up for myself, but I found that my other relationships followed the same pattern. When my husband said anything that my mind perceived to be similar to what my “friend” had said, my mind went on high alert, because it detected a threat. Then I acted out of fear, and this actually led to the situation repeating itself, to a lesser degree.

The good news is that these misunderstandings, which the mind uses to perceive threats, can be redefined. I ended up redefining my assumption that my friend acted the way she did, because I was a bad person. I saw how she was trying to use her treatment of me as a way to feel better about herself, because she had doubts. It really had nothing to do with me. Then I redefined my assumption that my husband was trying to hurt me. I saw his insecurities, and I saw how my lack of establishing boundaries was allowing him (and my other friends) to walk all over me. By changing my internal thought patterns, I was able to change my external circumstances.

You mentioned counseling. I would STRONGLY recommend that you look into skill-based therapy, such as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy or Dialectic-Behavioral Therapy. I use a variant on these with my clients, and they have a great deal of success. This type of therapy will help you to identify and redefine assumptions and misunderstandings. It is very empowering. Redefining can take years, but you should notice some changes in your mood rather quickly.

Bethany
http://onlinetherapyandcoaching.org

dear BellyButton:

yes, I remember the brain shocks- oh, I do. I forgot about them until I read your post just now. Nice… I did forget. And I too… developed such discomfort with bloating… my eating became disordered when I was getting off the psychiatric drugs… severe overeating, binges and lots of bloating. This part is getting better for me only recently, way after the brain zaps (how I called them). Yes, these physical symptoms… will pass.
anita