Posted by mila on July 28, 2001, at 15:00:34
In reply to Need diagnosis help!, posted by CLAIREZ on July 28, 2001, at 13:07:26
Dear Clairez,
it seems that you've got an anxiety disorder and some substance-related disorder (tobacco dependency). Understand, that you are using tobacco as a depressant (which is very clever of you), to calm yourself down, and eventually became dependant on it.
Paxil should've been tried from the start. Do not worry about the side effects and withdrawal. Side effects are very much tolerable and tend to go away. Give yourself (and the medication) some time to work and cure you (several months, at least). By the time you'll be going through withdrawal (if at all)you will be so healthy you will be able to withstand them rather easily.
Psychotherapy (cognitive-behavioral kind) is a must. people like you and me who are predisposed to anxiety are very intense thinkers, but they engage in thought processes without accompanying images. This prevents the person from seeing the feared situation and the adaptation never occurs. Therapy will help you to process the information on an emotional level, using images, and teach you how to deal with difficulties in life consciously. This will empower you greatly.
although anxiety and mood disorders are two different classes of disorders, they are frequently and successfully treated with similar medication. Do not let this fool you into thinking that you have depression. Although many anxiety sufferers do become depressed, the anxiety disorder is the one that should be treated first and foremost.
Medication also affected my recall (trouble with finding words, as you put it), but only the immediate recall. I dealt with it by doing memory exercises. I discovered, that generally, my memory improved very much as a result of medication, because emotions do not block it as much as before.
Please, keep posting.
love
mila
poster:mila
thread:72240
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010725/msgs/72249.html