Posted by yxibow on September 18, 2008, at 5:54:21
In reply to i dont think you need meds, posted by med_empowered on September 15, 2008, at 22:45:30
> There's not really an anti-bad habit medication. You can take antidepressants to make yourself less anxious/more apathetic, benzos to relax you, antipsychotics to make you care less, or stimulants to help yourself focus on tasks at hand, but...there's really no medical antidote for the (seemingly mild) problem you're dealing with.
I would agree with this with a caveat -- if we are talking about biting nails down to a bleeding point, then it could fall into the category of trichotillomania or OCD, but nail biting is a response to anxiety and not every anxiety symptom needs to be treated with a psychotropic.
Every psychotropic will have its side effect -- and that is just as concerning. Does the benefit outweigh the risks ?
I think a more behavioural or psychodynamic/psychological approach to anxiety is better, especially since you have noted that you are no longer on benzodiazepines, which taken indefinitely, can (as I know personally) cause memory problems. That doesn't mean I'm a benzophobe, when the calling is needed, they are safe as directed.
With regards to the anti-bad habit comment, I would concur, partially -- after all, smoking can ultimately lead to a premature death, so patches and buproprion and other methods are so needed for the population that desperately wants to quit.
The same can be commented on for alcoholism, I don't need to go into all the ins and outs, because I'm not familiar with all the treatments.
But, and there were previous warnings, I'm not trying to be flippant, but a pill will not prevent you from tapping your hands at your cubicle and annoying your coworkers. Sometimes its hard work in progressive behavioural therapy.
-- best wishesJay
poster:yxibow
thread:852124
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080915/msgs/852610.html