Posted by Dinah on February 2, 2011, at 19:57:15
In reply to Re: session » violette, posted by Annabelle Smith on February 2, 2011, at 16:51:42
Medications don't need to be something that blocks off your feelings and makes therapy less useful.
Medications can be something that allows you to feel what you feel, but without becoming nonfunctional.
I use as needed medications, except for some lamictal prescribed primarily for migraine prophylaxis but which also has some mood stabilization benefits. I have on hand Risperdal (my personal favorite) and Klonopin. I'm rather finely strung, and while I can be functioning ok and feeling fine sometimes, with too much stress I melt down into a puddle and don't function at all. Only when the pain interferes with my life do I take the medications. I have a responsibility to my family, to my employers, and to myself, to remain functional.
My as needed medications in no way interfere with my therapy. I don't even generally take them the morning of therapy. What they do is keep me from falling too low. Sometimes feeling the pain is productive. Sometimes it's counterproductive. It's the responsibility of the patient, guided by mental health professionals, to decide to take (or not take) medication in a way that works best for them.
It doesn't appear, from the pain you frequently express, that your pain is productive at this time. But that's an assessment for you and your therapist/pdoc to make, when they are fully aware of the circumstances. Perhaps you could discuss with them different medication alternatives and what they would mean in your life.
poster:Dinah
thread:977638
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20101228/msgs/978575.html