Posted by Twinleaf on January 1, 2012, at 9:51:31
In reply to Re: What helps...Dinah » Twinleaf, posted by Dinah on December 31, 2011, at 11:18:18
The things you've gradually figured out to do on the medication side seem to be effective. I think many of us here probably have slight physiological changes in our brains due to neglect or excessive interpersonal stress when we were young( or perhaps even when older) that cause us to emotionally dysregulate easily. The example you gave with your therapist - reacting with fear even though you knew you were safe with him - is just what I mean. If you hadn't had unduly stressful incidents in your past, probably now mostly forgotten, you would have remained calm. I don't think therapy can ever take away those interpersonal traumas altogether, but it can give us a new safe, healthy experience which can become a greater part of who we are over time.
For people like me (us?) keeping stress low stops the physiological changes ( HPA over-activity leading to an under-active, impaired hippocampus) which makes me anxious and depressed. Because of this, I think it is wiser for me to use medication indefinitely, although hopefully at quite low dosages. Meanwhile, therapy is slowly but surely putting healthy new information about trustworthy relationships into my brain.
I feel the same way you do: APs are much better at calming me down than the benzodiazepines. The key is occasional use, so as to avoid the weight gain and metabolic changes.
As far as *termination* goes, it absolutely has to be very gradual and as stress- free as possible. If it's stressful, I am just damaging my brain once again!
poster:Twinleaf
thread:1005862
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20111220/msgs/1006065.html