#Depression and Anxiety Treatment

[mercifullymad]

i feel passionately about the need to enfold people experiencing (or diagnosed) with "just" depression or anxiety into the mad pride project. the more people who view themselves as mad, the better. much as the rhetorical move from "neurotypical" to "neuroconforming" emphasizes the artifice & social construction of "neurotypicality," so too will expanding identification as "mad" expose the sane/mad dichotomy as a false one.

it's true that (some) people with "just" depression and/or anxiety have an easier time navigating the psych system than people who have more stigmatized diagnoses. but this is not to say that they necessarily have an easy time — the carceral psych system is hostile to everyone subsumed by it, even the most "privileged" patients. we should of course critique & examine how our experiences are shaped by various intersections of privilege, but we cannot forget or ignore how someone with "just" a depression/anxiety diagnosis can still experience the full force of the carceral psych system brought down upon them (including but not limited to involuntary institutionalization, police intervention, & forced medication or other forced treatment).

we must encourage, if not insist, that those with the least-stigmatized diagnoses view their difficult experiences navigating the psych system as bound up with the liberation of people who have more stigmatized diagnoses &, often, a more violent experience of the psych system. we need more people to drop the "i have anxiety/depression but i'm not crazy" line and say loudly, "i have anxiety/depression & i am crazy. my access to just treatment is linked to the conditions of all other crazy people, who are my allies, peers, & friends. we are united in our cause & we all deserve a more liberating system of care."

[writterings]

hate when therapists get suspicious when you're well educated on mental health and/or are self aware. sir i live here. of course i'm going to be able to articulate myself well about my mental illness. that does not mean im making it up.

[briarmae]

So, I have autism. One aspect of autism and/ or adhd is RSD, or Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria. It's used to describe a type of emotional disregulation.

I accidentally made a relatively popular post (for me). (It currently has 2,900 notes. My next most popular post has 100.) 2,900 notes, and of them, only about 12 people who responded were negative and/ or confused. I was CONSUMED with feelings of anger, anxiety, rejection, and sadness about those 12 people. 12 out of 2900.

RSD is ridiculous.

But my psychiatrist added a new antidepressant, and suddenly those feelings are blunted, and I can let go of things that cause me anxiety. But I can still experience joy, etc. It's like... my emotions are less overwhelming, but I can still feel them? I hope I'm describing it well enough.

Is this how *normal people feel?

(*Normal, of course, is relative. In this case, it refers to people who are neurotypical and/ or do not suffer from mental illness.)

[findingmypeace]

I’m at iop. I’m feeling a lot of self-hatred, anxiety, and anger. I’m overwhelmed. I don’t know what else to say. It’s all a mess in my head. This is when I want to numb out. I guess instead it’s opposite action. I’m sitting here calmly, like always, seemingly fine to the rest of the world. Smile and wave. Everything is perfect. 🥰🫣😢

[randomreasonstolive]

Reason to Live #9408

 Treating myself how I treat my beloved friends.  – Guest Submission

(Please don't add negative comments to these posts.)

[arcane-sync]

Final thoughts on esketamine/spravato.

Finally done taking this med. I know its supposed to take 6 months. I took 4 years, but it did the trick. I dont need any antidepressants at all now. I'm just on gabapentin for a variety of reasons.

I'm not sure how it's supposed to work, but it really started working once I got comfortable enough that I could push myself. It's like it expanded my window of tolerance and continuously pushing that window is when the recovery really started to snow ball. I kept pushing until I found a new normal, and I'm still startled by how... stable I feel. I still get little dips every now and then, but I know on a deeper level that it will pass. I just have to hold on and use my coping skills until then, and it's usually gone in 6 or so hours.

That being said, it didn't fix everything. My anxiety is probably 50% less now but its not gone. And like... trauma gonna trauma. I still go to counseling and all that. But I have hope now. It's wild.

If you're reading this cause you're thinking about it, here's advice for the sessions themselves. I could taste it and I haaaated it. It helped immensely to have some sort of candy on hand to drown out the taste. It always made me dizzy for 2 hours, but apparently that isnt common. They only prepped me to know it will effect your sight (Colors brighter or duller). For me, it mostly impacted my sense of taste. I absolutely could not eat anything even remotely greasy for 12 hours after every treatment. Do NOT drive for at least 6 hours after leaving the appointment. Even if you feel physically fine, it is still impacting your judgment. And for me, it would make my mood wonky for about 24 hours, even at the end of treatments. Just be gentle with yourself.

Over all, I do recommend. I had tried some 30 medications before this, and this is the only thing that touched my treatment resistant depression. It was very literally life changing. Just do your research first.

[eva-knits12]

CE characters discovering you have depression and anxiety

Trigger warning: depression and anxiety. If you feel the need to commit suicide, contact 988 (previously 1-877-273-8255, this will work for some time), or call 911 immediately! Trust me, there is help out there, and there is no shame in asking for help. Things might seem hopeless now, and you feel helpless, and devoid of all energy and life, and you feel like everything hurts, everyone has abandoned you, everyone has turned on you, etc., please know that you are not alone. As I've explained, there is help out there, and there's no shame in asking for help.

Colin Shea:

Colin sees you crying, curled up in a ball.

"I just can't do this...I just can't do this..."

Colin puts his arms around you, and holds you, and rocks you.

Colin tells you everything will be okay, and that you'll get through this.

Colin serenades you with his own songs, and some of his favorites.

Later, he creates a playlist for you.

A few days later, you have an anxiety attack.

Colin tries to help, but he doesn't know how.

He encourages you to see a therapist.

Your doctor and your therapist put you on an antidepressant.

You start seeing your therapist regularly, and take your medicine every day.

You slowly start becoming the old you.

Colin and you spend time together, as you've both been neglecting things lately.

Colin also sees a therapist in order to help you with your depression.

Colin has helped you get better.

Ransom Drysdale:

Ransom has never dealt with this before.

He sees you upset, crying, and shaking.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

You explain that you lost your job, and you're not sure if you can go on anymore.

Ransom doesn't know what to do here.

He looks like a lost puppy.

He tries to help you.

He calls 911 and gets you to the hospital.

You're put in psychiatric care.

Ransom calls you every day, and comes on visiting day during visiting hours.

He brings you a stuffed teddy bear.

He even brings you some clothes, making sure that none of them have strings, and he even brings you a pair of slippers, making sure that they don't have strings.

(Trust me, when you're undergoing a psych eval., the people in the psych ward aren't screwing around with this! No strings, no keys, no razors. I wasn't even allowed to have my knitting because the knitting needles were considered weapons.)

You start to get better, because you're not only getting help, talking, and taking an antidepressant and antianxiety meds,

Ransom helps find you one of the best therapists in the area.

You start getting better because you're finally opening up about what you've been through.

Ransom holds you every night and every morning.

He can't let you go, and he knows that you're still fragile right now.

"You're getting so much better and so much stronger every day."

"I'm proud of you."

Ransom starts seeing a therapist, too as a way to help you and to talk about his past, and as a way to help deal with his crazy family.

Andy Barber:

Andy sees that you're breaking down, and crying.

"Honey, baby, what's wrong?"

You cry some more.

Andy wraps his arms around you, and you just keep sobbing.

Two of your co-workers are not only bullying you at work, they are making it difficult for you to even function.

You've had an anxiety attack already.

You have to escape somewhere else, close the door, and cry every day.

You need to release this.

Andy's lawyer training is kicking in.

He drops you off the next day, and he talks with your boss.

You have everything documented.

Andy threatens to sue for creating a hostile work environment if your boss doesn't get rid of these two.

Later that day, those two are gone.

You're still upset.

It's hard for you to get up in the morning, even on the best of days.

Andy notices, and encourages you to get help.

You see your docs, and he starts you on an antidepressant.

You start seeing a therapist.

You are slowly getting better.

Andy treats you to a date night, and it's the best.

You and Andy start to spend more time together.

A few weeks later, you give your two weeks notice.

You decide to put your mental health first.

Steve Rogers:

Steve sees that you haven't been yourself lately.

The days are taking a toll on you.

You are crying one morning, and Steve hears you.

"Doll, what's wrong?"

You explain that you feel like everything is falling apart.

You feel like you can't do anything right lately.

Tony's new receptionist is not only lazy, she's bullying you.

You have an anxiety attack.

Steve encourages you to get help.

You start seeing the therapist.

Tony fires his receptionist and hires a new one.

You and the new one get along.

Steve and you go for a walk, go for a run, or go to the gym every day.

You also take your antidepressants and your antianxiety meds.

Steve is proud of you.

He sees that the old you is slowly coming back.

He sees that you're putting in the work.

Steve sees that you are more like yourself.

Steve takes you on a nice, weekend getaway.

You come back, and you've been glowing even more.

[savageboar]

i can't stop thinking about how insidious it is, these advertisers demanding the censorship of even uttering the word suicide. like. as someone who suffers from suicidal ideation you know what kept me from opening up about it and my depression and seeking medical help for so long? people treating it like a forbidden taboo subject you're not supposed to ever talk about. all this will do is actually cause more people to suffer and die. we gotta kill capitalism.

[amassofhumanity]

Life is very difficult right now. My car died sometime in February. Finally had enough money from my sister cashing out her small pension fund to get it looked at. I get my much larger retirement fund at the end of April. For now though, it seems like I need a new alternator. The official diagnosis hasn’t come back from the mechanic. His said it could be anywhere between $450 to $1,000. Uh, no.

The car is a 2006. I plan on using some of my retirement funds on a new-to-me car. I’m not going to spend a lot of money on a car that I plan to get rid of in a month.

Dealing with car repairs is very stressful for me. That and money concerns. Often the two issues are connected. I hate it when I start rehearsing for tragedy or rehearsing for negative things. Thanks mom.

My mental health has been lousy the past few days. I started training for that customer service job and it was really stressing me out. I was physically and mentally exhausted after each training day. I couldn’t focus, couldn’t remember things, and my short term memory was really bad. It was really stressing me out and I dropped it after four days.

I am in the application process for a job where I would rate internet ads and searches. The next step was to take an 8 to 10 hour exam. I got through about two hours of it and it wouldn’t let me continue. It said wait for further instructions from the employer. I wasn’t doing well on the questions they were showed me the answer. My gut feeling is I won’t be moving on with the hiring process. Again, I’m a negative thinker.

At least I finally figured out this boop thing (after 8 pm). So maybe I’ll do some of that. Hopefully people aren’t sick of it.

[opossum-by-night]

Just told my mom about the suspected autism thing and she goes "oh yeah, the first psychiatrist you ever saw in high school mentioned that" so like,

But like I remember her sucking as a doctor in general, so I can't 100% blame my parents for not taking her word for it (and also she didn't evaluate me or anything, just suggested it I guess??? and then threw SSRIs at me) but also IT SURE WOULD'VE BEEN COOL TO FOLLOW UP ON THAT A LITTLE BIT MAYBE?????

[therapycenterofny]

When dealing with depression, choosing between a psychiatrist and a psychologist can be confusing. Psychiatrists are medical doctors who can prescribe medication to manage depression's chemical imbalances, while psychologists focus on therapy, helping individuals navigate thought patterns and behaviors that affect their mood. Knowing the difference can help you find the right support for your journey toward healing.

Seeking help for depression is a powerful step, but who should you reach out to: a psychiatrist or psychologist? Psychiatrists provide medical treatments and are ideal if your symptoms may require medication. Psychologists, on the other hand, offer therapeutic support, helping you address emotional challenges and learn effective coping strategies. Both approaches can be essential in treating depression, depending on individual needs.

[byanyan]

so anyway, thanks for reading my little dissertations on byan's gender. sorry for not writing again today, i'm just. i'm fuckin goin through it rn man

[robinsnest2111]

wish there'd be a mental health retreat where I could just go: test me for ALL THE ILLNESSES AND DISORDERS AND MAYBE TRY TO FIX ME PLS

and then I go through a couple months of intense therapy and can live a happier healthier life afterwards idk

[randomreasonstolive]

Reason to Live #9210

To treat others with respect and tolerance.  – Guest Submission

(Please don't add negative comments to these posts.)

[hydnes]

crazy how if you self-dx you're the devil & should pay money you probably dont have if you're on wikipedia for a professional screening but if your psychiatrist puts you on 500,000,000mg of antipsychotics and you nearly die the people around you are like "that's your fault somehow for putting your life into the hands of a medical professional that we would hound you about seeing otherwise"

[scienceisfood]

At the root of my problems.