I Need Some Help (Anxiety Med Recommendations)

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Ask a professional.

Utter blind faith in doctors is a bit weird to me (especially when some are pretty mediocre), sure they know more than you do and are usually the best source of advice but if you think they don't offer generic or poor advice very often you're crazy. They are human and you should view them that way, a GP is usually not a specialist in anything in particular (especially mental health issues) and just have very general overall advice and knowledge that you can find yourself.

I was suggested a form of medication years ago, I questioned the side effects and told him I wasn't going to take them and so offer an alternative. He did and that did the trick for me, however I had to say no before he offered me alternatives and was all ready to write the prescription. The medication had very serious side effects, including tendon damage and it would have been a huge mistake for me to take them (NHS doctors have pressure applied to offer cheaper meds to save money).

A doctor is also a hammer looking for nails, they will almost always suggest medication when the best course of action possibly isn't medication as the first option.


The problem with this is that many people who say they have depression or anxiety do not at all (I'm not saying this is the case for Senaki), and these kinds of people should not be on medication when other things can fix their problems. However doctors will happily prescribe meds if asked regardless, cause that's how their minds work.

Another problem with taking these kinds of seratonin boosting meds is your body becomes accustomed to them, and if you stop taking them you can feel far far worse than you did before when your seratonin levels nosedive. This is often a serious issue as sometimes people stop taking the meds and they get into a far more life threatening mindset when they do that. You can't just stop taking these things after being on them for a while, and very often the doctors don't warn you about this.

Medications for these kinds of issues should be the last resort, not the first option.

I think it plays into personal accountability, too. There's this idea that mental health isn't your fault, and it's just plain not true in most cases. You reached your current level of mental health through a series of choices, and you can get out of it through a series of choices. If you spent 10 years destroying your body and mind, you probably won't fix it overnight.

If you're physically able to make a small step to improve your diet or add a bit more exercise to your life, that will have impact upstream. One improvement at a time will get you there eventually. When you tell these people that it's a chemical imbalance[it is], and that it's not their fault[it usually is their fault], you condition them to believe they are helpless in the scenario until they find the magic pill. Everyone loves to have an excuse, to remove all blame from themselves, and to continue their own indulgences.

If you want to get into the actual hard data, there's no medication that has anywhere near the correlation to positive mental health that consistent exercise does. We all know that eating badly makes you feel badly. But, it's not easy for your doctor to have that conversation with you in most western countries, even if they have the desire to do so.

You have entire movements trying to justify 'health at any size' and normalize obesity. You have patients who outright refuse to weigh themselves because of the 'mental trauma' associated with it. Let's say your psychiatrist is one of those who truly care, and he understands your issue would most likely be resolved by exercise and diet: how does he break it to you without risking an uncomfortable confrontation that leads to nothing? The client paid, they want a pill to magically fix everything, and that's what the doctor is trying to provide. We're just a little short on magic pills.

There are people with truly awful conditions that completely discount the possibility of consistent exercise, and they're an exception. But, they're not the majority. Far too many will take any minor imperfection and use it as an excuse to avoid doing the hard thing.

Welp if this works from scientific standpoint then we wouldn't need metal health clinics. People with mental disorders can't just "stop overthinking and relax" then magically get disorders cured. From scientific standpoint their nerve/brain system is malfunctioning. You don't just magically cure that by "stop overthinking".

The real answer is ask mental health professionals, if one doctor doesn't work go to another one. Don't ask internet for help.

If someone has shitty eating habits, doesn't get enough exercise, doesn't drink enough water, has bad social media habits, and has a negative thought pattern, good luck "prescribing" they stop doing those things and then having them follow through on it.

I agree that fixing all of the bad habits a person has would contribute positively to their mental health problems. I disagree that it's what medical practitioners should be doing. I very strongly disagree that it's a practical solution for most people who are struggling. Do you think these people haven't even thought "maybe I should exercise, cook myself healthy meals, and stop drinking soda/alcohol" or "maybe I should stop being caught in negative thought patterns" ?

w/r/t medical professionals googling their way to a phd, that is DRAMATICALLY underselling the efforts it takes to get a phd and the absurd amounts of things you need to learn. Do you think that graduate- and pdh-level courses allow you to google the answers when you're taking a test? Do you think when defending your thesis you're allowed to quickly google the answers to the questions?

As far as "blindly trusting" physicians, psychologists, therapists, etc. um...are you not "blindly trusting" some random person you've never met on the internet who hasn't demonstrated the ability to formulate an entire English sentence? What makes you believe that any random Joe you pick up off the street is better-qualified to read and understand research or diagnose a physical or mental health problem better than someone who studied it? The fact that they're experiencing it...? I doubt it. If they can't adequately describe their experience to a medical professional, what makes you think they'll be able to adequately describe it to Google or WebMD, and then pick out the one of hundreds of potential causes?

Sure, and the end result is generally going to be one of two paths:

-You go to your GP. You get a prescription for a SSRI, or a referral to a psychiatrist. You go through 3 SSRIs, then Bupropion, then potentially a stimulant in that order. This is all fixed on the back end, and will be the same for pretty much anyone. The only variance is how many of them you try before something changes in your life or you lose interest in the process.

-You go to a psychologist, and they tell you the same things I am. They help you identify where you're not taking care of yourself. You put in the work, improve the habits, and end up better.

If you want to suck establishment *** all day, that's your perogative. You'll never get told off for telling people to ask an authority, because theoretically authorities should know the most. But, the data doesn't support the efficacy of these drugs. People want an easy fix, and it's not an easy fix.

Are you trying to say that if you are in a situation that you need a doctor or health professionals, you can just google and find the information?

Just fyi, I do that quite often myself. And I believe I am pretty good at digging up info on the internet.

Very often I go to the doctor after I looked for healthcare info online and it turns out that the internet was wrong.

There are a LOT of nuance when it comes to correct diagnosis. Internet has generalized info, but very frequently it misses crucial details separating one conclusion from another. While experienced doctors can make better conclusions based on past experience.


If you can't find a good doctor, the solution is find another one. Ask friends, or ask internet opinions on where to find one. letting Internet guide you into dunning-krudger effect is not a good idea imo.

No, I never said not to see a professional. This is probably the most relevant passage from last page:


I don't think people should treat their [American] doctors as infallible, and I question the intelligence of anyone who does. You cannot order your own tests(for the most part) or prescribe your own medication, so your ability to solve most issues is quite limited. However, you can and should research your issues both before and after visiting your doctor. The person most invested in your health(physical or mental) will always be yourself.

In the case of mild mental health issues like anxiety or depression, the most efficient treatment is well supported by studies, and it's improving your habits step by step (CBT). Some people might just need to reframe their thinking to start doing that. Others might need to see a doctor and get placebos, and that's ok. Some need a therapist or psychologist to walk them through it more personally. But, nobody is going to be hurt by improving their daily habits.

How do you evaluate if your doctor is good if you aren't willing to question their authority and knowledge? Surely you can't evaluate them solely on results, since conditions are wildly variable and each patient is different. The first step to determining whether your doctor is good is establishing a framework for what qualifies as good.

Most doctors don't have a PhD. MD (Medical Doctor) gets the title Doctor without a PhD.
You can't Google, but you can fabricate and massage data to say what you want it to say. Viva aren't that rigorous.
I also know other academics that have passed each other's PhD student as their external reviewer as a favour to one another.

This has nothing to do with country I believe, bad doctors always exist everywhere. That's why ask for opinions from different doctors may help. I've experienced multiple times that different doctors have drastically different opinions on the same thing. I just ended up making decisions based on pros and cons from what they said.

Still, internet is not anymore correct than doctors from my experience.

I'm not suggesting 'internet' in general, the actual studies used to get medication approved are all available. A person of reasonable intelligence can act on that information.

Let's say I market a magic pill that makes you flip heads on coins more often. I commission a group to make a study to support that my pill works. They make a few sample groups, and then publish the study based on the best of them. The published study will clearly state that a group of 100 people took my pill, a group of 100 people did not, and each flipped a coin. Of the people who took my pill, 58 of them flipped heads while only 42 of the people who did not flipped heads.

Now, a savvy customer really wants to flip more heads, so they look up my pill and read the study. Turns out, the idea that my pill works is based on data that does indicate it has a positive effect, but is not anywhere near conclusive enough to be sure. They will likely hesitate to take that pill.

This is the case for SSRIs. They have generally beaten placebos, but not by clinically significant amounts. Still, 130 million prescriptions for them are written yearly in the USA. These customers are blindly trusting their doctor, when the research is clearly there to show that they do not work.

The greater the understanding of mechanism of action, or quantity of strong data, the more likely you can believe a drug is effective. This is something that should be informing your opinions if you are intelligent enough to comprehend it. Your doctor is not giving you any of that info, and likely doesn't even know it themselves.

can only speak for myself, and I consider myself to be above average intelligence, there have been times when I literally could not make healthy decisions because of various problems including chronic anxiety and depression. in that circumstance, medicine helped restore some of that control and balance. then, after, comes the continuous work of taking care of yourself.

are pills mistakenly prescribed and people misdiagnosed? certainly. but in my experience I cannot agree with the statement that they simply do not work.

Depends on the pill. Stimulants are well-supported. Bupropion seems effective based on current studies. SSRIs have had an insane amount of studies and cannot consistantly beat placebo. Placebo is meaningful on it's own regard, the act of going to a doctor and getting a drug can be the first positive step in a series of positive steps even if the drug isn't doing anything. None of these will work for your whole life, they need to be part of an approach that includes fixing the bad habits.

The pill has to be a step, not the solution. Anyone telling you otherwise is lying, which is why I encourage anyone who is capable of doing so to actually read the studies.

They asked for med suggestions, not for armchair *** to tell them they're wrong for taking meds.

It's not always easy to make smart and healthy choices for yourself, especially when your brain is seemingly against it. Nature and exercise are not going to cure someone with a genuine issue. Can they help? Absolutely. Therapy (of several types) paired with medications is the best way to get a start at normalcy. Meds do get overprescribed, but that doesn't mean everyone with meds has been. Some people NEED them. Stop talking ***about it because some of you are coming off like anyone that takes them is a wuss who just needs to hug a tree.

OP, get off of this site. Go talk to your doctor. Make sure to get a real evaluation from a mental health professional and not a typical M.D. Not all medications work on everyone the same. Just like finding a therapist who is right for you and your needs, you sometimes have to try different medications out. This is frustrating because several need to be taken for a few weeks before you can see them working or not.

Nobody is forcing anyone to read or comment here. OP asked for recommendations, I am recommending that they(and anyone in the same situation) evaluate potential meds based on the studies done on them, rather than solely using their doctor's checklist. It's a shitty thread, because nobody here is going to prescribe or hand out meds, so they're going back to the doctor anyway. The best thing they can do to improve that outcome is to go back with as much information as possible.

They already did, they are asking for adv from peers who are probably going through or have gone through similar things.



They are smart enough to know what they were going to get when they made the thread, they have also stated that to be the case in later posts.

Sorry, I should have said to go back to the person that gave them a medication they do not feel is working for them.

Apologies again, because I should have thought that OP "knowing" what they were getting into meant that it's okay for some people to basically tell them to hug a tree because their mother said meds are bad.

Some of the advice and comments in here blowing OP off could genuinely kill someone, but please continue.

I mean, if you want to get into butterfly effect here, learned helplessness and the SSRI circuit have certainly caused a whole lot of people's deaths. It's even listed as a known side effect.

Please stop using sarcasm like this, I know you think it's funny but it really could lead to someone deleting their character in minecraft.

Please reconsider what you're doing and be more careful.

time for a lock imo, if anyone remembers hey from BG, things can definitely go wrong with internet advice, positive or negative. hope OP finds a solution that works for them whatever it may be.

If someone asks for advice you give them advice, if you disagree then you give yours. Nothing anyone has said here is bad, nobody told them to shove pokers up their butt and drink prime energy drink.

Adults ask for advice from their peers irl all the time and they also do it online, the answer to that should not be "nooo ask the doctor, we are stupid and know nothing! stop nobody reply, lock the thread cause only doctors can answer!"

They want help, they want advice. Many of us have taken these things, been in this situation, are dealing/have dealt with these issues.

I agree with this in theory, but I think in practice it happens because everyone is scared of giving bad advice and potential liability for doing so. On the flip side, when you only allow doctors to comment on an issue then you've effectively monopolized truth. Doctors have to answer to a regulatory board to keep their job, which limits their ability to be candid. We all saw how well that worked for covid-19.

Can't blame admins for locking a thread that has a (however small) chance of causing them legal trouble down the road. Can't blame people for hedging their opinions for fear of harming another. But, suppressing open discussion still feels dirty.

I don't think the situations are comparable but you never know, so I definitely am in the play it safe camp. Not my place anyway to say lock or not, but Radial's joke reminded me of the past and what can happen.

It's not about being sued, if people care about that nobody would use the internet at all. People just don't like having their own life choices questioned, and if they are taking medication they don't like anyone effectively questioning it, even if it wasn't about them in the first place.

People who get upset usually are taking those medications, and by suggesting someone else not take them you're effectively saying they are wrong for doing so.

I have locked and unmained this thread.

OP, please talk to a healthcare provider. They are going to have the most knowledge of not just the general problem, but also specifics to your case (like the side effects you describe might be some specific reaction they can deal with and give you alternative that WON'T do that). "Call them if you have side effects" is absolutely something your provider should be handling.

I'm not going to get into some of the frankly irresponsible replies in this thread, but a lot of you seem to have pretty strong opinions on sensitive topics you don't have the foggiest *** idea about. Maybe put a lid on that.