Medicines - A Band-Aid Solution?? - Anxiety Message Board

anxietysucks · 09-12-2005, 10:11 AM

I try the relaxation and talk methods, but they never seem to work for me. I've seen on here where people will have a bottle of Xanax that they have had for months, whereas I'm always out by the time I'm due for a refill.

Is it being cruel to yourself to try to talk yourself through an attack when there is a medicine available to stop it, or are you better off suffering through it so that you don't become dependent on medications to alleviate the attack?

I've heard alot of people say that medicines only mask the problem or are a band-aid solution. Like anxiety is more of a personal problem with your personality or some event that traumatized you. So its not a chemical imbalance or something misfiring in your brain? More like mind over matter. Which one is it?

Derangea · 09-12-2005, 10:34 AM

Well it could be a little of both. I guess it just depends on how bad it is. I've never really been into the whole natural rememdies like meditation or deep breathing. They never did anything for me. If you do suffer from panic attacks but they only happen every so often then maybe you need a drug just as needed to alleviate it a little. But what I'm doing currently is working on my self-esteem and trying to make myself feel secure within myself. Its kind of difficult but I guess its just a matter of getting to know yourself a little more. I keep a journal and I'm glad I do because I can look back to old entries and really get familiar with who I am again. I don't know if that makes any sense. Its weird though because most psychologist try to find ways to get passed anxiety without meds, and then psychiatrists want to push the drug. Learn to trust yourself before you put trust in either.

mjewell · 09-12-2005, 11:23 AM

anxietysucks - I agree with you and derangea about the meditation, deep breathing, positive talk - it doesn't work unless you believe it, and we do not believe it. I am reading for the second time this book by Bronwyn Fox called Power Over Panic and she talks about how you have to build up your self esteem and self confidence, like derangea said, and you have to learn to address the emotional part of the anxiety, which is where a lot of therapists don't go. The positive self talk and deep breathing exercises address the intellectual part of panic, which we already know - for example, we KNOW it is irrational to panic, we KNOW it is only anxiety and it won't hurt us, but we don;t believe it because those therapy techniques do nothing for the emotional part (the not believing your intellectual side).

Anyway, I am going to take some notes on this book and take it when I go for my appointment, because she really hits the nail on the head and some of those things and I want to make sure my therapy is worth my time and money.

I struggle a lot with the whole "should I tough it out vs. should I put myself out of my misery and take a Xanax" argument. I always tell myself to tough it out but in the end I always end up taking a Xanax. I don't think we should allow ourselves to suffer when there is such a good stopper right at our fingertips, but at the same time I am so afraid of building tolerance...it's a two-edged sword really.

SRMom · 09-12-2005, 11:39 AM

In my opinion, taking a benzo is fine to help you through any situation that you are forced to deal with where you may panic and not be able to remove yourself from the situation. If I have panic in a place where I don't have to worry about safety or embarrassment, then I try to just ride out the panic attack, confident I'll be okay because I know it won't hurt me. If you have panic every day though, that is a serious problem that can affect your job, family, etc. You may need serious medication while you are receiving cognitive therapy so that you'll be able to function until you gain the tools you need to move beyond the daily panic. Until we can control our anxiety on our own, we should all be careful about not taking meds more that prescribed and only when really necessary.

Derangea · 09-12-2005, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjewell

The positive self talk and deep breathing exercises address the intellectual part of panic, which we already know - for example, we KNOW it is irrational to panic, we KNOW it is only anxiety and it won't hurt us, but we don;t believe it because those therapy techniques do nothing for the emotional part (the not believing your intellectual side).

That is really interesting. I never knew that. Thank you for bringing that up!