Discussion Feeling hopeless therapy

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Went to therapy today. My therapist said my baseline anxiety is to high for therapy to help or be effective. That i need my meds to help me lower my baseline anxiety.

Well I'm on lexapro, buspirone, and hydroxyzine. That's suppose to help but clearly isn't helping enough.

So seeing doctor next week to see what we can do medicine wise to help me more.

So far the only thing that has helped was when I took .5 lorazepam for two days. But benzodiazepines addictive, withdrawals, and you gain tolerance. Soo I only took it twice as needed.. havnt taken sense. As I need a long-term medication.

I only take my lorazepam for really big special occasions where I need to take it or I won't be able to go but have too.

Also part of therapy is fully accepting and embracing therapy as well as your issue.

Well I've accepted my anxiety. I've somewhat embraced it not fully because well it makes me physically and mentally ill. Also therapy hasn't helped me much in the past and in one case made it worse.. so it wouldn't be rational to fully accept therapy. I mean I accept therapy. I'm willing to give it a try and it makes me a bit hopeful. But I also feel hopeless about it as it might not work.

 

[Ghost2211]

It can take several tries to find a therapist that works well for you. It seems unreasonable for a therapist to tell you that you have too much anxiety for therapy. It just means the therapist needs to take things slower and spend more time building trust and comfort. Does talking to us help you? We aren't therapists but we care and empathize/sympathize.

 

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It can take several tries to find a therapist that works well for you. It seems unreasonable for a therapist to tell you that you have too much anxiety for therapy. It just means the therapist needs to take things slower and spend more time building trust and comfort. Does talking to us help you? We aren't therapists but we care and empathize/sympathize.

Yeh venting helps sometimes. Talking does sometimes as well. But it's more of validation that I'm not going crazy or alone.

I don't think that talking to a therapist will help fix my anxiety as it didn't in the past. When I said that my therapist said well you need to be fully committed to therapy. Which I am. I just am also aware that it may not work or help.

But I also agree somewhat with her that my anxiety is constantly so high I need meds to help. The problem is none have helped enough besides lorazepam (the only benzo I've tried) and I only took it twice at .5 mg.

Problem is I need long term. Not something that I take a few times a month or everyday for two weeks. As that won't be enough

 

[mf25748]

I think he meant therapy alone won't do it. That he needs both therapy and meds. It's the usual treatment for deeper anxiety as far as I know. Just avoid benzo at all cost and give your meds some time to take effect

 

[Ghost2211]

Yeh venting helps sometimes. Talking does sometimes as well. But it's more of validation that I'm not going crazy or alone.

I don't think that talking to a therapist will help fix my anxiety as it didn't in the past. When I said that my therapist said well you need to be fully committed to therapy. Which I am. I just am also aware that it may not work or help.

But I also agree somewhat with her that my anxiety is constantly so high I need meds to help. The problem is none have helped enough besides lorazepam (the only benzo I've tried) and I only took it twice at .5 mg.

Problem is I need long term. Not something that I take a few times a month or everyday for two weeks. As that won't be enough

No, therapy alone won't do it. High levels of anxiety all the time seems like it's awful to cope with, and though benzos likely do help they aren't a good solution. Are you working with a psychiatrist to help with med management?

 

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I think he meant therapy alone won't do it. That he needs both therapy and meds. It's the usual treatment for deeper anxiety as far as I know. Just avoid benzo at all cost and give your meds some time to take effect

I currently am on lexapro and hydroxyzine for over a year with buspirone being added 2 months ago. Still havnt gotten better.

But yes therapy alone won't do it. I'm already taking meds and therapy tho :/

No, therapy alone won't do it. High levels of anxiety all the time seems like it's awful to cope with, and though benzos likely do help they aren't a good solution. Are you working with a psychiatrist to help with med management?

Yeh I'm avoiding benzos. I'm working with my normal doctor. As the one psychiatrist I did see just tried to push benzos on me. I most likely will find a psychiatrist after gene testing.

the gene testing should help me find a med that works.. it just sucks waiting for so long and knowing that it might be for nothing

 

[Ghost2211]

It sounds like you're working in a good direction. It might really help to find a good psychiatrist that listens to you and considers your specific needs instead of just jumping to benzos. There can be some pretty useless psychiatrists out there. I hope the gene testing goes well for you, and brings you some answers and help.