Med Suggestions

[Remus]

I might try therapy again.....but therapists usually spout the same ole speech and "plans" that Ive tried a million times....

probably worth it one last time before going down the heavy meds route, I personally found therapy worked better when I wasn't taking anything medwise (as a safety blanket)

 

[Remus]

You made a generalised statement, not a personal one.

This is no attack against ACT by the way, I am a Zen Buddhist, and we share a lot of the same psychological principles as ACT therapy.

We keep it to generalised statements on this forum as nobody is qualified to tell others what medication ,dosage or therapy to take. Any posts will be deleted as according to the rules, members repeatedly doing this will be banned.

the rules voted on by the forum clearly state:

3. Posts
Moderators, may at their discretion, edit or remove that are considered to be the following:
-armchair psychiatry (unqualified diagnosis and treatment)

"these meds worked for me" differs greatly from "take this med". be very careful how you word things, also "up your dosage", "down your dosage" is going to land anyone advising this in serious trouble.

The mod team is looking into making these rules clearer for all

 

[Noca]

We keep it to generalised statements on this forum as nobody is qualified to tell others what medication ,dosage or therapy to take. Any posts will be deleted as according to the rules, members repeatedly doing this will be banned.

the rules voted on by the forum clearly state:

3. Posts
Moderators, may at their discretion, edit or remove that are considered to be the following:
-armchair psychiatry (unqualified diagnosis and treatment)

"these meds worked for me" differs greatly from "take this med". be very careful how you word things, also "up your dosage", "down your dosage" is going to land anyone advising this in serious trouble.

The mod team is looking into making these rules clearer for all

Whats the point of having a med forum then? This is retarded. You cant suggest a medication to someone? How is suggesting a medication going to hurt someone? They still have to get a prescription from their doctor. The poster even ASKED for med suggestions. I guess if we used this same lunacy for everything we cant suggest therapy either geez.

 

[Noca]

You are correct. A person does have to get a prescription from their doctor, but there are other ways of getting pharmaceuticals. I have known people who sold or gave away medication which was prescribed to them. God knows how many times people have offered me meds purely for recreational use.

Yes, there is a 'Medication' forum. This is a forum for people to talk about which kind of medication has or has not been beneficial to them, as well as the kinds of effects and reactions they may have experienced. It is otherwise irresponsible to suggest, advise, or push any kind of medication on anyone. There are qualified and licensed professionals who's job it is to diagnose patients and if necessary, prescribe the appropriate medication.

In the end, it is the individual who makes a choice to heed certain advice or not, but it is still irresponsible for a non-professional to give advice on which medication to take and how much of a dosage to consume.

I've been here long enough to know that you are a medication enthusiast. You have obviously had experience with meds, and I believe that your intentions are good, that you want to help others. Yet, there is a difference between suggesting therapy (none of the armchair psychology) and suggesting the use of medication. I don't have to tell you that pharmaceuticals can have serious harmful consequences. Suggesting therapy is no different than suggesting that someone consult a doctor for aches and pains. There is nothing irresponsible in telling someone to make an appointment with their physician or dentist.

Somehow its irresponsible to suggest meds but its okay (in another thread I read) to suggest to increase the amps and use ionphresis when electricity in the wrong hands can cause cardiac arrest and even death. Why cant you guys just be like every other forum and include a disclaimer at the bottom of the forum saying that "You should never substitute advice for that of a professional. This information is purely educational in nature and is not meant to treat/cure any disease and you should always seek advice from a health care professional." etc

As for therapy, yes it can be just as "bad" to suggest that as medication. What happens if someone has diabetes and someone here suggests "well dont use medication, use ACT therapy. Meds are dangerous and useless." So then the patient doesnt go to his doctor, doesnt get insulin and dies. Really cant our posts imply that whoever is reading this forum isnt a complete moron?

I mean no disrespect, just trying to understand your side of things.

 

[Enialis227]

We keep it to generalised statements on this forum as nobody is qualified to tell others what medication ,dosage or therapy to take. Any posts will be deleted as according to the rules, members repeatedly doing this will be banned.

the rules voted on by the forum clearly state:

3. Posts
Moderators, may at their discretion, edit or remove that are considered to be the following:
-armchair psychiatry (unqualified diagnosis and treatment)

"these meds worked for me" differs greatly from "take this med". be very careful how you word things, also "up your dosage", "down your dosage" is going to land anyone advising this in serious trouble.

The mod team is looking into making these rules clearer for all

When I said generalised, I meant that he implied that ALL medication was bad, instead of saying that it didn't help him, personally. A statement like "meds are useless and dangerous" isn't anywhere near fair or accurate; how is it any less dangerous than mine?

 

[DillJenkins]

If you dont like SSRI or benzo then look into MAOI. These are used for treatment resistant anxiety and depression.

You must follow a special diet so as not to have a tyramine-induced hypertensive crisis. This includes most importantly pizza and beer.

 

[sabbath]

okay fine

Medications in my experience (zoloft, prozac, serzone, celexa, wellbutrin, klonopin, etc.) for treating social anxiety disorder (SAD) and depression have proven to be useless, and the side effects I've personally endured (seizure, liver damage, mania, etc.) are too dangerous for me. My suggestion is to try Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) instead because for the last 5 years it has helped me greatly (without any dangerous side effects).

About ACT

What is Acceptance & Commitment Therapy?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) gets it name from one of its core messages: to accept what is out of your personal control, while committing to action that will improve your quality of life.

The aim of ACT is to help people create a rich full and meaningful life, while effectively handling the pain and stress that life inevitably brings. ACT (which is pronounced as the word 'act', not as the initials) does this by:

a) teaching you psychological skills to deal with your painful thoughts and feelings effectively – in such a way that they have much less impact and influence over you. (These are known as mindfulness skills.)

b) helping you to clarify what is truly important and meaningful to you - ie your values - then use that knowledge to guide, inspire and motivate you to change your life for the better.

The ACT View Of Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a “hot topic” in psychology right now - increasingly recognised as a powerful therapeutic intervention for everything from work stress to depression - and also as an effective tool for increasing emotional intelligence. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is a powerful mindfulness-based therapy (and coaching model) which currently leads the field in terms of research, application and results.

Mindfulness is a mental state of awareness, focus and openness - which allows you to engage fully in what you are doing at any moment. In a state of mindfulness, difficult thoughts and feelings have much less impact and influence over you - so it is hugely useful for everything from full-blown psychiatric illness to enhancing athletic or business performance. In many models of coaching and therapy, mindfulness is taught primarily via meditation. However, in ACT, meditation is seen as only one way amongst hundreds of learning these skills - and this is a good thing, because most people do not like meditating! ACT gives you a vast range of tools to learn mindfulness skills - many of which require only a few minutes to master.

ACT breaks mindfulness skills down into 3 categories:
1) defusion: distancing from, and letting go of, unhelpful thoughts, beliefs and memories
2) acceptance: making room for painful feelings, urges and sensations, and allowing them to come and go without a struggle
3) contact with the present moment: engaging fully with your here-and-now experience, with an attitude of openness and curiosity

These 3 skills require you to use an aspect of yourself for which no word exists in common everyday language. It is the part of you that is capable of awareness and attention. In ACT, we often call it the 'observing self'. We can talk about 'self' in many ways, but in common everyday language we talk mainly about the 'physical self' - your body - and the 'thinking self' - your mind. The 'observing self' is the part of you that is able to observe both your physical self and your thinking self. A better term is 'pure awareness' - because that's all it is: just awareness. It is the part of you that is aware of everything else: aware of every thought, every feeling, everything you see, hear, touch, taste, smell, and do.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a unique and creative approach to behaviour change which alters the very ground rules of most Western psychotherapy. It is a mindfulness-based, values-oriented behavioural therapy, that has many parallels to Eastern philosophy, yet is firmly based on cutting-edge Western research into human behavioural psychology.

In a nutshell, ACT helps people to fundamentally change their relationship with painful thoughts and feelings, to develop a transcendent sense of self, to live in the present, and to take action, guided by their deepest values, to create a rich and meaningful life. ACT takes the view that most psychological suffering is caused by experiential avoidance, i.e. by attempting to avoid, escape, or get rid of unwanted private experiences (such as unpleasant thoughts, feelings, sensations, urges & memories). Our efforts at experiential avoidance might work in the short term, but in the long term they often fail, and in the process, they often create significant psychological suffering.

In ACT, we develop mindfulness skills (both traditional techniques, and many modern, innovative ones) which enable us to fundamentally change our relationship with painful thoughts and feelings. When we practise these skills in everyday life, painful feelings and unhelpful thoughts have much less impact and influence over us. Therefore, instead of wasting our time and energy in a fruitless battle with our inner experiences, we can invest our energy on taking action to change our life for the better - guided by our deepest values.

A steadily growing body of scientific data confirms that cultivating acceptance, mindfulness, and openness to experience is highly effective for the treatment of depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, chronic pain, PTSD, anorexia, and even schizophrenia. ACT is also a very effective model for life coaching and executive coaching.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FLEXIBILITY & THE SIX CORE PROCESSES OF ACT

There are six core processes in ACT:

1. Connection means being in the present moment: connecting fully with whatever is happening right here, right now. (Technically in ACT, this is called "contacting the present moment".)
2. Defusion means learning to step back or detach from unhelpful thoughts and worries and memories: instead of getting caught up in your thoughts, or pushed around by them, or struggling to get rid of them, you learn how to let them come and go – as if they were just cars driving past outside your house. You learn how to step back and watch your thinking, so you can respond effectively - instead of getting tangled up or lost inside your thinking.
3. Expansion means opening up and making room for painful feelings and sensations. You learn how to drop the struggle with them, give them some breathing space, and let them be there without getting all caught up in them, or overwhelmed by them; the more you can open up, and give them room to move, the easier it is for your feelings to come and go without draining you or holding you back. (Technically in ACT this is called "acceptance".)
4. The Observing Self is the part of you that is responsible for awareness and attention. We don’t have a word for it in common everyday language – we normally just talk about the ‘mind’. But there are two parts to the mind: the thinking self – i.e. the part that is always thinking; the part that is responsible for all your thoughts, beliefs, memories, judgments, fantasies etc. And then there’s the observing self – the part of your mind that is able to be aware of whatever you are thinking or feeling or doing at any moment. Without it, you couldn’t develop those mindfulness skills. And the more you practice those mindfulness skills, the more you’ll become aware of this part of your mind, and able to access it when you need it.
5. Values are what you want your life to be about, deep in your heart. What you want to stand for. What you want to do with your time on this planet. What ultimately matters to you in the big picture. What you would like to be remembered for by the people you love.
6. Committed action means taking action guided by your values – doing what matters – even if it’s difficult or uncomfortable

When you put all these things together, you develop something called psychological flexibility. This is the ability to be in the present moment, with awareness and openness, and take action, guided by your values. In other words, it’s the ability to be present, open up, and do what matters. The greater your ability to do that, the greater your quality of life – the greater your sense of vitality, wellbeing and fulfillment.