Is medication 'avoidance'

[Guest mynameisian]

I have recently been having a really bad patch with my intrusive thoughts and general anxiety levels. I have been in therapy for a long time and am currently practicing hard to make mindfulness a part of my life. However, i feel like i am not making a lot of progress.

I recently have been thinking that perhaps i just need medication to help bring my level of anxiety down and the speed of my racing thoughts. I feel that no matter what i do with CBT i might just need to take medication to correct an imbalance in my brain.

However as soon as i started to accept i would take tablets i then started wondering (typical OCD analysing) whether in fact going on medication is my way of trying to 'get rid' of these thoughts and feelings.. so therefore it is in effect a way of avoiding the anxiety, which goes against everything i am trying to achieve with the CBT.

So im wondering now whether medication is in fact just a way to avoid my feared thoughts and feelings. Wouldnt the best thing (for me) be to just "stick it out" without medication and then achieve linger lasting relief.

Or is it just that medication is sometimes necessary and for some people no amount of CBT will bring down the anxiety if they need an imbalance to be treated...

[Guest mynameisian]

Essentially im being "OCD" about how best to treat my OCD and wondering if the choices i make are the right ones.

[ailo]

Hi! If you take ssri, anti-psychotic or some longterm meds and it helps you/ makes it easier to work on your ocd, i wouldnt say that its avoidance. Its more like you taking action,and try to find something Who helps you beat your ocd. Cause you still have to do a big job. Meds dont cure ocd completly on its own. But if it makes it easier to get started , ithink ts worth trying. For me, my anxiety before taking those meds im on now was overwhelming, and im not sure i could manage to get throgh erp on that state . I still has anxiety, but its a bit easier to take the fights. And maybe easier to think rationally ( but still ocd has power)

On the other hand. I would be careful with meds just to lower anxiety ( like valium ). To take valium in longterm or specially drink alcohol to lower anxiety would be more like a "runnaway?" But sometimes meds as valium, in a short period can be useful too. So im not saying its bad.

I wouldnt call any meds avoidance alone. It depended on how you work on your ocd beside the meds.

Im not a doctor , this is just my thoughts.

All the best!

Ailo xx

[ailo]

But.. while doing exposures or getting a trigger , i think the best thing is to let the anxiety rise and go back "naturally ". Not do conpulsisons or take pills or alcohol to lower the anxiety. It will fall on its own. ( easier said than done though..)

[Handy]

medications raise your anxiety for a bit & then you also have side effects to deal with & its thats too much then you also get withdrawal symptoms. So use it mindfully.

try other things first, exercise, vitamins, talk.

No one talks about surgery, which is interesting.

[PolarBear]

Interesting question. I guess in a way taking meds is avoiding what you fear. But don't forget that what you fear is a mirage, it's made up, it's artificial to the extreme. It's caused by who knows what in our heads, which just aren't wired properly. What would be shrugged off by anyone else causes us extreme anxiety. So there's something not real with our thoughts in the first place. What's so bad then about lessening their effect?

If meds work for you, you're really masking the anxiety and, for some people, masking the intrusive thoughts, allowing you to live a far more normal life. But you're masking something that is being forced upon you so I think it's an even draw.

[Guest mynameisian]

Cheers.some helpful comments.

i have tried exercise. It is something i do at least 4 times a week and hav3 been doing for about 8weeks now. I cant really say its had a great influence on my mood or anxiety. But i am keeping going with that anyway for other reasons. Medication i am referring to is SSRI. I rarely drink alcohol and dont think a short term antianxiety drug is the answer. I was just pondering whether i really do need something to help me along. Im finding that when im triggered my anxiety doesnt "come down" for a very long time, until im out of the situation that trigered it. It just seems to be there insidiously in the background even when i think i am doing well to avoid mental compulsions to check and review.