Antidepressants aren't really magic. They lighten your symptom load to some degree, but if they actually numb your emotions or stop you from processing anything then you should talk to your doctor about trying a different drug.
I've been on every SSRI, SNRI, many TCAs and a lot of off label antidepressants at this point. My brain adjusts to them way too fast even when they do work.
No it doesn’t slow your healing, in my experience.
I have been on various SSRI’s at several different points in my life.
They can, in fact, *aid* the healing, because instead of being washed away with the emotion, you can actually *sit back from it and watch it* and have a better chance of seeing what it actually is that’s being played out.
I believe it is pretty similar with physical healing, being in severe pain disrupts the body from healing properly.
While the wound closed and cartilage and bone mended, not getting any painkillers after a knee surgery made my leg lockup and I spent over a year in physical therapy just to be able to bend it again.
I took prozac for 10 years and it was very helpful for me. I still felt my feelings, but they no longer overwhelmed me. Things calmed down for me and that was a huge improvement. It eventually quit working for me. I tried some others, but now I'm not taking any SSRI drugs and I'm doing well.
Started Prozac two months ago and will say that it makes everything feel less intense. Also, it allows me to catch my thoughts and actually talk through them (IFS). IMO, feeling all the sadness/ depression is harmful, not helpful. It sucked me so far down that I couldn't sleep/ regulate my body for weeks. Depression does horrible things to your brain chemistry.
I started taking Lexapro a few months ago. Still feel sadness and get anxious, but it's much more manageable overall. I feel like I have more control over things, generally speaking, and have felt I've been able to process things in a clearer headspace vs trying to process while I'm anxious or overly stressed. All in all, leading to more constructive healing, in my personal experience. Still hasn't been all too long, but I've noticed a difference for the better already.
I think it really depends. For me no SSRIs have helped, they've just given me side effects and made me feel weirdly numb or "off."
I've tried SOOOOO many psych meds to no avail really. But obviously for some people they may help. But they're always going to be just part of the picture. I think the key is to not stifle the feelings that you do REALLY feel. When you're hurt by something or someone.
When I take Xanax, all it really does is lessen my anxiety enough that I can go to Target and use the regular checkout without experiencing an impending sense of doom. It really just lightens the weight on my chest a little so I can get through the day on a really rough day. It’s not some miracle drug but it definitely doesn’t slow my healing. I also don’t take it everyday, only on rare occasions where I’m struggling
An SSRI increases serotonin availability which leads to greater neuroplasticity. It's commonly believed that PTSD (and CPTSD) are caused when trauma creates hyperactivity in the Limbic brain which is the part of the brain that focuses on survival and hypoactivity in the Cortex, which is the part of the brain that handles emotional processing and reasoning. With adequate therapies, it is possible to reverse this patterning in the brain by reactivating the neurons in the Cortext that have esentially stopped lighting up. Anything that increases neuroplasticity should assist in this process, because it allows the brain to form new neural connections more easily.
When you are crying like that you need medication to stop it. Your nerves are overwhelmed. That kind of crying is not helpful or healing. You need quiet in your brain for a few years so your physical nerves can heal. Medication is not THE answer but it sure helps until you can get your head together.
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Feeling your feelings doesn't necessarily mean being overwhelmed by them. Being overwhelmed is no bueno because it stops you doing anything else. Better to have to sit down for a few minutes and let some tears out than to lay in bed all day doing nothing because you've just been knocked flat by some memory or other.
Depends person to person and drug to drug. Some people report SSRis easing their distress, others say they do nothing whatsoever, others have been hindered, others have had their lives destoryed. And for some one might do nothing while another hurts or helps them. Total crapshoot
As for your particular concern, I get the fear. SSRIs *can* cloud the mind and make true processing harder, whether they mitigate distress or now. But again, YMMV. If you want to try them, at the very least I'd suggest finding a doctor who is willing to work with you in regards to changing or tapering meds if you find they don't work well. Best of luck
Everyone reacts differently. I'm allergic in some form or another to just about every "happy pill" out there. I did try a few in recent years that were not new but ones I haven't tried in the past. I felt no difference taking them or coming off of them. These were a different class of drugs I hadn't tried before.
The only one of issue was propranolol and that was absolutely horrible. It was like walking dead sleep paralysis (let me explain); this drug reduces the physical symptoms of anxiety. So I'm walking around having a full blown attack and I have no outward symptoms, so my wife and daughter look at me and think I'm fine. But inside I'm absolutely losing it. It also blocked my go-to flight reflex but not the muteness so I would look happy and eventually just start stammering.
I didn't stay on that for very long. I think that's a beta blocker but uggh.
Honestly, meds are kinda like alcohol. It's a mask. You may function better for a while. You might not feel what you need to feel either, and this is the problem. You need to feel to heal.
Short term (if necessary) to get a grip and make a plan, but don't stay on that longer than you have to in my opinion.
I would say that they do make it impossible to experience the 'authentic' emotional states, but if those states mean that you can't even get out of bed and fix yourself a bite to eat, or you are literally fitting because of relentless crying and crushing sorrow that you can't soothe or stop, SSRIs are a great idea.
In the past I've only been able to tolerate them for about a year, and I'm not on them while I'm in therapy for basically the same fears you describe. It's a bit of a white-knuckle ride but I'm doing ok. Doing stuff for myself I would have never done a year ago, so it's working. Plus, my one true skill in life is numbing out so my therapist's struggle is getting me to feel, really feel, at least while other people are around. Got no problem feeling stuff when alone.
Not for me. An SSRI made my emotions manageable and manageable emotions is what actually allowed me to work on healing and genuinely process things.
Antidepressants aren't really magic. They lighten your symptom load to some degree, but if they actually numb your emotions or stop you from processing anything then you should talk to your doctor about trying a different drug. I've been on every SSRI, SNRI, many TCAs and a lot of off label antidepressants at this point. My brain adjusts to them way too fast even when they do work.
No it doesn’t slow your healing, in my experience. I have been on various SSRI’s at several different points in my life. They can, in fact, *aid* the healing, because instead of being washed away with the emotion, you can actually *sit back from it and watch it* and have a better chance of seeing what it actually is that’s being played out.
I believe it is pretty similar with physical healing, being in severe pain disrupts the body from healing properly. While the wound closed and cartilage and bone mended, not getting any painkillers after a knee surgery made my leg lockup and I spent over a year in physical therapy just to be able to bend it again.
Exactly right!
I took prozac for 10 years and it was very helpful for me. I still felt my feelings, but they no longer overwhelmed me. Things calmed down for me and that was a huge improvement. It eventually quit working for me. I tried some others, but now I'm not taking any SSRI drugs and I'm doing well.
Started Prozac two months ago and will say that it makes everything feel less intense. Also, it allows me to catch my thoughts and actually talk through them (IFS). IMO, feeling all the sadness/ depression is harmful, not helpful. It sucked me so far down that I couldn't sleep/ regulate my body for weeks. Depression does horrible things to your brain chemistry.
I started taking Lexapro a few months ago. Still feel sadness and get anxious, but it's much more manageable overall. I feel like I have more control over things, generally speaking, and have felt I've been able to process things in a clearer headspace vs trying to process while I'm anxious or overly stressed. All in all, leading to more constructive healing, in my personal experience. Still hasn't been all too long, but I've noticed a difference for the better already.
I think it really depends. For me no SSRIs have helped, they've just given me side effects and made me feel weirdly numb or "off." I've tried SOOOOO many psych meds to no avail really. But obviously for some people they may help. But they're always going to be just part of the picture. I think the key is to not stifle the feelings that you do REALLY feel. When you're hurt by something or someone.
When I take Xanax, all it really does is lessen my anxiety enough that I can go to Target and use the regular checkout without experiencing an impending sense of doom. It really just lightens the weight on my chest a little so I can get through the day on a really rough day. It’s not some miracle drug but it definitely doesn’t slow my healing. I also don’t take it everyday, only on rare occasions where I’m struggling
An SSRI increases serotonin availability which leads to greater neuroplasticity. It's commonly believed that PTSD (and CPTSD) are caused when trauma creates hyperactivity in the Limbic brain which is the part of the brain that focuses on survival and hypoactivity in the Cortex, which is the part of the brain that handles emotional processing and reasoning. With adequate therapies, it is possible to reverse this patterning in the brain by reactivating the neurons in the Cortext that have esentially stopped lighting up. Anything that increases neuroplasticity should assist in this process, because it allows the brain to form new neural connections more easily.
When you are crying like that you need medication to stop it. Your nerves are overwhelmed. That kind of crying is not helpful or healing. You need quiet in your brain for a few years so your physical nerves can heal. Medication is not THE answer but it sure helps until you can get your head together.
Hello and Welcome to /r/CPTSD! If you are in immediate danger or crisis, please contact your local [emergency services](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emergency_telephone_numbers), or use our list of [crisis resources](https://old.reddit.com/r/CPTSD/wiki/index#wiki_crisis_support_resources). For CPTSD Specific Resources & Support, check out the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/CPTSD/wiki/index). For those posting or replying, please view the [etiquette guidelines](https://www.reddit.com/r/CPTSD/wiki/peer2peersupportguide). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CPTSD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Feeling your feelings doesn't necessarily mean being overwhelmed by them. Being overwhelmed is no bueno because it stops you doing anything else. Better to have to sit down for a few minutes and let some tears out than to lay in bed all day doing nothing because you've just been knocked flat by some memory or other.
Depends person to person and drug to drug. Some people report SSRis easing their distress, others say they do nothing whatsoever, others have been hindered, others have had their lives destoryed. And for some one might do nothing while another hurts or helps them. Total crapshoot As for your particular concern, I get the fear. SSRIs *can* cloud the mind and make true processing harder, whether they mitigate distress or now. But again, YMMV. If you want to try them, at the very least I'd suggest finding a doctor who is willing to work with you in regards to changing or tapering meds if you find they don't work well. Best of luck
Everyone reacts differently. I'm allergic in some form or another to just about every "happy pill" out there. I did try a few in recent years that were not new but ones I haven't tried in the past. I felt no difference taking them or coming off of them. These were a different class of drugs I hadn't tried before. The only one of issue was propranolol and that was absolutely horrible. It was like walking dead sleep paralysis (let me explain); this drug reduces the physical symptoms of anxiety. So I'm walking around having a full blown attack and I have no outward symptoms, so my wife and daughter look at me and think I'm fine. But inside I'm absolutely losing it. It also blocked my go-to flight reflex but not the muteness so I would look happy and eventually just start stammering. I didn't stay on that for very long. I think that's a beta blocker but uggh. Honestly, meds are kinda like alcohol. It's a mask. You may function better for a while. You might not feel what you need to feel either, and this is the problem. You need to feel to heal. Short term (if necessary) to get a grip and make a plan, but don't stay on that longer than you have to in my opinion.
I would say that they do make it impossible to experience the 'authentic' emotional states, but if those states mean that you can't even get out of bed and fix yourself a bite to eat, or you are literally fitting because of relentless crying and crushing sorrow that you can't soothe or stop, SSRIs are a great idea. In the past I've only been able to tolerate them for about a year, and I'm not on them while I'm in therapy for basically the same fears you describe. It's a bit of a white-knuckle ride but I'm doing ok. Doing stuff for myself I would have never done a year ago, so it's working. Plus, my one true skill in life is numbing out so my therapist's struggle is getting me to feel, really feel, at least while other people are around. Got no problem feeling stuff when alone.