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Medications for Mood and Anxiety Disorders

September 16, 2009 - 9:12pm 248 reads 0 comments

For the three years that I have had post-traumatic stress disorder, I have been on two medication regimens.

From December 2006 to August 2007, I took the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor Lexapro for depression symptoms. From October 2008 to now, I restarted Lexapro and Vistaril for anxiety symptoms; in ten days, I will be off of Lexapro for good and use Vistaril for emergency panic attacks only.

I started using medications because they were the only way to control my symptoms; however, during that time, I was always in therapy. I began using Lexapro for the first time within months of my assault; I stopped using it before entering my junior year because I had my symptoms under control. However, during my senior year, I dealt with both of my assailants trying to contact me, my mother's cancer, and a thesis about sexual assault. After talking to both my therapist and psychiatrist, I decided I needed medication again. However, medication is not for everyone.

Antidepressants are often used for mood disorders, like depression and bipolar disorder.

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