Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi,
I'm having a bit of a rubbish day so would appreciate any advice. After a long wait to see a gp regarding my anxiety which is really affecting me I wasn't allowed a prescription for an antidepressant as the gp believes that a non medicated route is the best.
Normally I just take beta blockers but I'm struggling with low mood and anxiety more than usual. I explained that I am saving up for a private assessment for autism and told him that I believe that sensory overload and general fear of social interaction due to being crap at it is the main factor in my panic attacks.
Has anyone found that medication has helped them or should I suck it up and resign myself to the fate of being permanently anxious for ever?
I've tried CBT on four separate occasions and it hasn't worked for me at all so I am a little pessimistic about talking therapies in general.
Hi Moomin5,
Anti-depressants are generally formulated to rectify 'imbalances' for an NT neurological template - which we don't have. They've never worked for me. I think, too, that GPs generally have little understanding of 'anxiety' as it applies to NDs. It's of a completely different order.
I've found CBT to be mildly helpful. There is also CBT that's adapted for NDs. I'd ask about that.
The most helpful thing for me has always been peer support - such as on these forums. 'Talking', in that sense, helps me to feel that I'm no longer alone with this condition, and the various ways in which it manifests in my life. I tend now to shy away from any kind of therapy designed to 'correct' me, or 'better adapt' me to coping in an NT world. Why should I change to suit them? Why can't they change to accept me instead?
Easier said than done, of course. Sorry... I'm not that helpful, as I'm feeling pretty low myself at the moment.
BTW there's actually little evidence that antidepressants really do rectify 'imbalances', whether in typical or neurodivergent brains. Again check out David Healy's writings: many that were developed to increase serotonin(5-HT) activity actually have no measurable positive effect on depression, while the first drug to pass a randomised controlled trial for depression was reserpine, which has a strong anti-serotonin effect and is actually used in animal experiments to induce a state supposedly like depression. I don't want to go on about this too much, but if you prefer to be sceptical of such drugs in general, have a look at Prof Peter C Gøtzsche. On the other hand, if they work for you, they work for you, but it would be wrong to say science definitively knows why.
I don't think the neurochemistry is likely to be different between autistic and typical people, but what causes the depression may be.
Hope you come through it soon, Tom.