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Message: [QUOTE="tuvent08, post: 4703907, member: 185"] The lives of many people in my family (and me!) are profoundly better off for taking medication, specifically SSRIs to support a genetic predisposition towards anxiety and depression. These medications don't change who you are, but they allow you to access a baseline to actually be who you are. We're still in the stone ages with our understanding of them, though. It can take weeks to see if a particular drug and its dosage works for you, and there are a lot of doctors who simply have no idea what they're doing. We've got a really long way to go, though some of the next generation pharmaceutical approaches are promising (i.e., these work more as "coaches" vis-a-vis your synapses rather than specific "players" with specific roles). We've also come a long way, though, with the destigmatization of these medicines that has been occurring among the older generation. I say older because younger people couldn't give a **** if they or their friends are taking, as my kid calls it, "her serotonin." It's a better coping strategy than white-knuckling things and getting blackout drunk, which our culture has known a thing or two about in the past. In sum, see a pro, take it slow, and keep your expectations in check. Just think of it as a means to access your baseline. It'll work out. [/QUOTE]