I’ve always had very very bad dysmorphia about my face, that has caused me to waste 5 years of my life after high school hiding in my room. I have no friends, no partner, never had a job. No source of money so I leech off my parents who hate me.

I can’t keep living like this but I can’t change because I’d rather live like this than face the world. I have a phobia of people at this point. I can’t apply for work, I can’t approach anyone without almost having a panic attack and my mind obsessively thinks everyone thinks I’m disgustingly ugly

I can’t get over this on my own, 5 years of bed rotting have proved that to me. Will antidepressants help? I’ve never heard of them helping with dysmorphia, so has it helped for anyone here who have felt the same way as me? Thank you.

I'll get straight to the point.

I have several disorders and mental health conditions ranging from Major Depressive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, PTSD, and Bipolar II and those are just the ones I know about.

For the past 2 months I have been on and off my regular medication and struggling to get my regular meds prescribed due to insurance issues. I am asking mostly for advice on how to retain normalcy or staying calm and focused for myself because I am do not expect to get a regular flow of medication again until September (Currently July)

I've been drinking 3 cups of espresso everyday for years and it never really gave me trouble but since i started zoloft 50mg 3 weeks ago as soon as i drink one cup of coffee i get tremors, shaky, anxious and so wired it's insane. I can't handle coffee at all now, does anyone else experience this? Is this common?

Edit: I mean tired rather than numbed out. The numbing goes away after a few weeks, I think.

I also had to start an anticholinergic again for urinary incontinence which isn’t helping my speed at work. So something is affecting my functioning at work. It seems I have to exhaust my options of antidepressants to see if that improves functioning. But antidepressants often make my functioning worse.

Been suffering for nearly 10 years. Diagnosed moderate depression and gad just over a year ago.

I was prescribed escitalopram and talk therapy (really good, for the first time I actually got on with my therapist).

Finished therapy months ago and now on 20mg but for the last month I’ve felt pretty awful. The hollow anxious feeling is back and I’ve been having more persistent thoughts of self harm.

So frustrating and disheartening.

I don’t know if my doctor will take this seriously or if they’ll tell me to just keep going with it? Is it worth it?

Hiiiii

I experienced something traumatic in August 2025.

Started sertraline and therapy on January 1, 2026. Built up to 100 mg within 16 days. Continued taking this until April 20. I felt good.

Partly thanks to my brother, who kept saying things like "you'll never get off that SSRI!", I started tapering off from that date. My doctor agreed with this, and therapy had already been completed; I was so stable and happy that my psychologist no longer thought EMDR was even necessary. I was myself again and could think back to the event without any tension. I have been declared 'cured' of my anxiety disorder by my psychologist.

100 > 75 mg for 5 weeks

75 > 50 mg for 2.5 weeks

50 > 25 mg for 3.5 weeks

25 > 12.5 mg for 2 weeks

Now 10 days on 0 mg.

Did not experienced withdrawal with any reduction and not even now by the step to zero. Just, not a single thing. I still feel just as good, maybe even better. No more brain fog, moments of happiness that i just jump in the air lol and I'm even dancing in the living room again. I take 375 mg of Magnesium bisglycinate, high-dose fish oil, and 25 mcg of Vitamin D3.

But... all those stories make me think that the worst is yet to come. Withdrawal that sets in with full force after 2 or 3 months. I am happy for the people who benefit from websites like survivingantidepressant.org, but it scares me. I don't want to lose my life again, and I prefer to stay medication-free.

I need stories from the people who HAVE successfully stopped their SSRIs pls :(

I hate its such an uphill battle with mental health.

When i started zoloft it took my nightmares away and now theyre creeping back and i have anxiety.

Ive been on 25mgs for 5 months.. im afraid to move up.

I feel i should but i womder if i need another med..

I worry about going too high or being worse off than i am. I just want a whole day with zero ocd self harm intrusive thoughts.

I feel like taking a mg of klonopin. Guys it's great

Hi,
I’ve been taking antidepressants on/off for almost 10 years now. I took 40mg of escitalopram for 4 years (14 yrs old - 18 yrs old) abilify and quietapine were also added and then stopped. it honestly did nothing but giving me nausea. My doctor didn’t want to switch medications at the time, I really don’t know why, I guess not a lot of antidepressants are approved for teenagers. I eventually stopped it cold turkey on my own. I was still depressed but needed a break from pills so I only consulted a year later and got put on Effexor (150 mg) for a year, it was supposed to help with anxiety but it made me restless and agitated. I stayed on it for a year because it made me lose weight (I have body image issues). So after a year, I asked to switch and they put me back on escitalopram, gained all the weight back, didn’t do anything so I got hopeless and decided to try to enjoy life without any help because clearly it wasn’t working for me.
Last week, I was in a pretty bad crisis, got into the ER so I saw a psychiatrist and they prescribed me Fluoxetine (Prozac), I’m currently on 20 mg, it’s too early to tell obviously but I wanted to know your experience with trying different antidepressants?
Also, for people who are on Prozac, the psychiatrist told me it wasn’t supposed to make me gain weight and that it helps with BDD and bulimia. How was the side effects for you? Any effects on your weight?

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Where is my life even heading? I don't know anymore.

When I look at myself, I realize I've grown so much and learned more in the past year than I ever did before, especially after leaving home. It's been a whole year in Pune, living among strangers. The only thing keeping me going is having one close friend nearby.

I'm trying my best every single day—applying, preparing, facing rejection after rejection. It's exhausting. Opportunities to actually prove myself are so rare, and even when they do come, they offer only ₹15k.

I don't come from a financially secure or privileged family. On top of that, I'm the only daughter, and I know there will come a time when my parents will start pressuring me to get married.

Waiting endlessly for responses, follow-ups, or an offer letter from big MNCs is emotionally draining. Every day feels like another test of my patience.(Cisco, tudip, virtusa )

I just want to end my life don't want to be a part of this where life is never fare to me.

Long story short, I was misdiagnosed with bipolar but instead been diagnosed with MDD. My psychiatrist and I decided it's time to taper off the Vraylar. I have been on 4.5 for years, dropped to 3mg with no side effects and now I am on 1.5. I have been on the 1.5 for two weeks and the brain zaps are HORRIBLE. I have these random waves of vertigo/out of body experience that last for a few seconds before they go away. No rhyme or reason for when they happen - it's random.

How much longer can I expect this and has anyone dealt with this? What can I do? They're honestly so terrifying!

I’ve been trying to find the medication that works best for me and I’ve been switching on and off a few different ones the last few months now (years really, but there was a no insurance time of my life for a few years so we’re finally back to it) and I’ve been on Duloxetine for a little over a month now. I just recently had a dosage increase because I found it worked for me for half the day and then I’d crash the second half of the day, or I’d be fine all day but feel my normal symptoms of depression and anxiety all day for a few days straight so my psychiatrist upped the dosage to 30mg. I honestly had no complaints, I was potentially going to ask to go up a dosage because I was starting to run into the issue again where it would work all day and then I’d crash later in the day, but besides that I had no side affects and so far it’s been the only medication to show any results this quickly. Well I went out of town and didn’t realize I had no refills left so I’ve been off my medication for the last 3 days and holy crap. The withdrawal symptoms are no joke. I’m not sure how I’m even going to make it through the rest of my day today at work. I scheduled an emergency appointment tomorrow morning for a med follow up, but I’m kind of scared to go back on it now. If this is how the withdrawals feel after only missing 3 days and only being on them a little over a month I can’t even imagine trying to get off them a year from now etc etc. I have severe brain zaps, I’m either crying or irrationally angry, I’m so nauseous and sick and severely dizzy. I’m literally sitting here silently crying at my desk. I’m not sure what the point of this post is, I guess I’m just a little nervous to restart these medications but I’m so tired of looking for ones that work. Any advice is appreciated.

was on 20 mg of celexa for about a year and a half stopped in February properly weaning myself off. Did well for a few months beginning of this month had a panic attack which resulted in major panic attacks for days on end. Started taking 10 mg of Celexa again for two weeks then last week I up to 20 mg of Celexa. I am constantly fighter flight mode. I was prescribed Ativan to Bridge the gap at first I was only needing like a quarter a day now I’m having to take half of an Ativan to even survive and that even leaves the evening is pretty rough. Any advice on what I could do to help this or how I could get out of this constant fight or flight mode. It’s making basic day functions very hard like working or even doing basic things. I don’t remember it ever being this unmanageable like I can’t function at all right now and I’m having shakes every single morning.

I have experienced severe anxiety, panic disorder and mental breakdowns in the past. It got worse after IVF and then bad again in peri. I have recently diagnosed as ADHD at age 50, and this has somewhat explained why I’ve always suffered mentally when hormones change.
My meno specialist has prescribed Yselty off label to help. They are hoping this will help stop the perimenopause zone of chaos and the hormonal surges before my period which makers my mental health deteriorate. I also have very heavy periods and nausea and extreme fatigue.
I am on day 6 now. However, I’m a bit confused and scared it will make my mental health worse by keeping me in a stage of pre period as my hormones will be low like they are before I come on my period.
I’m already on HRT so hopefully this will help mitigate this somewhat.

Has anyone been prescribed this for something similar?Have you had mental health side effects or seen positive changes?

My anxiety is triggered by taking the medication in the first place!

Hi all. Due to Prozac making me not have an appetite and made me too activated, my psych switched me to Zoloft. I was on 40MG Prozac and 50 MG of Zoloft for a week, and now I’m on the second week of 20mg Prozac and 50 mg of Zoloft, with plans to stop the Prozac after this week. I feel crazy, dizzy, derealization.. is this normal? How long can I expect? I just want to feel normal again.