combined meds/therapy and stress

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
combined meds/therapy and stress
3
Wed, 07-21-2004 - 10:23pm
From your experiences, how effective would combined medication and therapy be against a stressful situation? In the past, I had years of therapy but no medication (except for a very brief period when I was suffering from severe anxiety). I was unable to keep a full time job; the best I was able to do was work two part time jobs, and that got to me after a while. Right now, I'm on Effexor but not in therapy. I may be going back to a job which is very fast paced and caused me stress in the past because everything was new and different, and I was having serious personal problems at the time, too. (Read my other posts for more details.)If I go back, it won't be new anymore, and if I'm very lucky, I'll be in a supportive environment. The place I quit wasn't supportive, but my uncle thought I could have handled it with medication. If I don't return to this job, I'll have to find a new one, and adjustment to that would be far more stressful than returning to a familiar environment.

My questions: How much would combined therapy/medication have helped me in an unsupportive environment? Also, how much would it help me in general in situations like job interviews and new jobs, both of which stress me out greatly?

Your input would be greatly appreciated!

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-09-2003
Thu, 07-22-2004 - 11:41am
Unfortunately, there aren't any black and white answers to your questions. Therapy can be many things. It depends on the therapy and what kind of therapy they do. It also depends on how much you take what the therapist teaches you and apply it to your life.

It sounds like you could probably benefit from Cognitive Behavior Therapy. This kind of therapy gives you ways to cope with stress. It helps you control your thoughts. It also can give you ways to calm down when you are in stressful situations. Calming methods can include deep breathing and relaxation techniques that your therapist teaches you in session. All of these things will depend on how much you apply them to your daily life.

It sounds like you know that returning to this job would be better for you than starting a new one. I agree that the most stressful time on a job is usually when you are new and don't know what you are doing. That has really freaked me out at times.

The combination of therapy and medication has the highest improvement rate of any kind of treatment for depression. Whether it will work for you will depend on the things I said above. The most important thing is finding a therapist who is willing to actively help you take control of your reaction to stress. You can call you doctor to get some names. Then call around and find out who sounds like they understand your situation. I'm studying to be a therapist myself. I can tell you that a lot of my classmates seem like they'd be lousy therapists. So be choosey about your therapist. Like with anything, it can be hard to find a good one, but you need to make sure you do. It can make all of the difference in your life!

Good Luck,

MariaC

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
Thu, 07-22-2004 - 4:31pm
I'll keep what you said in mind. Thanks for the advice!
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-23-2004
Thu, 07-22-2004 - 5:15pm
I feel like therapy would help you probably even more than meds already are. Meds, at best, can bring 70% improvement. So that means that even if your meds are working maximally, you still have 30% of the problem that can't be solved through meds.

This is where therapy comes in. Even if you've had therapy before, you're still having strong stress reactions, so there must still be something to work on. And studies have shown that mixing meds and therapy, as opposed to meds alone or therapy alone, yields much more successful results. So in my opinion you really can't go wrong by adding therapy, especially if you can see this stress coming. It can only help you.

Hope that helps.

Elise

P.S. In case you're wondering, I've been on meds AND in therapy for over three years now, and I have to say that it's been amazing. I'll probably take meds for the rest of my life, but hopefully I'll be through with therapy in the next few years. But if something were to come up further in the future, I wouldn't hesitate to go back to therapy.