Any med free success?

[matrix123]

I've posted on this forum for 10+ years now and if you check my posts I've been on/off medication. The last couple of years meds do not seem to work anymore and I'm med free since around 1 year. However, even though I'm pretty much "normal", meaning I can function, I'm far from the old self or the "real normal".

It seems that once you get hit by anxiety/depression you're pretty much stuck with it...you may get somehow better, but the "old normal" is gone. Has anyone had success getting med free and getting back to completely normal?

Leaving aside medication, most of the other recommendations are completely useless ("just say stop when you're anxiety"). People giving those recommendation have no clue at all about how anxiety works. The only book I've read which does in general a good job is The Worry Cure from Robert L. Leahy. It has the occasional useless thing like "set aside worry time", but in general it helps and makes sense.

So to wrap up, has anyone been successful to be back to normal and med free? Any recommendation that has worked?

Thanks a lot

[Sparkling_Fairy]

I don't know if you ever get back to the way you were before you had anxiety. In my opinion, you're pre-disposed to it and it just didn't break through until a certain age but you've always had it in you.
My therapist once said it's something I will deal with for the rest of my life, I will just have tools to deal with it better.
I'm not on medication, and I go through long periods of feeling great, and long periods of feeling awful. so I think there is recovery, but not going back to before anxiety. Just my personal opinion though. Maybe there are some people who successfully did that

[matrix123]

Unfortunately, I think you're right.

I don't know if you ever get back to the way you were before you had anxiety. In my opinion, you're pre-disposed to it and it just didn't break through until a certain age but you've always had it in you.
My therapist once said it's something I will deal with for the rest of my life, I will just have tools to deal with it better.
I'm not on medication, and I go through long periods of feeling great, and long periods of feeling awful. so I think there is recovery, but not going back to before anxiety. Just my personal opinion though. Maybe there are some people who successfully did that