After Citalopram

[NuttyMonk]

Hi all,

currently i'm just starting on Citalopram (10mg) to deal with anxiety.

It seems that for me anxiety might be more a case of a self fulfilling prophesy now, or you could say a habit, than a real psychological problem. In other words, i expect to be anxious in certain situations so therefore i do feel anxious in those situations. e.g. on a busy bus, when i leave my flat, in a pub, in a supermarket.

I'm hoping that if Citalopram works for me then the habit will go away after a certain amount of time. Maybe 6 months, a year, or more.

Is it possible for my idea about this just being a psychological habit to actually work? Will a long enough period without any form of anxiety, through using Citalopram, actually help to rid/cure me of this problem/habit.

I'm curious to see if there are any people who frequent this forum who have taken an anti-depressant such as Citalopram and who have not had any anxiety relapses when they came off it. In other words, has a long enough period of time cured them of the problem.

Cheers

NM

[paullong]

Hi
I was on citalopram for 10 years and thought id beaten anxiety and indeed had 3 years anxiety free but sadly after a rough year last year it came back with avengeance and am now back on citalopram and back at square one! I honestly believe if youve got anxiety youve got it and the tablets just take the edge off. Acceptance seems to be the key and when you get to that place where you can say hey this is me it gets a lot better...

[Delaney]

Ive been on citalopram for 8 months now and it does help very well with anxiety in my experience, it doesnt completely stop it, but makes it more bearable. Like one minute im happy in the outside world, the next im needing to sit down/go home all the time and im on 40mgs at the moment. Worked up from 10, 20 then 40. The thought i always have is that once im off the cit, i will have to have either more meds, or a big distraction in life work-wise, i.e prime minister position, because i doubt there is anything else that could subsitute the cit. Hope that helped pal.

[chickpea]

I've been on Citalopram for 4 weeks now, so I can't say from experience what will happen afterwards.
However, what I hope will happen is that the pills will give me enough breathing space to work out what causes my anxiety and how I can change my reaction to things. In that way, I hope/expect not to go back to feeling as I did when I was prescribed Citalopram.

I was given a short course of Seroxat 14 years ago, for depression, and I can honestly say that it did the trick, so I AM optimistic.

I really think you need to believe that things WILL get better, and do your best to make it so - thinking you are an anxious person can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, as you describe.

I'm not saying it's an easy journey, but half the battle is surely believing that you can be different?

[NoPoet]

A major event in your recovery has occurred when you figure out how to beat the "vicious circle" of anxiety.

Anxiety DOES rely on the self-fulfilling prophecy: you expect to feel ill in certain situations, so you become ill.

This is not an easy cycle to beat. However it can be done. Citalopram has helped, but the love and support of my family, friends and girlfriend, combined with a furious mental battle to suppress and eventually overcome my problems, has been my salvation.

It is possible to break the cycle of negative thinking no matter how unlikely it might seem to you now. It IS possible to start being positive, to look ahead with optimism, to sit back and think "You know what, I really like my life".

This takes time, but so what? You've got time on your side.

Keep that thought in your head all the time. It's the truth.