I need help. I have been suffering from mental illness (anxiety and depression) on and off for the last 10 years. I am male, 26 years old, preparing for civil services exam. The first time depression started when I was in kota in 2009, then I even did not know what I was going through. Someone took me to a doctor after many months of suffering. I started taking medicines and depression got better but anxiety remained. I gave my exam of 12th in that anxiety and did poorly as compared to my 10th. Then, I started, yoga,meditation etc ,got admission in engineering college and somehow depression reduced to some extent but mild to moderate anxiety was consistently there. At that time I did not know what is this happening to me. I thought depression and anxiety was the same thing. I did not take any medicine from 2011 to 2016 and I was doing okay. In 2016 I was feeling very much anxious again and had to visit aiims, said the whole story to the psychiatrist. He gave escitalopram 10 mg and clonazepam 10 mg. I started eating those medicines but did not take for many days as I got better in a few days. So I never visited again and neither did I complete the course of medicine. I had to visit again in 2020 since I was feeling very anxious during exam days or few days before exam or when I started preparing seriously for exam, and doctor asked me where were you for such a long time? I said I never realized in these years that I had depression or anxiety, I was doing absolutely fine. He again gave me escitalopram and clonazepam (sos) for 3 months but when 3 months was about to complete, lockdown happened, I could not go again. I ate medicines for 3 months and then left but after leaving some withdrawal symptoms used to come like before eg- heaviness of my head, anxiety,twitching of mouth muscles and then I have to start the medicine again. I want to quit medicines for forever, kindly help me to manage anxiety without this medicine and also diagnose me properly as depression and anxiety is so mixed that only recently I discovered that I had anxiety also. All these years I thought I had depression only.

Dr. Saul PereiraPsychologist49yrs exp

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Anxiety and depression oftentimes go together. But the mistake you are making is to discontinue medication on your own. This can have serious repercussions. Do not ever do that again. Even during the lockdown, there were many psychiatrists available to consult online. In 2009 you were round about 18 years old and this is a time when childhood issues that were not resolved come up seeking a resolution for the last time. You could have sought help early at that time and you could have gone off of medication by now. Even so it is not too late if you cooperate. I believe there may be some genetic predisposition or there has been some childhood issue, related to anger, that needs urgent attention. You must go and meet with a counselor immediately and cooperate to your utmost. Please visit these professionals along with your parents. In the meantime please do the following sincerely because you could resolve the problem better with good cooperation: have a good night?s sleep, have a good breakfast of more proteins, meditate often, remain free of stress, eat a lot of fiber, nuts, avocado, exercise regularly, eat dark chocolate, do yoga meditation exercises, spend time in nature or gardening, etc. I suggest you do the opposite of what this depression makes you feel like doing (actually, not doing): you will need to fight this condition. You must become active; stay upright during the daylight time; meet people; never sleep during the day, wake up by 6 am every day, play some active games, especially contact games, do physical exercises, talk to people and join some social clubs, attend yoga classes etc. Watch sitcoms on tv or comedies and cheer yourself up. Go for excursions in groups, for outings, camps, conferences, and religious conventions. Get a pet dog and spend time training it, exercising it and relating to it. Expose yourself to some sunlight every day, at least, 30 minutes but not in the scorching heat. Whatever happens, please incorporate these three important adaptations in your life: always be responsible, be respectful, and be functional. If you did these three, lots of things will go well in life. Please pray and have faith in god to alleviate your sufferings. Don?t wait for others to help. Use your own motivation, which might be at its lowest, but persevere and win this battle. Above all to be really happy, you need to live in love and for love. Learn all about emotions and how to handle them and that will get you out of the depression rather easily and quickly. A counselor is there only to facilitate you, all the hard word must come from you, and your cooperation with that person is very critical for your success. Be positive every day and learn to be contented with what you have. Do some left brain exercises: it is the happy brain. Here are a few suggestions: shut your left nostril and breathe, move your eyes from right to left and vice versa for at least half a minute at a time, and do callisthenic exercises with some form of counting, regularly. Whatever happens please cooperate with the therapy and do not discontinue until the condition is completely resolved.  

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Dr. K V AnandPsychologist17yrs exp

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Dear user, nervousness or anxiety disorders are a category of mental disorders characterized by feelings of anxiety and fear, where anxiety is a worry about future events and fear is a reaction to current events. These feelings may cause physical symptoms, such as a racing heart and shakiness. There are a number of anxiety disorders: including generalized anxiety disorder, a specific phobia, social anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, agoraphobia, and panic disorder among others. While each has its own characteristics and symptoms, they all include symptoms of anxiety. Anxiety medicines alone cannot cure anxiety disorders mainly because medicines do not alter behavior. Behavior change and continuous practice of the changed behavior cure anxiety. I suggest anxiety education, progressive counseling and progressive psychotherapy. I assure you complete cure. For more anxiety / psychology related information and videos please visit and subscribe to this link - url Ly/psychologyforall. I need to know more about your anxiety so that I will be able to diagnose it properly and provide you tips to overcome and manage your anxiety. Take care.  

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