Some parents in my inbred land do that so they can sell it and make some cash,i used to snort that crap when i was a kid,good shit if you don't have a.d.d yourself

I think it should be a rule that if you are prescribed anti depressant's,you should have to attend at least 5 sessions with a psychologist.Medicines are only 1/4 of the help needed

I have been on med's for depression and anxiety for about 11 years attended therapy on and off for over five year's ,have tried to kill myself,self medicated myself with alcohol and became an alcoholic.Went to aa and all that bullshit and have been sober for just about two years now.

I wish all this made me special, but like everything these days it seems my problems are just about as common as the cold

Fantastic! Glad to hear this, mate.

I was going to go to a similar thing, but for eating: Overeaters Anonymous. Decided against it, and once I read more into it, I didn't want to. Anyway, that's a long story, but good for you for sticking with it.

The only 12 step thing I've seen that actually works is Alcoholics Anonymous. Everything else that uses their formula for things other than drinking that I know of has failed.

Yeah, this program had the same sort of formula, and I didn't want to do that. I can't imagine I would've completed it.

thanks,it definitely wasn't the aa that helped.To be honest, most there were just christian's that love the attention when standing and telling there sob story.It did open my eyes though, when i sore old men who just couldn't break the habit bawling like babies.I only went about five times.As for the 12 step thing..what a load of shite

i think this is the hardest night of the year not to drink right now..new year

I can't imagine the 12 steps being a catch-all for everybody with alcoholism, as it will work for some but not others, considering its rigidity. Seeing old men who can't break the habit would definitely be a wake-up call.

I binge eat, so seeing really overweight men is my wake-up call - those that can't walk properly, those that are out of breath doing menial tasks, those who've had heart attacks, and so on. I still fall back, though.

New year celebrations do make it difficult, but any given weekend when you're invited out is equally as tough.

AA's whole "put yourself in the hands of a higher power" thing is shit, no offense. Also marag, how long have you been on clonazepam? If you've been taking it every day, I really don't envy when you'll inevitably stop taking it.

It isn't just shit; it's really damned creepy and twisted.

the "success" rate of AA, and 12 step programs in general, is about 20%. No scientific study would pass muster with a success rate like that.

It shits on the entire concept of man's willpower and capacity to overcome by himself. I find it offensive and despicable.

i so wanted to stand up and say "i have found my higher power,his name is SATAN!."

My father has been going to AA as long as I've been living, and it has really worked for him. He's been sober for some 30 years now. As far as I understand, the "higher power" hasn't necessary to be the christian God. Yeah, it can be satan if you want...

Maybe it has more to do about the man's willpower though, not any higher force. Don't know. My father is an atheist by the way.

Yeah, I've heard that it can be anything, not necessarily God, but the whole concept of admitting there's something higher than you controlling what you do just doesn't sit right.

I seem to remember reading about someone successfully suing the government for mandating that he go to AA after getting a DUI because it didn't adhere to the separation of church and state (or something close to that reasoning).

I went really overboard with weed when I was 14-16 and I think that had a big part in triggering anxiety/depression issues for me (it does run in the family). I guess I started smoking when I wasn't ready for it. It got to the point where if I wasn't high I'd feel depressed. I also started getting some anxiety. I quite for two years and I got better. Having had to deal with both before, I'd say anxiety (for me at least) is a lot more hard to go through than depression. With depression you kind of go numb and of course it sucks, but you kind of get used to that numbness. With anxiety, however, it really consumes you in a much different and more immediate way.

Also, I do think that the stigma for mental illness, even for things like depression and anxiety, hasn't lifted nearly as much as some people claim. I've heard multiple people say that people with anxiety and/or depression should just snap out of it. I've even heard people go so far to say that people who "claim" to have depression/anxiety are just being selfish or weak-willed.

i also smoked weed heavily from about 13 to 18,it definitely had something to do with my social anxiety problems later in life.Nothing against weed though,it's much better for you than alcohol,and is perfectly fine if you start smoking in moderation over the age of around 20,it was just so easy to get,which is why i don't understand why it's not legal....anyway ..that's another thread.
depression and anxiety go hand in hand,it's a vicious cycle especially when ya add alcohol to this cycle of doom



people who say that are just ignorant meat heads

well that's what would be funny about saying your higher power is satan,because who is your higher power going to be...really?i mean they are always like "it doesn't have to be god it could be anyone" but most of the people who go to those things are Christians and there's not to many things or people who the higher power could be.
But AA obviously does help some people,it's just not for me;i found a psychologist telling me how to change my train of thought to stop me getting into the state where i wanna drink helps me alot more than trying to imagine a higher power of some sort

Yeah. My friend has actually told me to just get over it. Well, if it were that easy, I would've done that years ago, right?

I do believe there's more awareness now of mental illness than there used to be, but the stigma surrounding it still exists just as much.

The digital era certainly hasn't helped when it comes to anxiety/depression either. I don't care to do any real research on this, but I could imagine it's maybe been something that's gotten worse throughout the world as the years go by, but who knows?

But yeah like I said before, it really sucks when you're alone and your friends don't really acknowledge things or attempt to truly help. Granted it can always be a case of them just legitimately recognizing and really understanding things, when you'd wish they could sometimes, but yeah.

I think it's been helpful in some ways, but not others. Cyber bullying and social networking in general probably isn't helping, but it's allowed like-minded people to find each other through forums (one of which I'm on now).

Personally, the digital era doesn't really exacerbate my anxiety, but it can trigger depression in some cases. I have to take the good with the bad.

A couple of years ago I was also diagnosed with an accute psychosis with schizophrenic thoughts. I also lost grip of reality: I became quite paranoid, started to think strange things, couldn't sleep for I think 4 nights. I couldn't really control my own mind.
Now I'm better. With the medication I take I can live a more or less normal life. I work 80% now. The medication I take are abilify (15mg) in the morning and seroquel (150mg) in the evening. The abilify makes me think normal, and the seroquel helps me to sleep (without it I can't sleep).

Glad to hear you're doing better now. With these illnessess it's all ups and downs. And the worst days truly are torment.

I've had Seroquel too at some point. But it was a long time ago. Can't recall what kind of effect it had on me.

Oh, and about this. I think when I was at my worst I couldn't sleep properly for 2 weeks. Only for 2-3 hours occasionally. They even gave me sleeping pills, but those didn't work at all. Actually I was too AFRAID to sleep. I feared that I would see a nightmare so bad that it would kill what was left of my sanity and drive me to suicide. Fortunately that didn't happen...

Things got better as I left my apartment and signed into a psychiatric hospital. Maybe it had something to do with change of surroundings. I could finally rest there...

That's one interesting topic too: how much the environment affects to the state of mind? I'd imagine if I had money to buy a cabin from the countryside, live quiet and healthy life, and maybe got some fine lady to live with me there, I wouldn't feel so ill. Hell, maybe I wouldn't even need drugs at all! Okay, the place I am currently living isn't exactly a metropol, but there's no "urban animal" in me at all.

Well, maybe I am just rambling shit here. I'm a decadent alcoholic, after all...

Yeah, it's shit, and there are other reasons, too, but it seems to be the only thing that works for some people, and clearly they really need it.

i have recently moved to the country for the first time in my life.Its really good for piece of mind and cuts down the anxiety because your not around people as soon as you walk out of the house.
But then at the same time there's a feeling of loneliness that can create anxiety in itself sometmes

Moving away from a big city reduces stress, because once you're out, you're bombarded with people, hustle and bustle, noise pollution, car pollution, advertising, and whatever else gets thrown your way. In the countryside, the serenity helps you remain calm and seeing nature is great for mood.

However, bloodycumshit is right in that it can get lonely if you're too isolated from the world. The best place to live is somewhere where you are free to be yourself, but not too far from towns/cities. Not everyone has that sort of luxury, of course.

Could that be because they have such a stranglehold on the provision of addiction treatment that alternatives like CBT (for example) cant get enough funding to establish enough clinics though? I think this might be it - 12 step programs are not run by doctors or psychologists (who cost a lot of money), but by volunteers. Much as they might mean well, I would not want a volunteer treating me for cancer or other serious illness, so why should people suffering from addiction have to deal with hack pop-culture therapy?

When I was getting a bit concerned about my own state of mind on that level, I read this:
http://www.amazon.com/Over-Influence-Re ... 1572308001

a much more sane and sensible look at the issue because it's not treated as a zero-sum game. Not everyone who get's into whatever recreational substance more than they would like is an addict, not everyone wants to quit entirely (but would like to be able to moderate better), and a lot of people, as we have seen in this thread, view 12-step as a mind control cult. It's a good read.

I know what you're all thinking about this, but I've thought about going to AA myself. Alcohol usually helps me through long nights, but afterwards I feel like shit. It's really gotten out of hand.

My friend has been going there a few times. He stopped, because apparently, as he said, "they tried to force religion down my throat." He also went there one time while being drunk, and they turned him away. What the fuck, really? They're all drunkards, for fucks sakes...

So why would I go there then, if they "try to force religion down my throat"? Because I believe in the power of peer support (don't know if that's the correct term...). It helps to talk and listen to people who have gone through the same shit as you are. Talking with a nurse/shrink/doctor/whatever is never an equivalent situation. They're always kind of above you. And they rarely have any personal experiences of depression, alcoholism and stuff like that anyway.

Besides, no one is going to make you a christian unless you want it yourself. We're not like some dark age people who believe anything a priest says from his pulpit.

I'm still thinking about my "higher force". Maybe some Finnish pagan god...

For AA meetings to really have their full impact, you need to buy into the concept. It's a personal choice whether you do or not but I don't see the value in attending something you don't fully believe in as you will fail to get the full benefit of it.

A lot of people immediately think "AA" when it comes to treating alcoholism but today there is a great number of ways to address this. You might want to try and find something you can get fully behind before you commit to a certain path you're not buying into. There are lots of ways to treat this in North America and I suppose since Finland is such a progressive country, there must be something else than the AAs available there.

I encourage you to check your options and I hope you find what's best for you.

You might have a point there. I don't know any other groups for alcoholists besides AA in Finland, but any other group with an emphasis to peer support might work for me.

I was just thinking about AA, because it worked so well with my father. And he's no believer at all.

a psychologist(not a drug and alcohol councilor or psychiatrist) actually helps you with what made you want to drink so much in the first place,doesn't matter weather they have had the same experience.If you listen to a lot of the story's told in aa,the reason that they gave in and started to drink was because they were feeling sorry for themselves/angry or some sort of emotion they don't no how to control with out the drink.

Peer support helps for awhile,but i don't think it needs to be an ongoing thing.The shearing story's can only be shocking for so long,and then you start to realize a lot of these guys have been here for years and just love it.They have quit the drink for like 7 years but still go and love to organize extra meetings and sobriety camps,to read the prayer before meetings and welcome new members and tell them there is "no other way to quit".

And on the topic of gods and higher power,why the fuck do you have to have a higher power?it's just leading you to a religion of some sort,which is a big deal ,yeah change your life by quitting the drink but don't change who you are.iv been drug and alcohol free for 2 years now and even quit the cigs,and i haven't had to change my beliefs for a "higher power'' of any kind yet.

Got some shit going on, realized my healthcare covers therapy, so I won't need to be gouged when I go see them. Just a $30 co-pay and that's it. I can finally get some much needed help.

good shit man,talking to someone and getting taught techniques to help you out is better than any pill.Unless they suck,i don't know where your from but usually if they don't suit you ya can get change to another.Give them a good chance though,i used to go in with the attitude like "you can't help me bitch,no one can" and then come out feeling like a whole different better person

Alcoholics Anonymous is not for everyone, but if you believe it's going to work for you, then don't worry about what some people on the Internet are saying. Go for it. You said it's getting out of hand at the moment, so what do you have to lose? I'm positive you don't want to sweep the issue under the rug and hope it goes away.

I have heard that a "higher power" can be anything, and not necessarily God. I would've used music if I was to go to Overeaters Anonymous, but I won't be doing that.

Good luck, mate.


Good for you, mate. Realising that you actually require help can be the hardest epiphany of them all, and you've done that. Hopefully it gets easier from now. I will say that my very first therapy session was nothing more than me wringing my hands and almost having a heart attack at the thought of seeing someone, so you might get that. It gets easier from session 2.

Been depressed for quite some time now, slight anxiety issues too which has been successfully medicated. Depression, not so much. It doesn't help that I'm quite the little alcoholic too. I can recall a period of time where for a solid month I blacked out every night and would have no recollection of the previous night. Often I would wake up covered in vomit, or wake up just to vomit and pass out again. Just thinking about that month makes me want to rip my hair out. I once woke up in the bathtub with a bloody nose and grass stains all over my clothes.I had no idea I even went outside hahaha. I still drink, but I've really cut down. My current girlfriend has helped me more than my parents, therapist and family doctor combined. I am still thankful for all those who have tried to help me though, don't get me wrong.

A question for you guys: Do you think addiction is a 'choice' or a disease? I say 'choice' because from what I know of an addict's mind (not trying to be a tool, I've read several articles and books whose authors are/were addicts) MOST of the time you are not being force fed these things and are making a conscious decision to continue with your habit.

yeah supportive partners are the best help ya can get for any mental illness or addiction,but some of us are simply too ugly, or our problems turn girls/boys away.
i think it's a disease,fuck! i get addicted to anything,i'm currently trying to give up energy drinks.everything i do i do in excess,probably why i like extreme music

My psychiatrist thinks I have Asperger's. Apparently it's a form of Autism, and apparently nobody has caught this for the past 20 years I've been alive Of course, she isn't allowed to test for it herself, so she'll be sending referrals and all that.
I know little about it though; anybody here actually have insight on Asperger's or Autism in general?

I think it's a disease. A lot of people are addicted to one thing or another. A lot of smokers probably want to break the habit, but the lure of nicotine is too strong. Of course, to quit, you have to want to, otherwise it won't work, so in that sense it can be a choice.


I don't know much about it, but a friend of mine has had Asperger's for most of his life and he's 31. He was really bad when I first met him, but now that he's gotten the right treatment for it, he's doing a lot better, but he's not cured and probably won't ever be.

Hopefully your Asperger's isn't as severe and can be easily treated, although if it's been left untreated for 2 decades, you might be in for a shock to the system.

Thanks for your couraging words. And I might do just that. I don't put so much weight to these internet conversations so it doesn't really bother me what some other people think of my doings. Of course it would be stupid to completely ignore them, 'cause some of these guys really had a point. And guess if I didn't care AT ALL, I wouldn't have contributed to this topic with my personal experiences to begin with. But yeah, you always have to do what you think is best...