Treatment resistant anyone?

[Crickets]

Has anyone else been dealing with a diagnosed mental illness, be it depression, anxiety, personality disorders, psychotic disorders, etc; that has not responded to any treatment?

I been suffering for over a a decade. Been diagnosed with several disorders over the years. Since the beginning, I been taking medications and was always in therapy, many different therapists over the years. Not only have I never got better or improved but I actually been getting worse steadily over the past 3 years. I don't have hope anymore, and I don't see the point in giving it time or having patience, as that is what I been doing for over 10 years. But the fact that it just keeps on getting worse and worse as time goes on is really extremely discouraging and makes me feel I am beyond hope and help.

If anyone else is dealing with this, how are you coping? How long have you been dealing with this? What have you tried?

 

[dandelion s]

maybe me. i’m not sure. maybe i’m getting the wrong results. or no results. i’ve been on 2 meds for a fairly short while (tried others briefly previously). i just stopped one of the 2 and now i’m thinking of stopping the other. it does not really seem to be helping (or helping significantly) i also feel as if it is destroying my artistic creativity. writers block has been a problme but its as if i’ve lost impetus for my creativity. how do i deal? i’m not sure. i believe i’ve dissociated all my life. i’m probably still doing that. i’ve got hope. i refuse to die. but how to be an effective human eludes me always. so basically no change.

wondering what meds you are taking. how many therapists? i’ve seen only 3 but there was a long gap - 8 months.

what can you do? i don’t know. but somehow i latched onto hope. that is, i can’t quit. i think not quitting is possible and think you may be able to give it a try. i’m always around so please feel free to ask any more questions you may have.

 

[Sleeper71]

In 1999 I finally started treatment for my depression and now 2 decades later I’m still in the same bad place. Countless therapy sessions, classes and more med combos than I could keep count of and nothing has seemed to help. As it drags on and I get older I’m trying to make peace with the fact that I probably won’t ever get better, all l can do is try survive each day. How do I cope with it? I don’t really have a good answer to that except to say that the only reason I’m still breathing is because of my kids and some days even that doesn’t seem like a good enough reason.

 

[Hopeiseverything]

I have only been dealing with this for 2 years since trauma occurred...I am 62. I have seen numerous therapists and taken numerous meds. Nothing but klonopin makes me feel normal. How much longer I will be able to stand having no motivation and no interest in life, I don’t know. My husband is my rock and I have two great kids but as was indicated above, some days that isn’t enough to want to keep going, I actually don’t want to die just hate ‘living’ like this as it wasn’t always this way. I feel bad for my husband having to put up with me. He loves life...I don’t.

 

[Hopeiseverything]

In 1999 I finally started treatment for my depression and now 2 decades later I’m still in the same bad place. Countless therapy sessions, classes and more med combos than I could keep count of and nothing has seemed to help. As it drags on and I get older I’m trying to make peace with the fact that I probably won’t ever get better, all l can do is try survive each day. How do I cope with it? I don’t really have a good answer to that except to say that the only reason I’m still breathing is because of my kids and some days even that doesn’t seem like a good enough reason.

You are a survivor! How you have been at this 1999 I will never know. I have been at this for 2 years and I really don’t know how much longer I can do it. Do you take anything at all? Klonopin changes my outlook completely but as you know, that cannot be taken regularly,

 

[Sleeper71]

I take Pristiq and Wellbutrin for depression and recently I started having anxiety issues so they put me on Buspirone for that. They let me function in life and I’m able to work but I don’t feel any happiness, if anything I call it feeling like a zombie (emotionless). For some people they truly are a blessing and they are extremely helpful, I’m jealous of those people.

 

[Nick]

My mess is considered treatment resistant. I think you'll find a higher population of people here that fall in that category, it's part of what leads people to the point they end up here. All that means though is that they haven't found the thing that works for you yet. Traditional or common treatments aren't immediately successful. I've made more progress in the last year than in the previous 20 years, which at least gives me some hope for the future.

 

[Angie74]

I'm labeled as treatment-resistant, and I would have to agree. Makes it even easier for people to just give up on me.

 

[Gonz]

Yeah, I’ve been in and out of treatment since I was 11. A few therapists, any number of medications. None of it has ever done anything to help.

That’s not 100% true. Benzos for short-term anxiety management have been somewhat effective. But, you know, you can’t rely on them every day or else you get addicted and they lose their effectiveness. And nothing has ever put so much as a dent in the depression.

At a certain point, I think the only thing you can do is accept it. That this is just how life is gonna be. Because there’s not much that hurts worse than the disappointment that inevitably comes after you let yourself think “maybe this time.”

I mean, I’m not gonna get better. Not everyone gets to be happy in life, and it’s better to just accept that. So you just find a reason to keep going, something that’s more important than the pain. Mine is to not cause my family any more pain. My mom is semi-retired, and my dad is approaching retirement, and they’re good people who deserve the chance to enjoy that period of their life, and losing their son to suicide would, I think, ruin that. So I keep going for their sake.