Wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions on how to fight off anxiety and depression after you thought that you had it taken care of. Is it normal to find it hard to find time to really use the lessons like you did when you first started? I don’t want this uneasiness again.

I've read (and been told) that the main components of PTSD are depression and anxiety. And I guess it's going to be a battle for the rest of my life with them both.

Right now, I'm on anti-anxiety meds, but sometimes I'll still get an anxiety attack. Mine start out from my feet up (don't ask me why) and I can feel myself start to flash hot and cold. When this happens I try to change whatever I'm doing at that moment to something else to try and break out of the attack. And breath through it rather than fight it.

Depression is something I've had most of my life (started when I was a teenager) and sometimes it takes a while to realize you're depressed and then that is something you have to fight. Fight like hell to keep the darkness from overwhelming you.

Stress makes my symptoms worse. And last week they were pretty bad. Just glad the week is over!

I think we all develop our own little bags of tricks to help with the depression and anxiety-it just takes time and practice. You say you don't want the uneasiness again-I know what you mean. But if you have PTSD, the depression and aniexty are part of it. Find the time to use your lessons to help yourself.

Wish I could tell you once it goes away it's gone...believe me, I wish it would!

Hi Jordon, welcome to the forum. Anxiety and depression are symptoms of PTSD. Yes, PTSD is an anxiety disorder, however; anxiety by itself is a symptom of the neurological imbalance we have. To fix the symptom is to look at the cause. We cannot change the neurological imbalance, hence the incurable aspect of PTSD, but we can look at what is going on in our life and deal with those emotional aspects at the core level. For example; if we lost our job, hence we got anxious and depressed, what is the core root of the issue? The core root is what you feel deeper than being angry that you lost your job, for example: I feel I have been dismissed after committing myself to their company for such a long time, etc; or if you did wrong, then acceptance, ie; yer well, I was bludging on the job a lot, not doing as much as I should have been, etc. Look at the core of each and any problem, not the surface, and that is where you heal the problem, thus as a result, you heal the anxiety and depression.

X2 from above. Don't take this road. I was on Benzo's of and on for about 12 years. They do the job. Make you forget everything (literally) but you can't take um forever. They only hid my problems. I've gone from an ass-load of meds to just 2 for the PTSD (my seizure meds help with depression). With counseling I've learned better ways to manage the anxz. IMO you have to use both counseling and meds (in moderation) to get better. Still, I wouldn't mind a Klonopin with my coffee every now and then.