Taking any medications for mental health reasons?

Right now I'm making the switch from Citalopram to Abilify. I was originally put on the citalopram because I was having panic attacks and so much anxiety that my hair was falling out and I couldn't sleep. All went well for a few months--the anxiety is GONE--but at the time, I also had schizotypal personality disorder. Now, what we think happened was the citalopram screwed up my brain chemistry, and my schizotypal actually progressed (over a few months) to full blown schizophrenia. So, now, the citalopram just makes everything worse. I was getting depressed and paranoid (moreso than usual, at least), and I was having a lot of trouble controlling the voices and the shadows. But I took myself off of it, and I'm doing better. So now I'm going to be put on Abilify to try and get my schizophrenia under control, because in spite of the lack of citalopram in my system, I'm not "cured." In fact, I'll probably have to take psychiatric meds the rest of my life. I know I have a problem with SSRIs because, in seventh grade, about 3 years ago, I was on fluoxetine (prozac, in other words) and I'd been on it for a few months, and progressively got worse. I was twitchy, constantly irritated, began picking holes in my skin just because I could, and I, one day, screamed at a teacher because he was being a sexist pig, but my thoughts jammed up in my head and wouldn't come out. Like if you tried to shove a rock through one of those play-doh squishers that makes spaghetti...I think it's called an extruder. That was the last day I took the fluoxetine, and after my experience with citalopram, I'll never take another SSRI again.

Well for depression, medicines are not solution. Do Meditation, try breathing exercise, it will help you balance and handle depression.

I also suffer with depression. At the moment I take venlofaxine. So far I have been lucky and not had any adverse side effects from it. Happy Mylotting

I was started on Celexa and Welbutrin when I was 17, and then I was switched to Zoloft and Welbutrin. Then I lost my insurance for a bit and couldn't afford it, so my doctor put me on Fluoxetine (generic prozac). It is a lot less expensive and it works. I've had a couple of breakdowns as well, and I am 25, so don't feel too bad. I tried to go off my meds this last year and I had serious panic/anxiety attacks. I do better when I am on my meds during the winter, and then I go off them in the summer months.