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I haven't read everyone's replies so I might be repeating something you've already heard. Of course, this means if you've already heard it and you're hearing it again, then we are obviously correct. Obviously.
I believe that anti-anxiety medicines not only simply mask the problem, but in some cases can make anxiety worse. I believe this because the medication doesn't treat the underlying reason for the anxiety, and since you no longer suffer from the symptoms of anxiety, you are less motivated to find why you suffered from it in the first place.
I'm neither a doctor, a psychiatrist, nor a therapist so everything I'm saying is based solely on my own experience with anxiety and medication. Take what I say with that in mind.
I believe we suffer from anxiety because we lose the ability (or never learned how) to deal with stressful situations. We feel out of control, out of our element, and don't know what to do. Anxiety is our body's natural reaction to a frightening or stressful situation (the fight or flight response). If you experience the symptoms of anxiety in a frightening situation, they are completely normal reactions and we don't think twice about experiencing them. When we experience them when we're supposed to be at ease, we don't know what we're experiencing and we panic because our body is telling us there's danger somewhere when we can't perceive any.
Panic attacks become self-fulfilling prophecies. The fear of having another one causes us to have another one. We begin associating things with these attacks (food, colors, clothing, songs, anything) because we don't know the cause of our symptoms and our mind wants desperately to make some association. Before you know it, songs are causing panic attacks, colors are causing them, noises are causing them. This seeming random cause of panic makes us believe we're losing our minds, thus reinforcing the stress and anxiety we're already experiencing, and causing the anxiety to increase in intensity.
Sadly, the medical profession doesn't seem to have the patience or the willingness to teach patients how to deal with anxiety so the easiest and most convenient method for dealing with anxiety is to medicate it. The pharmaceutical companies love this approach because they make absolutely no money off you seeing a therapist who works with you over a period of time. Of course, patients aren't entirely innocent. They wanted an immediate fix to their symptoms and were equally unwilling to take the time needed to deal with the underlying issues. Of course, once they go off medication, the problems come right back because anxiety is psychological, not physiological.
When I went off my anxiety medication (which I was assured was entirely non habit-forming and completely safe) I began having desires to be incredibly violent. I've never been a violent person in my life and I was ready to hurt people. I went through some withdrawal symptoms that I can only describe as bizarre. While on the medication, I was an emotional zombie. I didn't give a damn about anyone or anything and it nearly cost me my marriage.
Unfortunately, and a difficult truth to realize, is that anxiety is not genetic, but it is passed on from parent to child because the parent's inability to handle stress is passed on to their children, who in turn experience anxiety.
The good news about all this is that you can get through it. I haven't had a panic attack in years and when I do begin to feel anxiety coming on, I am able to recognize that it's unnecessary and let it go before it settles in.
I wish you good luck with this because it won't be easy, but it can be done. If you are able, I would seriously consider finding a doctor who doesn't want to just medicate the problem.
When I went to my doctor to complain of the zombie-like side effects I was having with the medication, his immediate response was to prescribe yet another medication to counter the effects of the medication I was already on. To me, that wasn't the answer. I began to wonder how many medications would he be willing to compound on me until I stopped complaining of side-effects, and what were those medications doing to my body?
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"I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am" - Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses
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