DOSE:

20 mg

oral

Pharms - Escitalopram

(daily)

BODY WEIGHT:

170 lb

Meditation Replaces Antidepressants

began suffering from depression approximately 20 years ago. I had just gotten into therapy and was beginning to work o some long term issues when I started have very deep malaise. I worked with my therapist for several months but the depression refused to go away. I wasn't able to go to get out of bed in the mornings and eventually he referred me to a psychiatrist and I was put on antidepressants (Lexapro Risperdal Lamictal Strattera Wellbutrin - max. Dose on most. 200mg over for Lamictal). This started a long difficult battle of depression coming back and pushing it away with more and more pills.

I continued in therapy throughout this entire period and continued working on whatever issues came up. During this time I also joined a 12 step group as an adjunct to my therapy. I made tremendous progress in quality of life and self esteem issues as my life improved. But still the depression kept beating me back. All my life I had been interested in Buddhist meditation because the Buddhist philosophy seemed to fit mine. So eventually I joined a meditation class and stated learning how to meditate. Essentially consisting of reducing internal dialogue, not by force but by using the method of no method. The class actually calls it this.

After practicing for a couple of years one day I forgot to take my medication. In the past if I forgot to take my pills, within 2 hours I would start feeling like crap and would have to go home from work to take it. On this day I worked all day and didn't realize I hadn't taken my pills until late at night.

The next time I saw my psychiatrist I told him of the incident and suggested we try and reduce my dosage level. Now one year later I'm on only 20 mg.of lexapro divided into 1half morn. And 2nd half afternoon. I want to stress I am not promoting Buddhism because meditation techniques are very similar across many disciplines.

Exp Year: 2007	ExpID: 89542
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 49
Published: Jan 10, 2017	Views: 1,776
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Meditation (128) : Retrospective / Summary (11), Depression (15), Health Benefits (32), Not Applicable (38)