--- In [email protected], "shempmcgurk" <shempmcg...@...> wrote: > > So, as I told you folks a few months ago I am going through > a crisis in my life in which I am experiencing a lot of > depression and anxiety, the likes of which I've never > experienced in my life (at least, since I started TM at age > 18...I'm 54 now). > > Here's the advice I seek: three months ago when this crisis > started, my GP prescribed me 0.5mg of Xanax. I have never > taken such a drug before in my life and, up to now, have been > afraid to. But this nervousness that I feel everyday, I'm fed > up with. So I am seriously considering taking it. I filled the > prescription today and the bottle is sitting on my kitchen counter. > > what do you think: should I take it? > > Pro's and con's, please. I'm desperate! > > As this is my 49th post of the week and I won't be able to > respond, I will nevertheless read all of your advice on this.
Shemp, I do not speak from experience, merely observation. And, from observation, many people have been helped by such drugs. If you want evidence of the kinds of changes in "what one chooses to focus on" and relief from obsessional patterns of thinking, one need go no further than Fairfield Life. At least two of our members have (IMO) benefitted greatly from the drugs that were prescribed for them in recent months/years. In one case, a person seems to have overcome a great deal of obsessional behavior and posting (thinking) patterns, and another overcame a period of depression related to some extent with the economic downturn and being out of work. From my perspective, both of their "turnarounds" were profound enough to be a clear commercial for the positive benefits of such drugs. Weigh this against that which is probably causing a lot of your resistance to taking the drugs. A lot of that resistance might be based on "Maharishisez." That one word dictates what a lot of people on this forum believe represents Truth (on a subtle level, even if they have rejected it on a conscious level). There is still this feeling that "Maharishisez" somehow represented some Eternal Truth from the Vedas, which as we all know (being Old) were Truth Incarnate. So, just *look around* at the lives of and the recur- ring thought patterns (as represented by the things they choose to post about here) of those who have lived their lives according to "Maharishisez." Do they strike you as HAPPY people? Do they seem fulfilled and free of stress? You've been around the TM movement as long as many people here, and have seen many of the "walking wounded" who represent the collective wisdom of "Maha- rishisez." My advice would be to weigh these two perceptions and come to your own conclusions. Ruth can offer more exper- ienced advice on the medical pros and cons of a partic- ular drug. I can offer only observational second-hand advice based on seeing their effects on other people, some of them on this forum. Yeah, I've heard some of the horror stories told by believers in "Maharishisez" and in "Other Gurus say," but I don't buy it. *Most* of the people I've encountered who took such drugs, and in moderation, under a doctor's care, seemed to benefit from them. The only "negatives" I have ever seen were in people who turned drugs that were pre- scribed for them for a short time into a multi-year drug dependency, and an escape from reality. For every- one else, what I've observed is an enhanced ability to appreciate reality, freed to some extent from the types of habitual thought and behavioral patterns that were preventing them from enjoying reality. Good luck with making your decision, and making progress in whatever way you want to. As I've said, I've never taken any of these drugs and thus cannot comment on them first-hand. But based on my second-hand observation of those who have taken them and benefitted, trying some- thing new seems to work better than repeating the same old same old and hoping that someday it'll work.
