# Recovered with a combination of sertraline and CBT



## crookedtimber (Jul 11, 2013)

Hello everyone,

I thought I would share my experience with sertraline with users on here as it seems to have acquired somewhat of a bad name on this forum. I was scared to try it for months because I had heard of cases where either one's DP/DR had become worse or it had triggered DP/DR in people, which seems to be a common noted side effect amongst SSRIs generally.

I have been taking sertraline for two months now. I started out on 25mg, and have built up my dosage by 12.5mg increments roughly every two weeks. I am now on 50mg, and I am feeling significantly better every single week, to the point where now I have days when I do not feel dissociated at all. One thing I noticed was that every time I increased the dosage, I would feel more DP/DR and panicy for a few days. Working up to the full 50mg dosage was the most difficult part. For the first few weeks, whenever I would attempt to jump from 25mg, or from 37.5 to 50mg I would feel absolutely horrible. Thus, I would like to attribute part of sertraline's success to the fact that I learnt to increase my dosage extremely gradually. I only increase my dose when I get used to the side effects of the dosage I am already on. Being on 25mg for two weeks took the worst of my depression and anxiety away, and stopped me from feeling suicidal. This enabled me to increase my dose gradually and let my brain adapt to each dosage change.

Part of the reason I think sertraline has worked for me is I have now realised that my DP/DR is strongly linked to anxiety and obsessive thinking. I know some people on here conceive of their DP as existing independently from any other mental disorders, but I now know this is not the case for me. The way sertraline has helped me most is by giving me a break from thinking so much. Whereas for nearly 4 months I spent every waking hour thinking about how I was feeling, now I notice I can go hours without thinking about it.

I would also like to make it clear I believe strongly that medication has not in itself been sufficient in treating myDP/DR. I have also been having Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for 3 months, which has mostly been based around distraction techniques and acceptance. These have been the most two fundamental psychological elements of my recovery. Learning to distract myself whenever I indulge in obsessive thinking and learning to understand my symptoms in a non-threatening way (which has taken months) are for me extremely important. I believe these two things in themselves, once I am fully recovered, will prevent me from ever relapsing.

I can advocate that all of the posts on here which say that getting on with your life and distraction are key to recovering are correct, at least in my case. However, what I would like to emphasise is that sertraline has helped to make that process much, much easier. It has enabled me to undertake practices conducive to recovery (e.g. distraction, socialising) which were not helping me at all before I was medicated. Being on sertraline has meant that I can actually enjoy socialising, going out, doing things again, and that these things now generally distract me from how I am feeling.

Apologies if I don't reply to this post. I try to stay away from this website, and I would recommend that others do the same. especially if in the process of recovery. I just wanted to share my experience with sertraline with anyone that was curious about taking it.


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