A friend of mine who's a neuroscientist likes to say, "Psychiatry is not a branch of medicine." He means it in a constructive way, the implied follow on is "th

A friend of mine who's a neuroscientist likes to say, "Psychiatry is not a branch of medicine." He means it in a constructive way, the implied follow on is "that would be good though, and we should strive to do that." My point is, there are lots and lots of different kinds of therapy, and lots and lots of variation in therapists. If you are having problems seek help please! You're not in this alone and it's important to take care of yourself. My advice is to try several different therapists until you find one that helps you. OP got lucky, the psychiatrist they met didn't try to have them committed or anything gnarly like that, and it sounds like they got good results from the weekly therapy with a psychologist and some medicine. You might not be so lucky. Start with diet. Most of us are making ourselves sick by eating some kind of crap. Check physical things: are you getting enough sleep? Too much light or noise at night can act like slow poison. Or you might have sleep apnea!? Is your house next to a freeway or an airport? Some chemical source? Does your spouse or child or neighbor drive you crazy? Your commute is too long? Next, try mechanical interventions: massage, Rolfing, etc. If it's not food, environmental, or something in your muscles or bones, then maybe just maybe you might need therapy of some kind. Scientifically, we are no better off than witch doctors and fortune tellers. Psychiatrists are trained as medical doctors, which is strange when you think about it, because they don't use any of that training in the practice of psychiatry.("Psychiatry is not a branch of medicine." is "funny" because it's true.) (E.g. When you go to a psychiatrist they do not draw blood. There's no point because there's no tests they can run on your blood to know what's wrong with you "psychiatricaly" (because that's a word that means "Western-flavored voodoo".)) So, to sum up, if you got problems get some help. But beware of psychiatrists because they are even more crazy than most therapists and they often have leverage with hospitals and police to do really messed up violations of your human rights if they get the idea that you have "demons in your blood" (demons with names like "Schizophrenia" and "Bipolar". They can conjure with these names to put you in jail for days or longer even if you have committed no crime or criminal acts.)