The first choice is often seen as a sickness to be cured. ‘Danger! Do something!’ So I stop, and I look around and say, ‘What’s making me anxious?’”įor many of my patients and for many of the women I meet, it often seems as if there are two choices: You can be desperately moody but in touch with yourself or you can be masculine, efficient, and rational but out of touch with events in and around you. “When I feel it, I say to myself, this is a signal for self-preservation. During our phone session, she told me how anxious she’d been, but also how she appreciated her anxiety for what it is: a sign that something needs fixing.

Many times, when she hits roadblocks, we’re both tempted to go back to the devil we do know, her SSRI.

I was talking with a patient who’d been off her Lexapro for years, making it in the world of corporate law unmedicated, which can’t be easy (my lawyers are a miserable bunch). I canceled most of my patients and just kept a few as phone sessions, mostly because I enjoy connecting with them and felt horrible about canceling at the last minute. It reminded me of the day I spent last winter, sick with the flu, flat on my back. Why would I want to medicate away my own basic personality?” “It’s also just who I am: I am nervous, wired, jumpy. She looked at me like I truly understood her. Also, I assume you have obsessive traits that probably help you stay organized and productive, leaving no stone unturned.”

“You have to be hyperaware to know what’s a good story to cover and perceptive about when and how to push certain questions during an interview. “I bet your anxiety helps y ou in your work,” I offered. When I asked her about it, she told me her therapist had consistently recommended she take medication to “calm her nerves,” but she was resistant. We hit it off immediately and were enjoying hushed banter that ensues before taping then I noticed her fingernails were bitten down quite a bit. She seemed pert, energetic, and emotionally connected. I sat down across from a television host in the studio, chatting before we rolled tape.

I got 2 phones one for the bitches