Hello Liz. So sorry for your struggles. Extreme anxiety is very uncomfortable and can make it impossible to function. I have lived with depression for many year and back in 2009, after many years of being on Paxil, I, with approval of my psychiatrist, slowly over a period of months weaned myself off of it 10mg at a time. Around one week after being off I crashed really bad. I was away from home when it happened and had a real hard time driving back. My doctor immediately had me gradually get back up to my 30mg of Paxil but I couldn't get back to where I was. He decided to have me undergo a series of ECT treatments. I knew there wasn't any harm in trying and it is 100% painless. In the end it didn't help and when I asked the doctor who performed the treatment he said it doesn't work as well on people who have depression that is anxiety based. So maybe you should talk to a few doctors who know ECT well and maybe you could do some online research. I am what they call "treatment resistant" now and it is a struggle every day. With the help of the right medications I did well over the years being very productive even with major setbacks at times. I will be 60 next year but I still expect to find the right meds or treatment that will get me productive again. So if you try ECT and it doesn't work well then please don't get discouraged. You may have to try different doctors but there is a treatment, most-likely medication, that will eventually work for you.View Thread