It's bad enough when you get it from people who don't even understand the concept of having anxiety, it's 10x worse when it comes from people within the community who also suffer from anxiety disorders.

Goddamn I get it left and right from fellow anxiety sufferers the very moment I mention that I'm on medication. It always turns into preaching. You may think you're helping, but you're really not. There are many different preachy topics people get into, but the main sentiments are "oh, you're just not strong enough and are weak and leaning on the meds because not using them would be too hard for you." Or "oh they're really bad for you if you keep taking those you're going to end up with dementia-cancer by the age of 30" 

Fuck off. I experienced something traumatic. I was not able to handle it without the assistance of meds. Therapy alone did not cut it. Going for walks outside or whatever didn't help either, which some people smugly like to suggest. I was in so much fear that I literally disassociated from myself. Meds kept me from being hospitalized.

I got shit from my doctor and people on here (not this sub specifically I haven't commented here before). You're going to die horribly for being on those meds! be afraid! be scared! feel ashamed!

Well guess what, I found a fantastic therapist who completely understands my plight. In one of our first sessions when I told her that the meds saved my life and that therapy alone wouldn't have ever helped, she IMMEDIATELY agreed and was like "oh yep definitely. It's too powerful of a reaction/feeling. I know." She herself experienced some trauma from her past, and she told me that when she stopped drinking and was on an anti-anxiety med for her panic disorder someone smugly told her "oh so you dropped one addiction for another." Oh boy did I have some shared anger with her over that. 

I really don't care to hear anyone's "help" or "advice" when it comes to my choice to take medications. I don't want your shaming, or how you were able to overcome your issues without medication, good for you. But there's this holier-than-thou preachy mindset disguised as sympathy and I fucking hate it.

I would rather live a shorter happier life due to relief from my anxiety due to meds than live a long tortuous life because that's what people say I should do. My doctor was brutal to me about being on the meds until I said essentially that to her, and then she finally laid off. 

And addiction doesn't happen to everybody. I had someone lecture me on how this medication I was on was going to give me a full blown addiction until I told them that once I was doing better I just simply got off of them and was off of them for months. They sure didn't have anything to say to that. 

So bottom line, stop shaming people who choose medications, if you want to celebrate that you're so healthy and untainted by pharmaceuticals, go do it somewhere else. Not everyone is that lucky.