I live in Japan right now but I am originally from Canada. Recently I have experienced anxiety from the pressure of my life. Obviously COVID has been so stressful and I haven't been able to travel home to my family for more than a year and a half now. I work in the school system and the influx in work due to the shortage of foreign English teacher's has also added a lot of stress to my life. Within the past few weeks I have started having major anxiety attacks and I decided to see a doctor about it. I have never before had an anxiety problem and I am in no way an anxious person (very outgoing drama type kid actually). I still don't have a good command of the Japanese language so it's been hard trying to figure out what to do and I have had to have many appointments and also one of my supervisors has had to help me translate.

Today a doctor diagnosed me with a Panic Disorder and said she wants to refer me to a clinic so that they can prescribe me SSRIs. I have just done some research on them and it seems like something I really don't want? I don't think this panic thing is permanent and I'm sure I will be able to level back out eventually (hopefully?). But I don't want to take something every single day, or go through withdrawls. I want something I can just take when I'm having an episode, not something I need to rely on and keep on taking. Some days I feel perfectly fine and everything is normal. I did some research and Benzodiazepine looks more like something that would help me but there are a lot of mixed reviews on them too. Things like psychotherapy aren't really offered here especially in English as I do not live in a big city like Tokyo or Osaka.

Just on here looking for suggestions/stories/reassurance? Should I just start taking the SSRIs or ask for Benzos? Be mindful I will have limited access to doctors and I won't be able to go to them with concerns very easily (I will have to ask my supervisor to translate and wait for a day she is free to book an appoinment and come with me).