Now that I am sober, I have no idea how to deal with my anxiety/panic and depression. I used to be able to take a break from feeling useless and empty. It feels like I don’t have a future or anything to look forward to. It has not been an easy adjustment. I am not planning to drink, but fuck do I miss alcohol. I wish I could stop thinking about it all the time.
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What about a non- addictive antianxiety med like buspar?
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I don’t know. I have not been prescribed that one. I will look into it though. I get very nervous about trying new meds.
I have been prescribed Zoloft in the past. It helped a bit with anxiety, but not enough to make up for the side effects. It made me feel almost dead inside most of the time. I wasn’t able to make myself care about anything. I quit going to work. I just couldn’t make myself get out of bed.
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I take Wellbutrin. It helps me.
I also read once that depression comes from worrying about the past. Anxiety comes from worrying about the future. Happiness comes from living in the present.
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I take medication. Other things I do
that help are:
Take vitamin B complex
Exercise
Journal
Spend 15 minutes in the sun
Listen to a speaker meeting on YouTube
Read recovery literature
Shower or bathe
Get dressed
Set a timer 
15 minutes: do one item from your to do
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I’m on Zoloft and Seroquel for exactly that. I see a psychiatrist and a counselor as well.
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I take Wellbutrin and buspar.
I take Wellbutrin and it does help. But most importantly I had to find myself. In that I mean actually sit down and , for me, I wrote a list of thing I had to do little stuff like cleaning up, doing the dishes, laundry, u get the idea. Next I wrote down a list of things I wanted to do. Out of that list I chose three things I just wasn’t going to give up. Then i picked one thing that i wanted to do but was nervous or kinda scared to do. I chose one of my three and made the time out of the list of things I had to do to do that thing I chose out of my three, and did that one and afterwards went back to what I had to do. It was amazing to me at that point how good I felt. The next day I did the same but with the second of my three. All this time marking off the stuff I accomplished one at a time so I didn’t overwhelm myself cuz let’s face it most of us can get anxious over what most consider nothing. But it felt so good getting the things I had to do done as well as getting to do something i wanted to do. After being able to do those three things I wanted to do it only left that one thing that I was just uncomfortable doing. Even though I knew it was legal, safe, and would most likely be fun. But if I didn’t do it I would never know and I surely can’t handle when I regret something. I tend to dwell on things that I’m not happy with and those things build up. So on the fourth day of using my list I did that one thing and man it was so awesome. Afterwards i went back to the things I had to do and when I was finished I called my buddy up and told him about my past four days and asked about his and it was then that I realized that for the past four days I was happy and content and that if I just stayed in the moment I am capable of doing things to be happy 
. Keep your head up sorry to be so long and I hope this helps
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Great advice Erica...similar to my list. And it does work if you stay on the course. But there will always be curve balls thrown at you...that's when you need a quick asap to do right then. Mine was reaching out here, bc everything else I've tried didn't work. And also I was too embarrassed to fail again in someone else's eyes, bc of my age...thinking I should know better by now. Thank you for sharing. Have a great day...you got this!
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I understand. After I got sober, anxiety and depression became a challenge. I figured when I stopped, it would improve.
Managing now.
All the best to you.
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This topic was good for me and I'm glad this was brought up...im sure many times. Glad this was posted. Bc it was the first time for me to see it. You can't do this recovery alone. Thank you for sharing.
It will get better. Keep busy. Clean behind the fridge, go for a walk, call someone who understands, anything. My worst time is the night. Like Evan said, if you can just start something and get it done, you'll feel relieved. Then you'll gradually become empowered knowing that you CAN do anything, IF YOU'RE SOBER!
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Thank you for the advice. I think that I am going to try to spend some time in the sun today. I don’t do that often enough.
Thank you for sharing what has helped you. Even if it does not end up working for me, it still helps to see that so many people have found at least one method that makes it easier for them. That kind of hope is invaluable.
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Right?! Quitting was supposed to be the hard part, but it turns out to be the first difficult step on a rough ass road. I may never get to a place of “normalcy”, but I am very willing to settle for not terrible. Thank you for commiserating.
Thank you for the encouragement. I definitely do need to start setting and working at accomplishing goals. I think that will do a lot to help with feelings of uselessness. I do, however, steadfastly refuse to clean behind the refrigerator. 
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Thank you. It really does help to feel heard and, more importantly, understood.
Baby steps lol start small
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I suggest finding a psychotherapist, preferably someone with more of a psychodynamic orientation (I.e., emotion focused, process oriented, developmental and relationship focused). That’s by far and away the most effective way of treating emotional regulation disorders (e.g., anxiety, depression). Psychotropics can be helpful for some but the effect size tends to be much lower and would definitely take meds in combination with therapy. See: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-65-2-98.pdf
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Therapeutic lifestyle changes can also be helpful but they are not a treatment for emotional regulation disorders. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-66-7-579.pdf
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