I'd like to share my optimism with everyone .  I've been in recovery for a while now and today I actually felt more peaceful than ever in my life.  I'm 62, had A & D as long as I can remember.  In my early 20's it exacerbated to debilitating.  I spent a lot of years fighting against it, medications, hospital stays, ECT, well meaning therapists and doctors in lab coats who were clueless. A suicide attempt that God intervened in.  In all that time, not one professional tried to educate me about anxiety and depression.  Self help books were useless.  But I made up my mind I was not going to die before I got well again.  Perhaps God intervened again, because doors started opening, two therapists who actually care if I get well, new information becoming available, new approaches to treatment, a different attitude on my part.  Combining all this with a strict adherence to doing my due diligence with tools I've been taught,  and the Grace of God, I'm healing.  I'm learning how to be a better me, to believe in me, to look at things from a perspective I've never had before.  I'm going to be ok.  I wanted to share because there are a lot of people who post on here and I wanted them to know that it is possible to heal, that there can be a better day ahead to look forward to.  Just know that it takes work and time, it's hard, but when you start feeling from the heart again, you'll know it was worth everything you put into it.  God bless all of you.