You could find some surprising treatments on offer when you next visit your GP surgery. Instead of a prescription for pills, you might be given one to join a walking group, or an arts society.
Lucy Fernandes, who became trapped on three drugs prescribed for severe anxiety, was lucky to benefit from one of the few services in the UK offering support with tapering.
Sharon Davies has a simple message for anyone whose GP recommends they start taking the drug pregabalin to deal with anxiety. ‘Don’t,’ she says. ‘Please, just don’t.’
During the two years she spent on the drug, Sharon experienced a range of ‘unbearable’ side-effects, including dizzy spells, mental ‘fuzziness’ and extreme weight gain.
Then, in July last year, when she tried to stop taking Lyrica one of several brands of the drug (pregabalin is the generic name) she was hit by withdrawal symptoms so severe that she had to take sick leave from the job she loved, working at a wildlife hospital near her home in Billericay, Essex.