I Survived Paxil Hell! Read This Before Undergoing a Chemical Lobotomy

Remember the scene in "Seinfeld" when Elaine had to "baby-sit" her fake boyfriend who was withdrawing from opium? It was so funny; she came up with the "detox poncho."

Or the scene in "Little House on the Prairie" when Charles Ingalls had to see his adopted son through morphine withdrawal? So dramatic.

Yes, we all know that Opium and Morphine, although once legal, are highly addictive and dangerous drugs to take. And withdrawal from them, judging by what we've seen on television, isn't pleasant.

But what about the "legal" drugs that are given to people all the time? When someone goes to the doctor and says "I'm depressed" and the doc whips out a prescription pad for Paxil or Zoloft or some other anti-depressant. What happens to them when they decide they don't want to live in an altered mental state anymore and decide to quit?

I was diagnosed with OCD. For those of you who are unaware of this mental disorder (obsessive compulsive disorder), it is the disease Jack Nicholson suffered from in "As Good As It Gets." It's also what ails the character "Monk" from the popular detective television show of the same name.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder usually manifests itself in the way it is portrayed in Monk. Obsessive thoughts about germs and cleanliness followed by "compulsions" such as excessive hand-washing, repeatedly locking and unlocking doors, etc. My OCD does not manifest itself this way. I suffer from the obsessive thoughts, but don't have the compulsions. These dark thoughts generally are about my health and the health of my children. Nobody has a headache; they have a brain tumor. Nobody has a cold; they have leukemia. I went through years of being terrified of going to doctors. It's really all about feeling "out of control." I went to a psychiatrist, he diagnosed OCD. I went to counselors. I didn't want to have to take a prescription. But I felt depressed and anxious a lot.