Can sertraline/antidepressants help me leave a relationship?

[Anxietyruiningmylife80]

I am in an abusive relationship (not physically) and need to leave my partner. I have and anxiety and also love him so much. But the relationship is making my anxiety a million times worse. I have been to the GP and he had suggested sertraline to help my anxiety. He thinks once I am less anxious I will be able to think more clearly and leave my partner. Has anyone been in a situation like this and did mediation help you leave?

I haven’t been on sertraline but other antidepressants for a long time.

I am a naturally anxious person with depressive episodes and for a long time I believed they were the reason I was able to put up with my partner. It was mostly that I didn’t get so worked up over his behaviours and just felt it was easier to let it go. Obviously that couldn’t last forever and after therapy realised I just needed to divorce.

I think they make me very passive which doesn’t help much with the practical side of the divorce. But I don’t think I could handle the raw emotions of everything if I were to stop taking them. So I’m thinking that when this is all over, and I have control over my own life I will wean my self off them, and see what the real me is like.

I had PND and was given Prozac. I remember after two weeks feeling like the old me was back. I started again when peri menopausal depression hit and have been on them ever since (10 years). They didn’t work as fast or as clearly this time and I have chopped and changed types over the years.

Id say that if the anxiety is overwhelming then it’s probably worth giving it ago. But sometimes they can take a long time to kick in. They don’t work the same way for everyone. As long as you don’t change your mind about leaving, I think it’s worth a try.

Best of luck and well done for recognising it’s an abusive relationship. It took me far too long to do the same.