So many of the medications for anxiety and depression have negative side effects. My doctor prescribed Lexapro for me but the precautions reference heart disease, blood thinners and glaucoma, all of which apply to me, so I refused to take it. I recently began CBT and hope it will be of benefit. It pretty elementary so far ; I should have begun something like this decades ago. At my advanced age I wonder if I am flexible enough to modify my thinking and negativity. I focus too much on my present health conditions and am in a state of perpetual stress. My obsessive fear is that I'll become seriously ill, incapacitated and dependent.