@jseabass I’m starting Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) which includes acupuncture and herbal supplements. TCM unlike Western Medicine (WM) aims to heal the body in a holistic manner, not just treating symptoms. I started on Effexor and stopped because I’ve concluded all antidepressants deal with symptoms only. They alter your brain and the only thing you can hope for is that your body will heal itself or be on meds forever.
I’ve had 4 acupuncture treatments so far and feel positive but of course not cured. I tend to keep on for another 2 months (1per week) I’m also taking some TCM herbal supplements and WM supplements to ease off the Effexor. Symptoms are tolerable.

Here’s some info on TCM relating to depression/anxiety.
“Progress of research on the treatment of depression by traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions

3. Conclusion and prospects
The treatment of depression remains a major challenge for modern medicine due to a lack of understanding of its pathogenesis, and existing treatments have not been successful in halting or reversing the progression of depression at an early stage. TCMPs have long been under clinical investigation for their efficacy in the treatment of depression. This article reviews the antidepressant mechanisms of classic TCMPs by examining their clinical research and mechanism of action, including improving neurotransmitter levels, regulating inflammatory factors, balancing the HPA axis, increasing brain-derived neurotrophic factors, enhancing neural plasticity, and improving intestinal flora disorders.

The field of TCM boasts a rich history and extensive expertise in addressing depression. It has fewer side effects than WM, which makes it an advantage in this regard. Moreover, TCM does not produce drug tolerance. Taking Suanzaoren Decoction as an example, it can affect the levels of neurotransmitters and inflammatory factors in the body through CAMP/PKA/CREB, JAK2/STAT3, BDNF, and other pathways, thus improving the patient's depressive state. This indicates that TCMPs has multi-mechanism and multi-pathway characteristics, which is consistent with its multicomponent structure. Similarly, the characteristics of multicomponent, multimechanism, and multipathway also bring certain difficulties to their in-depth study.”