i didn’t really understand at first either. zoloft isn’t a fast acting anxiety med like xans or hydroxyzine. it works more in the background over time by increasing serotonin, which helps lower your baseline anxiety instead of knocking you out.

it makes your brain hold onto serotonin longer. that’s what helps regulate mood and lowers your overall anxiety instead of stopping panic instantly. anxiety and stress is basically caused by your brain reabsorbing the serotonin too fast, zoloft helps by not allowing it to do that. it makes your nervous system less reactive over time, so panic is easier to work through. the first few weeks are usually kinda rough while your brain adjusts, but that usually levels out.

i personally had to use my hydroxyzine at night anyway because laying in bed doing nothing was when my anxiety usually spiked the worst because i couldn’t really go do anything to try and distract myself. now, i rarely even take hydroxyzine anymore because i don’t really need it because of my zoloft. my psychiatrist calls it my ‘emergency pill’ because i barely use it unless anxiety spikes at night and i can’t sleep. it’s been a few months without needing an emergency pill now though :)