"i had a severe panic/depression episode and was contemplating suicide (didn&#039;t tell dr. about that part though) with uncontrollable crying &quot;spells&quot; and was prescribed 2mg ativan and it was effective within just a few minutes. i calmed down and the racing thoughts, thoughts of suicide, and other feelings went on hold long enough to compose myself. i was on these for a few weeks and it saved my life. i was already on 2mg xanax er at the time but it didn&#039;t touch the episode i was having at the current time. however, the xanax er was very effective for what it was for, i just had an episode triggered by a bad event that override the power of the xanax at the time."