What’s the anti-anxiety medication that worked best for you?
Zoloft. Still does the trick for me after 20+ years.
Klonopin (clonazepam) worked very well for me, until it didn’t.
Turns out, Klonopin (like all the benzos) is very addictive, and I think it’s one of the more addictive ones. As you use it, the effects become less and less and you need more and more to get the same effects, and you start to get withdrawal effects (like jitters and insomnia) if you don’t keep getting an ever-increasing dose. This can start happening in as little as a month or so.
So it can work well for very short-term use ONLY !!!
With any longer-term usage, you can very well end up horribly addicted. The withdrawal is highly obnoxious (said to be tougher to kick than heroin) and can take months. Some small number of unlucky addicts will have Protracted Withdrawal Syndrome in which the withdrawal can take a year or more.
See BENZODIAZEPINES: HOW THEY WORK AND HOW TO WITHDRAW by Professor C Heather Ashton DM, FRCP of Newcastle University Institute of Neuroscience. She ran a benzo detox rehab there for a dozen years.
Legally prescribed marijuana.
In a blinded study I have found no statistical difference between legally and illicitly obtained product.
If cannabis is not handy, I have found Valium potentiated by ethanol to be a big help for dealing with short term anxiousness.
ETA: I am not your mental health professional, nor am I your dealer.
For long-term effects, Risperdal. I take it every night and it curbs my anxiety very well.
For short-term immediate effects, Atavan. I don’t take it every day because it can be addicting, but damn that stuff works fast. It’s great for when I can’t sleep or when I’m really distracted from an important task by anxiety.
I’m having a lot of luck with 200 mg Zoloft and 1 mg. Risperidone. My psychiatrist is switching me to Geodon instead for the antipsychotic because he thinks it will help more with the dissociative episodes, but I have little daily anxiety with what I’m taking. I hope it doesn’t change.
I have heard benzos are evil, but after a nasty accident, I started getting panic attacks in certain situations. Klonopin and lorazepam were evil, addictive and gave me short-term anterograde amnesia in some instances.
Alprazolam (Xanax) has worked wonders for occasional use, and although I’ve heard it is the most addictive of all the benzos, for me it’s the least. I can have a bottle of 90 .5 mg sit around for 6 months.
My doctor and I tried two antidepressants to see if that would help. However, the sex drive death as a result of the antidepressants, coupled with my feeling that we were hitting a nail with a 50 ton boulder and still missing made me dump those quite quickly.
Yep, me too. Doc prescribed the same strength, and I break 'em in half anyway.
I’ve been on citalopram daily (well, nightly … it helps me fall asleep) for over a year now. It’s completely gotten rid of what I sometimes simply refer to as The Bad Thing. It messes a bit with my memory (which is a little like poking a few more holes into a colander :D) but otherwise, no major side effects.
I’ve heard going completely off it will suck major donkey balls, so maybe I’ll just stay on it for the rest of my life.
Long term, maintenance drug: Paxil. I can just never go off it ever! 
Short term, shit hits the fan need help NOW drug: any of the benzos. Done clonazepam and lorazepam and diazepam.
Word! During a difficult time, I was unable to sleep, and the lack of sleep was doing me great damage. The first night I took this, I slept 8 hours, that’s the truth. I had heard of the addictive nature of this, so as my ability to sleep came back, I was glad to not need it anymore. But at the time I needed it, it was a lifesaver.
Xyprexa, Ativan, Gravol. Bonus: they can be used together.
Or alcohol… 
Klonopin is nice. Valium is great, too.
Psilocybin mushrooms. Not a very useful answer, though. Even if it weren’t for the whole illegal thing, they’re pretty hard to come by. (Although one assumes they’d be easier to come by if they weren’t illegal.)
After that, kava kava, with passionflower, hops, valerian and/or skullcap tea before bed.
Prozac for 6 months worked about as well as the kava kava, but studies show Prozac for anxiety works much better for women than men, last I knew. And that was 20 years ago; I hardly ever see it prescribed any more.
Ativan has been a big help to me in the past.
A small dose (25mg daily) of good old-fashioned Thorazine (Chlorpromazine.) It helps with depression, and it helps stave off panic- and anxiety attacks. In my case, I’ve tried most of the other meds, including nearly all of the SSRIs, and they didn’t help. This…helps.
Trivially simple to grow. And spores are legal to sell, as long as the intent is not to germinate. Just sayin. Weird.
In response to kayaker:
Benzos really should not be combined with alcohol.
Ditto this for me. I’ve taken 1/4 mg of xanax as needed for over 25 years. I take it approximately 2-3 times per month, never more than 1/4 mg in a 24-hour period, and never more that two days in a row. I have a bottle of 90 1/2 mg tablets that I’ve nursed for a couple of years. I break the half-mgs in half so they go farther.
When I have a panic attack, it is the only thing that works. Takes about an hour to kick in.
I used EFFEXOR XR for my PPD and anxiety. It was worth it. I stayed on it for 2 years and was able to titrate off of it pretty easily. I still have anxiety, but I manage it with non-medical methods.