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If my story ended here, it would be a tragedy
Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: Jun 1 9:46am | Replies (16)Comment receiving replies
You are seriously depressed. The psychologist was wrong. Journaling is not enough! You would profit from seeing a psychiatrist—if you get lucky, you’ll find one who does psychotherapy in addition to other treatments. Sometimes, psychotherapists affiliate themselves with a psychiatrist. You should know within 4 mos. whether that person (psychiatrist or psychotherapist) will be able to help you. If not, don’t give up. Find another psychotherapist, Your psychiatrist (given that she/he is helpful) should be able to help. Consider, with your psychiatrist, trying medication. Specifically, try antidepressants which work very well. The dr. needs to help you find the one that has the least side effects for you. Cymbalta is good, as are Prozac and Zoloft, but individual responses vary.
Where are your parents in all of this? Have you talked to them, and will they help you? Presumably, you are still covered by their insurance which can help pay for treatment. If there’s no support there, try a psychiatric clinic at a major university medical center.
Newer treatments include various forms of transcranial magnetic stimulation or TMS, effective quickly in 70% of patients. One of the newest forms is accelerated TMS which treats depression fully in one to two weeks! I’d still recommend psychotherapy, b/c it would be helpful to find out how this serious depression came about, and how to avoid it in the future.
Psychotherapy can be individual, group or family or some combination. Start with individual. Good luck to you on your journey! Help and hope are on the way!!!
Keep us posted about your progress!
Replies to "You are seriously depressed. The psychologist was wrong. Journaling is not enough! You would profit from..."
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With all due respect, picking a “good” psychiatrist is a crap shoot. Many, MANY psychiatrists have severe problems themselves. I say this with experiencing a close family member who started psychiatric counseling at 16. I wont delve into the darkness, and there were YEARS of it DUE to the drugs this member was involuntarily put on.
We believe their was an inappropriate act done to her as well as we believe she was violated. And thru her years, she had quite a few psychiatrists. Not ONE that I met, in my observation, was good nor helpful. Frankly, the psychiatrists I met ALL needed help. Their diplomas were a danger to the public.
This is not the exception. It happens too frequently and rarely discussed.
Drugs CAN be helpful. However, in the teen years, CAUTION and Lots of parental and family involvement and observations need to be notated. Forget confidentiality; someone needs to ACCOMPANY a minor in any and ALL psychiatric sessions. If not, find another option.
The minor must be free to express themself even in the presence of their parents. IF the psychiatrist has discernment, they can ask the minor questions in front of their parents about stresses at home, yes, even abuse.
The doctor can observe both reactions from patient And parent.
Depressions cause must be assessed clinically to determine if theres an environmental problem, chemical problem, social problem or an abuse problem.
As to the drugs side effects: some can cause Dangerous
Psychiatric effects like suicide, illegal behavior, etc.
Journaling is very therapeutic as well as revealing. To dismiss it is in error.
The drugs you mentioned will only work if the chemistry is compatible with the patients chemistry. This can take months to figure out IF diaries and notes are taken on a daily basis.
Minors should be listened to for at least a month or two before prescribing any meds with the exception for anxiety and PTSD. The minors chemistry should also be evaluated with blood draws, testing several factors.