tonight i decided i'd try and take the steps towards getting diagnosed with depression and subsequently getting treated for it. but looking things up i'm balking. i already talked with @banshu about it for a bit, who says that i probably definitely have major depression, but even then i'm just looking up, trying to find a psychiatrist or something to diagnose me or help me in some way and i don't know what to be looking for. there are so many things for cognitive therapy that i don't think would actually help me. i just want to know that im actually depressed and get medication so i can finally take the steps to do things i need to do. i KNOW what things i need to work on. i need to find a job. i need to do things again for my health. i want to find passion for drawing again. i want to find passion in life and not just chug through it where i think walking into traffic would be more appealing. sessions are also expensive and i dont have insurance anymore so i'm balking even more and i want to cry. there are so many steps to take and i NEED to do this but at the same time my executive dysfunction is like "or we can not. let's not. let's NOT do the thing." so i guess, i'm asking for advice from how it works or what to expect? do any of you get diagnosed and have to go through cognitive therapy? or do you just chat around with your therapist and get medication? specs told me that she went a few times to make sure that the anti-depressants work and stuff like that, i dont think she's had to deal with cognitive therapy. i know some people here do take cognitive therapy and that it works for them, so if you do can you explain it better to me? like i don't think i can stand the idea of being told "well obviously your thoughts are negative and causing negative feelings, so just think happy thoughts because then it'll make things more positive". because i tell myself that a lot already, and i just tell myself "why don't you just DO things. why can't you just be HAPPY." and i don't think that sort of therapy could help me at all. but i don't know much about it and i can't parse a lot of heavily worded descriptions so if anyone can help me out that'd be really nice...
Sooooo I've been the poster child of mental health patient for quite some years now (a decade actually). So I can let you know what my experiences have been like. My first diagnoses happened when I was hospitalized. I don't suggest going that route unless you absolutely must (suicidal with intent to go through with it or maybe a psychotic break etc, something drastic and needs immediate attention or your life is in danger). So another way to get a diagnosis is seeing a psychiatrist. Psychiatrists will be what you're looking for since you seem to just want pills and not therapy. I suggest both because the double whammy does wonders for treating depression. But if you want to forgo the therapy you'll need to find a psychiatrist that is okay with prescribing pills even though you're not actively in therapy. (some psychiatrist won't prescribe until you're seeing a therapist). If you have any other questions, I'm happy to answer them!
I agree - what you need is a consultation with a psychiatrist. A consultation isn't a therapy session, it's just an assessment of your current situation, after which the psychiatrist will make recommendations for further treatment. (They'll almost certainly make a diagnosis, too.) You can tell the psychiatrist yourself what you told us here about your concerns about taking therapy; the psychiatrist can help explain what therapy would be like, and offer an opinion on whether it's appropriate for you - not everyone is a suitable candidate for therapy; last time I had a consultation for CBT the consultant decided not to recommend it, even though he fully agreed with my diagnosis, because he felt that other types of treatment would be more effective. Even if the psychiatrist does recommend a type of therapy that you don't want, you have the right to say so. Unless you're in need of emergency intervention of some sort, no one will force you into treatment. You should bring up financial concerns during your consultation; that way they can take that into account when recommending treatment. Getting a diagnosis of depression is not contingent on ageing to treatment. The psychiatrist isn't going to refuse to diagnose depression just because you might not opt for therapy - if they do, they're very strange and a terrible psychiatrist. If you arrange a private consultation, then you're paying them to assess you., and that's what they'll do. As for talking therapy: there are a lot of different kinds of therapy. There are also a lot of different kinds of therapist - even if two therapists are providing the same treatment, like CBT, they might come from different theoretical backgrounds; one might take a Gestalt approach, while the other draws more on psychoanalysis. It's worth reading up a little on the different types of therapy that are out there. Lastly, your concerns about cognitive therapy are not completely unwarranted. CBT in particular is very much in vogue at the moment, and as a result it's often prescribed for people who won't benefit from it. But if it is right for you, you can rest assured that it's not just 'think happy thoughts'; it's more complicated and more helpful than that. The therapist will help you to identify specific thought patterns, and instead of saying 'okay, now just stop thinking those thoughts', they offer you different techniques to disrupt the pattern and divert it towards a better result: not necessarily a happy ending, but one that's easier to handle. These techniques only sometimes involve 'self-talk' (like telling yourself it's going to be okay); more often, they involve following written instructions (or even worksheets) which guide you through an analysis of your current situation. You try this out at home and keep track of the results. If something isn't working, your therapist will be able to suggest an alternative; if it is working, the therapist will help you track your progress and keep up the good work.
thank you for the responses you two, it really helps put things into perspective. me going to a psychiatrist might take a bit though since i'm Poor As Fuck and have no insurance but this gives me a good idea of what to expect. So thank you.
You're very welcome. You can always drop me a line if you want to talk about this or about anything else. By the way, depending on where you live, there might be services around you that can at least help some of the way - cheap counsellors (as opposed to clinical psychologists or psychiatrists; less qualified, but in Britain they're the first port of call for therapy), people who charge on a sliding scale, et cetera. Maybe even mental health charities that could at least offer advice, if not actual care.
General Practitioners can prescribe antidepressants. I was only nominally functional when I finally got a doctor a couple years ago, and the idea of finding a psychiatrist was just . . . no. So I made an appointment with a doctor, did an 18-question assessment for depression and another one for anxiety and got drugs. I also had the option of getting a referral to a psychiatrist or therapist from there, and the whole thing was way less complicated than I expected, which probably saved my life.
What state do you live in? The state I live in offers free health insurance to poor people under a certain income bracket and that health insurance pays for nearly everything including mental health stuff. I would look into whatever obamacare you have in your state. You might qualify for free health insurance! :D
