Where can my girlfriend get help with depression?

Question

She has seen her GP but that didn't prove too helpful. Any other suggestions of where she can get help?

Answer 1

This is very sweet of you being there to help. I have/do suffer and put a call out on Yahoo for assistance. Try alternative therapy - i.e reiki, homoeopathy and things like that it will all help to take the negativity away.
Also try to find her a councillor, there aren't always reasons for depression and sadness but in her case there maybe. Find someone she can talk to.

Good luck in your search, depression is a horrid thing to deal with, especially when all you want to be is happy.

Answer 2

first off as someone who has had bouts of depression in life (currently fine thanks for thinking) i have found that GPs vary in their appreciation and understanding of such a condition

i would get a second opinion (that is your right as a patient or on behalf of a patient) and a third if you are not satisfied

many people take the line of 'just pull yourself together' (and GPs do fall in that category sometimes)

however some folks are not able to do so without some kind of help or assistance

what is important is that your gf gets help - and help appropriate to her needs

she may or may not need meds - and if she does it may or may not be a forever thing - just to get her through her current difficulties

there are group therapies that if run properly can be the most helpful because folks who are learning to live with various mental illnesses are often among the most supportive people you could ever hope to meet.

and now i am fine - living a healthy life and caring for my son and home and hubby without too many difficulties - so there is such a thing as life AFTER mental illness

Answer 3

Go to another GP then, and another and as many as you need to to get some help. Sadly some GP's are reluctant to help with depression. Go with her and suggest being referred to counselling.

There are also some voluntary agencies who run services for depression, look on the internet for some in your area or look for leaflets in the library or doctors surgary.

It is great she has such a caring boyfriend to help her through this.

Answer 4

The only person that can help your girlfriend is herself. You are doing your best by trying to help and understand but it lays with her and what has caused this. Counselling is a very good start. It can be expensive (around £45ph) but if she goes back to her doctor and asks about councelling they may suggest a scheme that is free. Group talks are good and meeting others that are going through the same thing. It will reassure your girlfriend that she is not on her own. Don't let your girlfriend start taking anti-depressants. Doctors hand these out like smarties as they can't be bothered or are to busy to suggest alternative therapies. It's then a job in it's self to come off these tablets and sadly for some the results are not good. Ask your girlfriend to try meditation. You can both do this together and it will help clear her mind. It won't be easy to start with as your girlfriends mind will have 100 odd things going on in there. Your girlfriend will possibly not be able to pinpoint the one thing that has contributed towards this depression so there could be many things that are weighing her down. Try talking to her about one of the issues that is depressing her and then lead it on to the others.

Like all people with depression, your girlfriend will have high days and low days. On the low days you need to get her out of the house and keep her going. Cuddle her, tell her that you love her and just keep on reassuring her that she is not on her own. Depression is like a black cloud that encloses around that person and they end up feeling alone. On high days your girlfriend will be over energetic & happy but it does not last. There are herbal therapists out there who can suggest remedies and they are not addictive. Also certain foods can help with depression.

I wish you both well and she's lucky to have somebody so caring who is concerned about her.

Answer 5

Other than with the g.p, Im not sure. He may well have tested her via a questionaire to see if she was depressed(they do these tests now so as not to misdiagnose).

Get a second opinion, if it's severe that shes not getting out of bed, crying all the time, can't and wont talk and overall ill take her back to see another g.p. There is help out there but sometimes you gotta be persistant to get anywhere..

Answer 6

Ask her to request another Doctor there will be one who will help or get her to go to the Citizens advice beareu they will have the address of the local MIND Groups where she can get 1 To 1 counciling Dont give up also try to cheer her up it worked with me some time ago all My true friends rallied round me (I was out of work For 3 Years) Imagine what that does for your soul good luck

Answer 7

Didn't prove too helpful? This is alarm bell language for me. It sounds like she didn't like the treatment her GP suggested. You have to realize, depressed people will be negative about EVERYTHING. That's what depression is. It makes you think "no, no, no... bad, bad, bad...." Everything is awful, even a cure.

If her GP gave her antidepressants and she didn't like them, this is her depression talking. If you care about her, FORCE her to take them.

If her GP didn't give her antidepressants, then go to one who will.

I tried for years all of the homeopathic remedy stuff, fish oil, Sam-E, 5-HTP, meditation, and so on, with little result, and now I know better.

The difference between self-medication and real medication is like night and day. Understand? NIGHT AND DAY. There is no comparison. You may feel a little better sometimes with home remedies, but then you spiral into despair again. You have to take something to break the cycle completely.

Imagine you're stranded, floating in the middle of the ocean. You've been floating out there for days, with sharks, and no food or water. You have the choice of a life preserver or a rescue boat. Night and day, man!!!

Depressed people will do anything to avoid taking the drugs that will actually help them... and they will sound completely rational about it. They'll cite bad side effects, blow their own side effects way out of proportion... whatever will convince themselves not to take a prescription. It's a symptom of depression.

As her boyfriend, you have to make sure she takes real meds. If she complains about one, fine, but take her to get a different kind. Do NOT let her blow it off, adjust her dosage, or any of the other BS depressed people try. They try to sabotage their own recovery without even realizing it. I know, I've been there.

If she wants to try alternative treatments, fine. But tell her to get better and THEN think about it. Decisions like that should be made months after being on antidepressants. Having your brain back to normal makes your half-hearted placebos seem correctly ridiculous.

Anything less than an SSRI is a waste of time. I *dread* the day my doctor says I have to start weaning off my antidepressants... they are wonderful.

They aren't "happy pills." They don't change my personality. They just took away that terrible feeling of "no, no, no... bad, bad, bad..." so I could think straight and live my life again. Ups and downs, like everyone else, without thinking that the downs mean I need to kill myself.

Meds need to be taken every day. Insurance covers most of them. It will take about two weeks before she feels any difference. It may take a year till she starts feeling like normal again. (She'll think this is too long, and want to say no, but trust me, it's not nearly as bad as a year with depression.)

Okay, with that said...
- Any GP will be able to prescribe antidepressants. Lexapro is the best, IMO.
- A psychiatrist is more expensive, but will definitely be able to prescribe with more precision than a GP.
- Avoid psychologists. They cost as much as psychiatrists, will make her take endless tests before prescribing anything, and add insult to injury by trying to analyze that she doesn't like her father and crap like that. It's worthless.
- A neurologist is WAY overkill, unless she also has epilepsy or something.
- Therapists are okay, if there are things in her life that bother her. I can take them or leave them; they're just a shoulder. Therapists can't prescribe anything, usually.

Buy a copy of "The Feeling Good Handbook" by David D Burns. It is, hands-down, the best help she can give herself.

Look up cognitive therapy.

And avoid any site that touts "natural" cures; they are run by depressed people.

Kudos on caring for your girl so much. Know that even if she appears to disdain nice things you say to her, she does appreciate them. Keep your chin up, you'll need it as much as her.

Answer 8

First of all, I want to commend you for being there for your girlfriend in her time of need. Not very people would do that these days. What I suggest you do is get her to a mental health professional whom could help her with her problem. I hope my answer helps. Good Luck.

Answer 9

Your girlfriend may feel better if she visits a centre where other people with the same condition talk openly about how they feel. Where she would not feel like she's on her own. Expressing thoughts to others who understand where she is coming from is a big help.

Answer 10

I'm going through the same thing at the mo, and my bf like you is really supportive. The best thing for her is for you to make sure you are there for her, give her a hug once and a while and talk to her as much as possible this helps loads. I have a councillor at the moment and they are great to chat to and it's nice to have someone to really talk to. You are doing a great job as it is keep up the work!!!