advice on seeing my doctor?

Question

will my GP take me seriously if i go to see him about depression and anxiety? i know it sounds stupid, as both conditions are valid and need to be treated but I feel so stupid going to see him. I dont know what I will say and I am worried he will think I am just going through a phase, but what im feeling has been with me for over a year now and its affecting my life. I want to start seeing a councillor or a therapist but im a full time student-are there services available to me that wont mean running up a huge bill? thank you for your time x

thank you for all of your answers, so many of them are encouraging and i know now that i need to seek help and try to control this. when i said i wanted the doctor to take me seriously i meant, i dont want to be passed off as another young person going through a phase that will pass, so many areas of my life are messed up and whether i have or havent got depression i know that i have problems and they cant be solved by themselves, thank you x

Answer 1

yes all the things you describe are mental illnesses and you should get them on the NHS
Electric shock treatment is supposedly very good for depression



.

Answer 2

Of course your doctor will take you seriously. That is their job, to treat conditions like yours, whatever it may be. I would suggest that you try something else first though, if you are worried about the expense. I have personally found that depression is very closly linked to the adrenal gland. That is why many people enjoy extreme sports and other exciting behaviors, because it takes adrenalin to normalize their brain chemistry. See it's all about the chemistry of your brain, and instead of using drugs either legal prescription drugs or as some other people do recreational drugs (not reccommended) you can just go out and find an activity that stimulates the adrenal gland. Ie. surfing, (my sport of choice) skiing, skydiving, base jumping, Roller coaster rides, running can help too or even bicicle riding (although these are more phisical than adrenal). The point is to stimulate your adrenal gland, I gaurentee that you will feel better, but it may take some time to recover fully. You will feel good for a time and then laps back into the pattern that you have been following for the last few months until you stimulate your adrenal gland again. After a few months of stimulation you will not laps back into the depression pattern anymore and you will be free of that feeling. Try this first then if you don't feel better you may have a more serious problem and you should see your doctor.

Aloha!! and cawabunga!

Answer 3

General Practitioners will take your condition seriously. All doctors have training in Psychiatry and want to respond and help each person live a full, happy, and healthy life. However, I have a few reservations with GPs acting as Psychiatrists. Certainly, they are qualified doctors, but they are not specialized in the condition that you are concerned about. You would not see a GP to treat cancer, you would go to a doctor that specializes in that. You would not see a GP to treat a neurological disorder, you would see a neurologist for that. If I were you, and what you are talking about is Psychiatric in nature, I would ask your GP for a referral to a Psychiatrist so you receive the proper supervision of medication for your own body chemistry.

However, you may not require medication. If you are a student at a college or university, there should be a counseling service available to you. If you do not know where to look for this service, go and talk to someone in the disabilities office, or go talk to one of your professors...they will point you in the right direction.

However, counselors at colleges and universities are limited in what they can counsel about. They may refer you to someone off campus if they feel as though your condition needs more addition than they can provide.

Go to the counselor on campus and discuss what you are feeling honestly. If they suggest looking into medication or off-campus counseling, discuss with them your monetary situation. All campuses provide health insurance to students, it is only a matter to seeking it out. It is not the best, but it can help cover some of the costs.

Overall, do not be ashamed of what is going on; this nation is just beginning to wake up to the reality of depression and anxiety. Many times, it is merely discovering that you are not happy with what you are doing at this given point in life, and it does not require medication. As a student you have many resources available to you if you want to use them. Good luck and be brave. These feelings never last forever.

EDIT: Please do not take the idiots seriously when they suggest electro-shock therapy (also know as ECT). While it does help with depression, it is only used when the depressed persons situation is seemingly hopeless and all other options have run out.

Answer 4

I HAD THIS PROBLEM AND TO STOP ANY EMBARRASMENT I WRITE ALL THE THINGS I FEEL AND JUST AS IMPORTANTLY DONT FEEL DOWN SO THAT WAY HE WILL KNOW EVERYTHING

do you feel part of this world
do you get excited about things
does anything interest you
can you make decisions

these were the sorts of things i wrote answers down to and from questions like this he could work out what was wrong

doctors are pretty clued up these days but i do know what you mean i kept trying to tell people but i couldnt describe it because people said it was like a big black cloud but i didnt feel that way

best wishes for the future

the sooner you go the sooner you can start to get back on with your life

dont be frightened of medicines if you try to fight them they wont work relax and let them do their job

best wishes i am thinking about you


xxx


vici

Answer 5

Sweetheart if a doctor doesnt take you seriously then they shouldnt be a doctor. Last year I split from my boyfriend, lost my pet dog and then my grandmother and i didnt think about seeing the doctor, eventually I did though and I was treated for my condition.

1 in 3 people will suffer from a mental illness at some point in their life. The only reason that were so worried about going and seeing our doctors about them is the fact that theyre still social taboo's. If people got over the stigma of being scared of being branded a "loony" then we wouldnt feel as scared and unsure about getting the treatment we need.

Seriously though, please go to your doctor. They're is professional and confidential councilling available to you, all you need to do is ask.

Good Luck and feel better soon!!!

Answer 6

Any decent GP will take you seriously about depression and anxiety. Depression is a disease just like diabetes, heart disease, etc. If he/she doesn't, find another doctor! If you are looking for a counselor or psychiatrist and you have insurance, look on the back of your card and it should give you a number for mental health services. You can call it and they will tell you what services are available to you and what your benefits are (cost, co-pays, number of visits, etc.) Also, as the previous poster stated, most colleges have on-site mental health professionals to assist you.....and usually it is free.

Answer 7

You are not stupid for noticing you have a problem and wanting to do something to control it! Good for you!!!! Second, your school should have a counseling center available at no cost to a full time student. Make an appointment and start talking to someone. Depression and anxiety if untreated can lead to other serious problems, take back your life!!! I know what it's like and if you want to chat, feel free to email me!!

Answer 8

This is a searious problem many americans are having because more people are becoming depressed and have anxiety. Please talk to your doctor because this is a searious problems many of us are facing. If you don't like the doctors oppinion you can always get a second oppinion or what ever it takes to get help. There are many forms of depression that doctors can treat or slow the symptoms down with. Tell the doctor about the emotions you have and how down-sad you have been and how long it's been going on. He will probaly have you see a therapist to help you and perscribe you something for the depression and the anxiety. Best of luck to you.

Answer 9

Hi there,

Your GP will take you seriously, but some are more understanding and have more knowledge than others - I have seen this with some of my clients - but on a personal note, I'm lucky that my GP is very understanding and approachable.

A suggestion to help, would be to take along some notes of how your illness is affecting you and examples of what happens. That way you will not have to worry about remembering everything, and you can leave the notes with your GP if you feel it will help.

Also, if you have someone who you trust and knows you well, take them along with you. Not only will it act as moral support for you, they can also speak up and explain to you GP as well. This doesn't have to be a family member, it could be a friend.

Please make an appointment and go and talk things over, your GP can then assess how best to help you and can refer you on to other services if he feels it is appropriate.

Some surgeries now have counsellors attached to them, so it may be possible to see one there, again, explain to your GP why you think it would help you, and see if he can refer you, or it may be that he thinks talking to a CPN (community psychiatric nurse) may be better, again surgeries in some areas have these as well.

If your surgery doesn't have these attached it doesn't mean that you can't be referred, but please bear in mind that in the UK the waiting lists for such services are very long. Again I know this from supporting some of my clients, and again by being referred myself.

I suggest seeing if there is a local mental health charity in your area:

http://www.mind.org.uk/Mind+in+your+area/

they are easy to access and you can refer yourself. Some associations have there own counsellors.

In most colleges there are student counsellors so it may be possible to see one there, which again would mean not having to wait as long as on the NHS.

Your local Mind can offer you support and information to help you, and the are much less formal than health services, they are used to dealing with people suffering from all kinds of mental distress, and they do it on a daily basis.

I can personally recommend their services.

If you would like more information on depression and anxiety then please use the links below:

Understanding Depression:
http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Booklets/Understanding/Understanding+depression.htm

Understanding Anxiety:
http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Booklets/Understanding/Understanding+anxiety.htm

How to assert yourself:
http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Booklets/How+to/How+to+assert+yourself.htm

Understanding talking treatments:
http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Booklets/Understanding/Understanding+talking+treatments.htm

All the information is easy to read and understand and will help and give you some tips on things to try. Also there will be links to useful organisations that can also help.

Please don't be afraid to seek help, it is out there if you know where to look for it.

If this has been going on for over a year then you need help, support and maybe even medication.

Making sense of anti depressants:
http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Booklets/Making+sense/Making+sense+of+antidepressants.htm

this might be more useful to you once you have seen your GP.

You deserve to get help and treatment and to start living your life again. It is possible.

Hope this helps.

Take care and good luck.

Answer 10

It depends what you mean by "take seriously". You may think you have depression - but you are not a clinician. You may have a lot of stuff in your life that gets you down. You may genuinely feel down, a lot. This is not the same as depression, and requires a different approach to genuine depression (which you may have).

The point i'm making is that if you feel that your doctor isn't taking you seriously then it may be because you are clinically depressed and the doctor is hopeless, or you may not be depressed.

the fact that you have asked the question here makes me believe that you are not clinically depressed, but just "fed up" with your life. In some ways this is worse, because you have to come up with the solution(s).

Whatever the diagnosis, good luck.

Answer 11

Your school should have counseling services on campus for free.

Your health insurance (if you have coverage through your parents or otherwise) may provide some coverage, but you would likely have a co-pay or deductible.

Consult http://www.nami.org/ to help find services in your area... most mental health services are offered on a sliding-scale basis, so they adjust the fees based on your ability to pay.

Your primary physician SHOULD take you seriously, if he doesn't you need to find a new primary Dr.! Most prefer not to get involved with the intricacies of titration of medications and co-ordinating with therapists, so they typically refer to psychiatrists for medical treatment of mental illnesses.

I wish you the best in finding the help you need to effectively get yourself through this difficult time. Never worry about "sounding stupid" by asking for help! It actually shows that you are smart enough to realize that it won't get better on its own and that you are motivated to do what is necessary to get better. Good luck!