Have you been diagnosed with mental illness

[sophiec1979 10]

But I feel as though the things that get me down wouldn't be anything major to someone else...I worry that they will think that they are just small things and not understand why I get so down about them.

 

Then I worry that there is someone else that would need the place more than me.

 

redstripe is spot on....sometimes you dont realise how much you block things or how much they affect you without you realising it the trigger.

 

i totally understand what you mean in your last post too- i felt like that. but then i realised, if the psychologist didnt think i needed her help, and i wasnt paying her, then perhaps i really did need her help and had as much right as anybody else to be there.

 

be selfish, think about you first, and fight like hell to get what you need....nobody else can do this for you and unless you push to get others to act for you, it wont.

 

i know that feels like a really tall order, but its a massive step that is the most rewarding when youre ready to make it.

 

 

x

[Jessica23 10]

But I feel as though the things that get me down wouldn't be anything major to someone else...I worry that they will think that they are just small things and not understand why I get so down about them.

 

Then I worry that there is someone else that would need the place more than me.

 

natalie - I class myself as 'depressive' rather than suffering from depression.

 

As fas as I'm concerned, if there is a concrete cause for my bad mood (even if it's something as trivial as the weather) then that's a step up from feeling miserable FOR NO REASON AT ALL.

 

Do not, whatever you do, trivialise or undermine your own feelings...

[natalie H 10]

Thank you everyone.

 

I will speak to my Doctor about it and see what happens. I can't feel like this forever can I.

 

Your advice has made me feel a bit better

 

xx

[Redstripe 10]

But I feel as though the things that get me down wouldn't be anything major to someone else...I worry that they will think that they are just small things and not understand why I get so down about them.

 

Then I worry that there is someone else that would need the place more than me.

 

But whatever it is that's your problem its very distressing for you so it needs to be addressed.

 

Can you really spend the next however many years as you are? if you feel ok about that idea then maybe you don't need to see someone but if not the sooner you start trying to deal with the cause of your depression the sooner you can get on with the rest of your life.

 

Mind you after all this the therapist i saw was rubbish and i actually got rid of him in the end so i can't promise if you do take the step of seeing someone it will fix everything unfortunately:(.

[sophiec1979 10]

Can you really spend the next however many years as you are? if you feel ok about that idea then maybe you don't need to see someone but if not the sooner you start trying to deal with the cause of your depression the sooner you can get on with the rest of your life.

 

this is going to be my last post for the mo on this topic becuase im starting to feel a bit lecturey and bashy, but again i totally agree with the above post. i think the scariest thing i was told was when my psychologist said she wanted me to try anti-depressants and that she thought from my description of myself at 18 that i had been clinically depressed. that was a real shock to me and left me thinking "have i ever been truly happy? or have i just had dampened happiness because ive never dealt with any of my issues?" it scared the life out of me and realyl set me back. but it was the incentive to say i was to experience true happiness and not constantly wonder about what i might have missed.

 

Mind you after all this the therapist i saw was rubbish and i actually got rid of him in the end so i can't promise if you do take the step of seeing someone it will fix everything unfortunately:(.

 

....but if you dont give it a whirl, you'll never know.

 

best of luck, i really hope you have the strength to fight and win this battle.

 

x

[boo21 10]

I know and I have spoken to older people. The reason I did this project is that some who I knew only aged 22 decided to kill themselves over easter after suffering clinical depression and felt there was no other way out. I want to know how younger people feel and why they feel so lost, lost enough to take their own lives. Like I have said I have lived with someone with clinical depression of an older age so I really feel I have all the info i need on that. Im sorry if people think I am leaving them out.

[medusa 16]

Thank you everyone.

 

I will speak to my Doctor about it and see what happens. I can't feel like this forever can I.

 

Your advice has made me feel a bit better

 

xx

 

Has it occurred to you that the depression may be a symptom of the PCOD and that when you have dealt with the issues of the PCOD your depression may not be anything like as bad?

 

PCOD makes your hormones go very strange and can give symptoms which mimic thyroid issues (which include moodiness and depression on occasion).

 

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the two conditions are linked so that rather than finding out that you have 2 hurdles to deal with you have actually been given a hand up in sorting out one by being diagnosed with the other.

[daftlad 11]

I have been daft as long as I can remember

[jonsastar 11]

There's a thread about this sort of thing elsewhere. Whilst Seroxat does have a short half life in the body, and you do have come off it carefully, the majority of people who take it have none of the major problems you mention and benefit from it if it's appropriately prescribed. Seroxat / Paroxetine shouldn't be rpescribed to children or adolescents, for example; that is one group of patients who DO suffer unduly from side effects.

 

Not everyone who comes off it suffers from psychosis or depression.

 

Not everyone considers or tries suicide.

 

These problems are experienced by a small minority of people who take the drug. In the most commonly quoted reports it was 7 people out of 1500.

 

Ive seen the thread, i thought that the information I gave was apprpriate to this thread as its a thread on mental illness, and paroxetine can cause mental problems. The statistics you mention may be true but as some one that used paroxetine/saraxat for about 2 years and unknowingly just stopped taking the tablets with out information or help from my doctor I know the effects the drug had on me personnally. I also have five friends that have been on and off the drug for many years, that cant seem to face life with or with out saraxat. The have all had mental problems they have all had suicidal thoughts and they have overcome and are overcoming the urge to kill themselves.. I was talking to a close friend yesterday who has been on saraxat for a long long time, he started just before me and I have not touched an antidepressant/antiphsycotic since I got off saraxat, (which took over a year to clear out completly) and that was about four years ago.

 

I would say to you dont believe the statistics because the people suffering most from the effects of saraxat will probably be to scared to tell about the feelings and thoughts they are going through. And when and if they do share it they will only share the information long after they have stopped taking the drug and with close and trusted friends. You should look for a few of the horror stories read them and then ask yourself would I take saraxat knowing what I now know.

 

I think doctors are too eager to prescribe antidepressants, my mothers doctor prescribed her amitryptilene (sp?) after she went to him/her about feeling sad about her mother dieing. He also prescribed diazipam (addictive) to help her sleep. A year later her father died and then a year later one of her sons died.. so god knows what she is on now... I dare say she has been acting very childish a schittish on occasions so I have a feeling she ignored my advice and went with the doctor... I just hope she didnt take saraxat because if she did her life will be messed up for as long as she is on it...

[Scruff 10]

I have been managing mental health issues for years and also work in mental health.

Mental health is a tricky one. Theres no exact science to it. Everyone reacts differently and experiences symptoms differently. Just the same as everyone responds to medications differently. We are all different people with different experiences growing up and different life experience. Mental health doesnt discriminate either- it can effect people from all different walks of life and backgrounds. Its also a broad spectrum ranging from bereavement to depression and anxiety, through to psychosis.

The best thing to do is address the symptoms that are present at the time

[Moonbird 11]

I know that for some people anti depressants are a life saver...but for me Prozac was almost a life ender.

I took Prozac for around 8 months a few years ago after a terrible, unbearably distressing thing happened in my life, for most of that time all that I thought of was being dead, I lay awake at nights with fantasies of my funeral and being in a coffin or just in the earth and it felt lovely I longed for it...I won't even tell anyone about the other things I thought, I planned what I thought would be a good method to die, but thankfully I was not motivated enough to try it.

Before anyone says it, yes I was very depressed and distressed, and had really bad anxiety, but all things considered I had no feelings of self harm, or morbid fantasies until I took the Prozac, after stopping it the thoughts also stopped...it was a truly terrible chapter in my life and I was left with post traumatic stress syndrome for around 2 years...untreated, I am scared of anti depressants now.

Things do get better and life moves on, but I never forget those times, and I get depressive cycles for which all I will take is St Johns wort, it does work well but only on quite mild depression, for anything worse it doesn't touch it... so when I'm worse I just suffer.

The thing that I find with depression (for me at least) is that it comes and goes in cycles and no matter how bad it gets, it will get better... it just takes time.

I don't want to put a single person off trying anti depressants because for many they do wonderful things, but just be aware that they sometimes don't... I was unlucky you probably won't be!

[espadrille 10]

I took them in the past.If i am not well now, I take a prescribed herbal medication.I have a friend who has her own private practice and she mixes me a potion!