depressed and no help

Can you afford private counselling? It is horrible having to wait, and scary to think how things are rationed like this. Good luck.

As topcat suggests, do look into private counselling in your area. There are many organisations which take personal financial circumstances into account and subsidise or give free sessions; it works because of the better off clients who can pay the full whack.

Westminster Pastoral Foundation is one of those, so is Counselling South London.

Most health centers have someone.
I got the most help from private councelling. She really helped me no end. I hate to think on what I spent .
Turn2me used to supply help at a low rate .

This may only help a little, it did wonders for me - start taking vitamin D3 - 3000 IU (D3 75 ug). High doses of vitamin D3 have been clinically shown to make a difference to mental and physical well being. It is a high dose but perfectly safe.

Sending you virtual hugs.

Can you start reading some self help books and watching videos on YouTube that can help you?
Just until you can get some face to face counselling. Pinterest will have lots of good articles which may help you too.

I would suggest looking up about complex ptsd which is having constant trauma throughout childhood and how it affects adult life, living with a schizophrenic father would have been a challenging experience.

Supporting your dad with schizophrenia must be very difficult for you, my nanna had it.


Stay strong.

Have you spoken to your GP at all? As a PP said most will have a counsellor that they will refer you too. They might also know of other places locally that will provide therapy free or at minimal cost.

GPs can put you on the online NHS "beating the blues" course. It is CBT and I found it so helpful and I still use the techniques regularly. You need to go in to it with an open mind and you will only really get out of it properly if you do the homework they give you which is things like noting when certain thoughts/behaviours arise. Counselling is fantastic but this really is a good in between to bridge the gap.

I hope you can get some counselling quickly. Try and buy the book Complex ptsd by Pete Walker. You can get it on EBay quite cheap.

You have had an awful lot of trauma and you need a lot of support.
Do you have friends and family to help you?

Most health centres don't have their own counsellor, it's all been outsourced to IAPT providers like Healthy Minds. They may work from a local centre, but it's the same waiting list.

Sorry OP, this is the state of the NHS now. Remember when you vote next week what the Tories have done to the NHS.

As you're a carer you may be able to get support through a local carers group. Also search for "free counselling" and the name of your area to see what comes up.

I’m sorry OP.

In the meantime my advice is:

Start a course of antidepressants from your GP: give them a month or two to kick in and if they aren’t helping try a different one. Can take time to find one that works for you.

Begin a depression self help course of therapy. This is fantastic

www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/Resources/Looking-After-Yourself/Depression

Download and print the workbook and start going through it, maybe aim for a module per fortnight. It’s hard work to summon up the motivation when you’re depressed of course, but it’s similar to what you’d be doing with your six sessions in eight months anyway, if not a bit more in depth. The therapy you’re waiting for is likely to be guided self help so you may as well crack on now. There’s a lot of evidence behind this material and if you follow it you will likely see results. Better than stagnating helplessly for months.

Ring the Samaritans regularly to let off steam and share what you’re going through and how you’re feeling. You can ring them any time or go visit a branch. They’re there for people in emotional distress and you don’t have to be suicidal. The volunteers do actually care and while they’re not trained counsellors, the act of taking an hour every week or so to focus on yourself and get some support and talk things over could really plug the gap in terms of what you’re not receiving due to the wait for therapy.

Exercise. Nothing major. A twenty minute walk per day with headphones if you can manage it. It’s proven to boost mood and be effective for depression.

There’s help out there, it may not be the exact form of help you expected at this time, but there’s a lot you can do to tackle depression beyond formal therapy and if you’re motivated enough to post here about it I reckon you’re motivated enough to take matters into your own hands and make a start. Therapy isn’t a magic cure anyway, as I’m sure you know, it still requires you to do the work even if someone is cheering you on and guiding you through what to do. Good luck. I’ve been there.

Definitely try 3000 IU of vitamin D3 per day. First thing in morning with breakfast.

Hi OP,
Yes Yes Yes to anti-depressants. Stick with them and keep on them.

When I was supporting someone in a mental health crises I was shocked at the lack of support. If it's not appropriate to section the person then there seemed to be nothing (except waiting months for a few counselling sessions with trainee social workers ?!)

Meds (and time) stabilised the person so that by the time counselling came round the crises part had passed and we were dealing more with the aftermath/prevention.

Taking as good care of yourself as you can is vital too. Do what you can to reduce your stress and get more rest.

@SunniDay all new studies on anti-depressants point to them being pretty bad with horrendous side effects.

I would not go near them with a barge pole and take natural remedies to boost mood instead and change my actual work etc circumstances.

Only people with bipolar have no choice but to go on them.

@BusyBB it's your decision ultimately depending on how poorly you feel.

SSRI antidepressant side effects
Some patients taking SSRIs develop insomnia, skin rashes, headaches, joint and muscle pain, stomach upset, nausea, or diarrhea. These problems are usually temporary or mild or both. A more serious potential problem is reduced blood clotting capacity because of a decreased concentration of the neurotransmitter serotonin in platelets. Patients are at slightly increased risk for internal bleeding, especially if they are also taking aspirin or another NSAID, such as ibuprofen or naproxen..

Sexual effects from SSRIs
For many patients, SSRIs diminish sexual interest, desire, performance, satisfaction, or all four. In men, SSRIs can delay or inhibit ejaculation, and in women, delay or prevent orgasm.
Lowering the dose of the SSRI antidepressant may help, although the patient may lose the drug's benefit. Another solution is adding or substituting bupropion (Wellbutrin), which works by a different mechanism and does not generally cause sexual side effects.

Loss of antidepressant effectiveness
Any antidepressant may lose its effect after months or years, sometimes because the brain has become less responsive to the drug (tolerance). Solutions include increasing the dose and switching to another antidepressant with a different mechanism of action.

SSRI antidepressant discontinuation symptoms
Symptoms that may occur on suddenly stopping an SSRI include dizziness, loss of coordination, fatigue, tingling, burning, blurred vision, insomnia, and vivid dreams. Less often, there may be nausea or diarrhea, flu-like symptoms, irritability, anxiety, and crying spells. "Discontinuation syndrome" is a better description than "withdrawal reaction," a phrase associated with addiction. The syndrome is usually mild, but can be severe.

Although none of these types of antidepressants should be stopped abruptly, paroxetine tends to produce the most intense discontinuation symptoms.


www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/what-are-the-real-risks-of-antidepressants

all new studies on anti-depressants point to them being pretty bad with horrendous side effects.

I would not go near them with a barge pole and take natural remedies to boost mood instead and change my actual work etc circumstances.

Only people with bipolar have no choice but to go on them

Well, that’s a sweeping and inaccurate statement. I have observed the positive effects of a current antidepressant on a close family member, who had been very reluctant to try them until things were really getting low and unmanageable. The only side effect that they have reported is a dry mouth. I don’t think that can be classified as horrendous.

Just wanted to recommend texting 'Shout' - a free text service that's run by trained volunteers, they'll listen and have dozens of resources they can signpost you to. It's like the Samaritans but via text rather than phone. Number to text is 85258.

www.giveusashout.org/

@JellyfishAndShells see extract from Harvard university study, posted below your message with original link.

Further reading - www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-hidden-harm-of-antidepressants/

Bad Medicine: The rise and rise of antidepressants

bjgp.org/content/66/652/573

@JellyfishAndShells and here is a BBC article on the topic too, for good measure. As you can see these are not baseless. These are real concerns - throwing pills at an issue that might be better dealt with through counselling so pharmaceutical companies can turn a quick buck.

Pharmaceutical companies even have deals with the NHS so their drugs get prescribed over others.

Look, all I am saying is I would not go there but that the Op needs to make her own informed decision.

The 'extreme' side-effects of antidepressants:

People who say their lives have been ruined by commonly prescribed antidepressants, known as SSRIs, are taking their case to Parliament on Wednesday. Some users say the tablets have made them suicidal.

"I was getting seizure-like symptoms, where my muscles were jolting around of their own accord," Claire Hanley tells the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme , explaining the effects she says antidepressants had on her body.
She had begun taking them while caring for her seriously ill mother and studying for her final exams at Cambridge University, but suffered severe side-effects after her GP prescribed a stronger dose of tablet.

"Within two weeks I'd tried to take my own life twice," she says.

"I felt disorientated and sick and had digestive problems and infections, it was really extreme. I don't even know how to begin. All I can remember is being on the bedroom floor in a kind of semi-conscious state having seizure after massive seizure."

www.bbc.com/news/health-37682355