I'm starting to worry that my OH is depressed. He suffers from anxiety and it's only recently that I've started to realise the full scale of the problem. We've been together 3 and a half years, and he hid it from me well in the beginning, but he is severely claustrophobic, so much so that he can't get on trains or planes, so this is where it started to affect me as I love to travel:)
He agreed to do something about it, for himself as well as for me, and in the last couple of years he has seen a hypnotherapist and a CBT therapist. Recently he saw a homeopath, and you know how they say that the remedies will bring out the sypmtoms, and things will get worse before they get better? Well they brought out the worst panic attack that I have seen him suffering, he was all over the place. This has made me realise how bad things are:(
He wants to help himself, but I'm not sure he wants it enough. He has been to his GP a couple of times but they were not much help. They gave him some kind of vallium type drug to help him with the trains and planes but they didn't really help, just made him drowsy which I think made him more anxious. He doesn't drive either and relies on getting lifts to work so that makes things a little difficult when it comes to seeing his GP as it means he has to take time off.
I'm so worried about him, he says that he is constantly anxious, constantly worrying about every little thing. He hides it very well, he is such a funny, happy person that no one would know. When he gets really anxious, he projects an even happier persona!
I just don't know what we should do next, and now that I've realised quite how bad it is, I'm wondering if it's related to depression? My ex was a manic depressive and would do nothing to help himself which I found so hard, I just hope that my OH doesn't go that way. Has anyone been through anything similar and have any suggestions? Are depression/anxiety the same thing, or are they different?
Sorry for the long post:(