What to expect at GP appointment for depression/anxiety

[actino]

Hi. I have dealt with depression and anxiety off and on since puberty. I have not had any professional help (hid it from parents then was in denial for about a decade), but am at a point where I need to get help so that I can move forward with my life. DH is supportive, but is understandably frustrated with me not doing anything to get better. Plus, we want children soon [ideally TTC this autumn] but I can't fathom the idea of taking care of a child without addressing my mental health first.

I have an appointment set up with my GP next week but I don't even know what to say, or what to expect to happen next. Will she offer counseling/therapy? Medication? Will there be more appointments to determine the best course of action?

Any advice about what to expect would be helpful, I am a classic over-thinker, especially about unknown situations.

Thanks for reading and for your advice.

The GP will have dealt with this before, so don't worry too much. Before you go, write down a little bit of your history to get it into your head in the right words. You can even take this to the GP and let them read it if you prefer.

They'll probably ask how you've been feeling, how long for, and how it has changed over time. They may ask why you specifically want help now (is has something happened to suddenly make it worse). And they may ask what kind of help you want - medication, counseling etc. Feel free to say you don't really know - but have a think beforehand about whether there's anything you wouldn't want (eg some people feel that they're not ready for therapy).

I felt so relieved the first time I went to the GP and told them how bad I'd been feeling. It'll be much better than you think!

The approach will vary from GP to GP. My experience was that I was referred for CBT first, which really helped. My anxiety did come back after a year at which point the GP recommended medication (they'd talked about it first time round but I wanted to try through cbt first). I'm now coming off the meds ahead of ttc. Generally they prefer you to be off meds when ttc but there are meds that you can be on. Overall I feel a lot better now