Who does DS need to see?

[legolimb]

DS is 20 and living away from home, in his 3rd year at University.

He has been suffering with low mood - don't know if that qualifies as depression - for a few years now. He only told me this last year.

GP at Uni had prescribed Fluoexitine which he says helped. However he ran out of his prescription and was delayed in re-filling it.

GP says to just keep trying the medication and will review again in another 3 months.

DS has contacted the University's counselling service but there is a long waiting list - hence me offering to go private.

It's a tough one as he is quite independent and I don't want to seem like I am railroading him into treatment. He is an adult, but I want to help, and for him to know that i am here for him.

I have been looking online for services near to where he is living. What does he need? Is it a pyscotherapist/counsellor/therapist? psychologist?

Any advice welcome please.

Generally for depression the first port of call on the NHS would be CBT I believe, but I have no idea what the wait time would be.

Universities usually have a counselling service in house - could he try that?

Also, is there a Mind in his local area? They often run groups for people experiencing low level mental health issues that are on a wait list for CBT.

It must be hard being away from him. I hope he finds some support x

Sorry, just read about the counselling service!

Mind, or try some private CBT as a first point of call.

Thanks for the replies.

I am reading MIND's webpage for some tips first.

It's hard to try and not get too involved. No-one wants their mum 'nagging' . I know he will be home for the Christmas break soon too so can at least have a good talk with him then.

And they say babies are the difficult part of parenting!

If it's any consolation, I would love to have felt able to tell my mum when my mental health was suffering at uni. But I knew her views that mental health was nonsense. It's great that he could confide in you x

That’s great of you, don’t look at it as your pushing him into treatment.

First don’t let him ever miss a dose, big mistake. It will give him SE,

Is he open with you? If so that’s a great start as a lot of adults feel ashamed of mh problems and try to hide them or don’t speak about them as a very lot of adults still don’t understand and under estimate mh problems.

I should imagine nhs route will be long waiting list( mine Manchester was 9 mths)
Depending where ds uni is, there’s a website IAPT where you can self refer. Have a look at his area.
Mind do counselling, again may have long waiting list, they do have a payment scheme, which is not a long wait. £35 near me prob 6 week wait.
Also look online at Mind (his area) for group support. Or put mh group in search for uni area and see what comes up?
You don’t need to tell him yet, just make a note of anything you’ve found online. He may may not be up for it. But at least you’ve got the info there.

Is he just saying he feels low, or as he got an anxiety symptoms ?
Ie, palpitations, headache, isolating himself, feeling sickly,unable to what to eat.

Just tell him your Be there for him, ask him to tell you before it gets to much for him to handle or worse.

Thank you both :) I try to be a good mum. It's hard to stay back yet still show support.

MIND don't have a service in his Uni area. Which is a shame.

I did suggest to him that he went back to the GP to ask for a referral to MH services or to find out some names of privately funded therapists. He seems to find it hard to get an appointment at his surgery though - which is why he missed his meds for a couple of weeks, he wouldn't push for an earlier appointment. He's not as forceful as me, clearly.

I think for now I can just keepin regular contact with him and check he's doing okay. I think his medication should start to kick in soon as it's been about two weeks since he re-started it.

What does SE mean?

He'll be home for the Christmas holidays in about 3 weeks so we can have time to talk properly and try and fix something up.

With all antidepressants you get SE
Start up and discontinue
Side effects
Hence why I said please tell him not to just stop them again. He probably hasn’t been told this.
Make sure before he comes home for Xmas to get a repeat prescription put in at surgery.

Can he not book gp appointment online now you have to sign up( mine gp does)

My DS found a referral from the Uni GP to the Uni counselling services accelerated his appointment.