Went to try to get counselling - think GP is trying to fob me off with AD's?!

[bohemianbint]

You may have seen my other threads, have been looking into getting counselling to deal with issure with my parents that go back to when I was a child and are still going on to this day, in other forms.

So I went to see the GP and she said the waiting list for counselling is long but she thinks I do need help (could see I was run ragged with two under 2.5) and wants me to go back and see her next week. I have to take a list of things that are good and bad in my life and she's also checking my bloods to see if am anaemic.

I worry I didn't explain myself very well, and that she thinks I'm just depressed and this business with my parents is a symptom. I will not go onto AD's - I took them 10 years ago and the side effects were awful, adn plus I don't think am depressed - am very stressed and tired, for sure, and fed up with all this crap rumbling on with my parents but I think if we treated the cause there would be no need for ADs?

I really just wanted some counselling and can't afford to pay. Is she trying to fob me off?

I don't think she's trying to fob you off. The waiting list for counselling is long, there often is only one counsellor attached to several GP practices so you might have to wait several weeks until a slot comes free.

If you want to be sure, when you go back to the GP next week with your lists of things, ask your GP directly whether she has referred you.

Thanks LadyBee. She said she wasn't going to refer me, but I'm not sure how to get through all this without talking to someone, and am not sure a 10 minute appointment with a GP will fix it!

We've just had a bit of a financial sort out, and there is no, no way we can afford to pay for counselling sessions, which is a real bugger.

I really hope she doesn't try to prescribe something for it.

Insist on a referral! I spent 3 yrs on ADs for a PND which I realised was actually a combination of Birth Trauma and possibly post-marital depression . Had to go cold-turkey as they'd turned into such a crutch, and it took 5 weeks of dizziness to the point of falling over, weepiness, so much insanity...

Don't be fobbed off. If she writes you a prescription rip it up in front of her and tell her I said so

bohemianbint, I've just started seeing a psychotherapist for similar reasons. I was also put on ADs after seeing my GP (for PND ) which just suppressed everything for a while and then they were hell to come off.

I really don't know about the financial side but it might be worth having a look at the this website The British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy which was how I found my therapist. See also MIND for booklet called getting the best from your counsellor or psychotherapist which may have some advice. I'm very lucky in that I have been able to use the health insurance that is linked to DH's work to pay for mine. Is this an option for you?
Good luck.

Your GP doesn't sound too clued up on this subject. Can you check with the surgery as to which of the GP's have special interests or experience in Psychiatry? It can often help to research and book appointments with the doctor most appropriate if there are more than one at your practice.

It's contradictory that she would offer you AD's if she thinks there's no depression. And family history obviously isn't a symptom, more likely the cause. Plus becoming a mother is known to stir up underlying family problems even if you have managed to get past them before.

Join the waiting list if you can get referred, if your problems are ongoing then they won't go away, especially if the people who triggered them are still in your life. Worth the wait. Shouldn't say this really, but adding next time you go that you are suffering insomnia, lack of appetite, feeling alternately stressed and then very down and numb, can help to persuade a referral. I know because these were the symptoms I had, that led me to be referred. I only suggest that because it does sound like you are in need, but not being seen as such.

If you ever find the money to go private, then I can really recommend Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Really taught me how to approach situations differently and cope better with my family problems. I can also really recommend the Omega-3 high purity fish oil from Higher Nature if you are stressed and down. I took them after refusing AD's too, I really felt they helped me. If you want a link to research of why they work, let me know.

Good luck.

Um. IME CBT helps if the problems you are dealing with are in your mind. I've been on your other threads and the problems are definitely caused by shit parenting. Please make this clear to your GP, because CBT (at my surgery at least) was the cheap, and therefore preferred, option.

I'm sure you don't mean to be offensive there NRCOFT - But I can assure you my problems weren't in my mind. It's hurtful that you say that.

Traditional analytical therapy didn't appeal to me as I felt uncomfortable wollowing in my past for too long. I found the CBT "here and now" approach that takes stock of your problems in the past and helps you to move forward was right for me. Such as recogising how certain family members' behaviour could trigger me feeling a certain way about myself, and getting very upset. And learning how to switch that off and see the problem was in them not in me.
Also when I became a mother I was scared of repeating patterns from which I suffered - and it helped me see I wasn't that person at all.

My therapist actually did a mixture - a good therapist will know what ratio of analytical to CBT therapy to provide. Above all, can help you recognise your pattern of thought process and assumptions triggering behaviours and feelings, in a way that you can continue to use when you leave your therapist. It might be entirely appropriate for this lady.

I'm so sorry - I really didn't mean to give anyone that impression! But IME the point of CBT is to alter your mindset to cope with things, and with things such as Birth Trauma - well, knowing it's shit doesn't actually help?

I've had episodes of depression before, and found that I only actually started to come out of it when I realised what was causing it, and why that (ie feeling shit) was a logical response. Whereas the whole birth trauma flashback thing - I knew it was a shit experience, but knowing it was shit really didn't help IYSWIM.

I'm just thinking that Boho now knows that what she went through was neither her fault, nor normal, and was shit, and therefore that maybe CBT won't be the most useful therapy for her?

Again, I really didn't mean to denigrate anyone else's experiences...

I was referred to a CBT therapist who was doing an 'experimental' residence at the surgery. She was - frankly - young and inexperienced, and didn't offer any new viewpoints on what I was going through. I'll admit this may have prejudiced me

have you heard about improving access to psychological therapy govt pct initiative with selected sites

I'm a bit sensitive at the moment being PG! And yes, birth Tauma is horribly shit.

I do get what you're trying to say though. CBT is really appropriate for example with certain anxiety disorders which as you say are in your own mind, but often they ae triggered by events and people IYSWIM.
I do think that whatever nature of the problem, it is possible to train yourself to think and behave in a different way with CBT. In BB's case to not let certain people get to you in the same way and detach. Their behaviour obviously brings her down.
If people have been treating you for a certain way for a sustained amount of time, it can affect how you feel about yourself and your ability to cope.

On the whole though, it really depends on the person you get. My lady was wonderful, and didn't necessarily just do CBT. I think I was very lucky. But when my family problems start up and threaten to drag me down she is a voice in my head reminding me how to deal with it using the processes she taught me.

Oops, x posted with you there. I too had a crappy CBT guy first time round. (referred twice - 2004 for depression and then in 2006 for PTSD following birth where she sorted it all out at once!) He just fired questions at me and was quite judgey.

Lobster - so glad you got the right support at the right time [mixing genuine happiness at another's fortune with warmed-over self-pity emoticon]

Thank you - it's taken me aaages to get back to this thread, but thank you for all the feedback! No way am I accepting ADs, going to insist on being referred - (assuming I'm right and that's what she's up to!) Will be back tomorrow to tell you how it went...