PND - What sort of counselling have you tried?

[mumof1]

Hi

I've posted before about having PND but not wanting to take ADs. However, things are not really any better and so I am reluctantly thinking that I need to do something. Several people have suggested counselling but I don't know what sort to go for. There seems to be several types - cognitive, psychodynamic, behaviour therapy etc. I don't just want to pick someone out of yellow pages and find they make me worse, or that I've picked the wrong type. I really don't have a clue how to go about it.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

Hi mumof1 - will do a proper reply to this tomorrow morning - have tried counselling and CBT

hi mumof1, would it be best to ask your gp to refer you to someone? That's what happened to me when I was suffering with PND ... she sent me to see a psychotherapist who specialised in PND and it helped me so much that I only went for one session and that combined with ADs got me through it.
Best wishes CM

Hi mum of 1.

I had Ante-natal depression and OCD whilst pregnant. My GP referred me to the practice counsellor (a few weeks waiting list) who I found worse than useless. He specialised in inner child therapy (which is no use for OCD - you need some form of behavioural therapy). I then found a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist via
The British Association for Behavioural and
Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) www.babcp.com. What happened was I phoned up the first local woman on the list - who was busy doing a PhD thesis, so couldn't see me, but recommended someone else on the list to me, who I was able to see. I had about 10 sessions with him whilst pg, and have started seeing him again afterwards. and have found him very good.

Basically I agree with Cookie Monster that your first port of call should be your GP - she may know someone good who you could be referred to for free on the NHS. For behaviour therapy on the NHS there tends to be a waiting list as long as your arm. You could ask your GP if they know of anyone good you could see privately.

I think that cognitive therapy tends to quite effective for depression. I'm not too sure whether behaviour therapy would be appropriate - I think that is more appropriate for compulsive rituals, such as handwashing, checking etc. I can't really comment on psychodynamic therapy - not quite sure if that is the same as inner child therapy.

If you are looking for somebody to do CBT by yourself, I would suggest that you start off on The British Association for Behavioural and
Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) web site, and for preference go with people who are NHS clinical psychologists (that way you know they are properly qualified). I would also speak to a few different ones, and ask what sort of experience they have in treating people with PND, and go for someone who sounds like they do it pretty regularly. I am not sure how best to advise you on finding a good counsellor other than personal recommendation - and people don't necessarily wish to advertise the fact that they are seeing a counsellor. Cost wise - the GP practice counsellor charged £35/hour for private sessions, and my psychotherapist charged £50/hour for private sessions, which I think is pretty reasonable.

The combination of counselling/therapy and ADs tends to work better than just counselling/therapy. Do you want to talk about why you don't want to take ADs, or is your mind firmly made up?

Hope something in this long rambling rant is of use to you!

Mumof1, I tried an NLP counsellor (Neuro Linguistic Programming) for half-a-dozen sessions. I also had a handful of sessions with a counsellor through my GP, and was refered for psychotherapy by my local Perinatal Outreach clinic. All three 'therapies' were very helpful, in different ways, but I found it very distressing to have to go over things afresh with each new therapist.

Certainly your GP is a good starting place. If you are having any contact with a CPN, he or she would be another good person to talk to.

Personally, as one who went through PND without ADs, my feeling is that the counsellor and psychotherapist helped me work out why things were happening, and the NLP helped me work out what I could do to change things. Unfortunately I did the NLP before getting the psych. I found both psychs extrememly distressing - although ultimately helpful. As a result of my experiences I would be very interested in CBT as it's all very well knowing 'why', but you still need to change your instinctive responses.

BTW, have you tried a low GI diet? It can help a lot, especially if your PND is at all connected with PMS. I don't have any urls, but you could try Googling 'low glycaemic index diet'.

Thanks for all that - hopefully answering all your points below (bit of an epic sorry)
When I went and saw my GP he gave me ADs , which I said I did not want to take due to b/f. My personal choice, but for me I think I would have felt worse taking them, when I found a study which showed that particular one got into breast milk and had affected a (very) few babies. I did not think I was sufficiently bad to need them - but that's just my circumstances.
If I was going to do counselling I wanted to off my own bat, to retain some element of control, and so my GP gave the name of a group he referred patients to but who also did private work.
I had hoped it would all get better, but it hasn't so I am seriously thinking about the counselling. However, I don't want to go in blind and so I found an article on the internet about different sorts of counselling - none of which meant anything really to me.
Hence my next port of call was MN to see whether there was a consensus of opinion as to what sort was typically used for PND.

Having said all that, although I think my PND (if that's what i have) was triggered by a bad birth -baby flat at birth, and 4 days in SCBU, I do think I generally have issues about low self confidence etc.

I think if I am going to bare my soul (and humiliate myself - as that is how it will feel to me) I might as well get my money's worth and sort out 40 years of hang ups in one fell swoop. I am realistic enough to know that's not possible though!

Anyway thanks again for all the advice

I have also had problems with PND. I told my GP that I wanted to continue BF so he put me on Zoloft. It works really well at the moment, although I am going to counseling as well.

I have also had problems with PND. I told my GP that I wanted to continue BF so he put me on Zoloft. It works really well at the moment, although I am going to counseling as well.

I have also had problems with PND. I told my GP that I wanted to continue BF so he put me on Zoloft. It works really well at the moment, although I am going to counseling as well.

Dear mum of 1,
I am a trained psychiatric nurse, and have looked after lots of people suffering with depression. No personal exprerience of PND, but I can explain a bit about the counselling. Personally I think cognitive therapy is the best there is, it focuses on trying to identify the current problem(s)and concerntrates on working out ways to help you review how you think about the problem/yourself, and looks at ways of trying to deal with them in the immediate future. It's more practical, positive and tangible than alot of other approaches. The Psychodynamic approach is quite intense and tends to focus alot on the past/ childhood etc and can take alot of time. All counselling depends on how you get on with the counsellor themselves, it's worth giving everyone a chance but sometimes you'll just clash/ not get on, it doesn't mean that kind of counselling is shit, maybe just the counsellor. It's a bit like GPs, some are worth their weight in gold, others....not so hot.
Hope you find somone that can help. GOOD LUCK