What can I do, if anything, for my adult child with depression?

[Dipsomaniax]

DD21 has depression for 5 years.

She's on Sertraline and has regular cbt but nothing is working. If anything, she is worse now than she was 3 or 5 years ago.

She has been to the gp a few years for blood tests but I don't feel they are proactive at all. Her last appointment lasted less than 5 minutes (by phone) and cost €60 - he renewed her prescription!!!

I don't mind paying when I see results but this is ridiculous. We have health insurance (ireland) but afaics there's nowhere else to go apart from the GP and separate CBT sessions.

As the parent of an adult child who is usually too despondent to speak up for or seek better results for herself, what could I or should I be doing?

I feel like I must be missing some path to care for her. I mean, she can't be the only one suffering like this with a seemingly disinterested hcp , right??? It does feel like we are the only ones.

I do have another post up asking for alternative therapies so I will be grateful for any suggestions at all for what I can do to help.

it may be worth switching to counselling from cbt and giving that a go if available. Depression in my experience can occur due to loss (not necessarily physical) or squashing down (hence the word depress) of feelings or worries over a long period of time. More free flow counselling may provide the space to explore those.

In terms of what you can do at home, “behavioural activation” ie doing stuff that fits with your values… also can have benefits. Doesn’t matter what it is… walking, watching fave programmes, talking to people, making stuff, playing with a pet, learning stuff etc. the trick is to understand first that you’re not gonna FEEL like doing anything at all. But it’s the doing that can help. So you’re gonna need some strength or strong family friends to help you do the stuff. Hope that makes sense.

climbing out of depression book by Sue Atkinson is a fab book written by someone experiencing depression. East to read. Small chunks. Kind

Not sure how it works in Ireland but I would have thought she could ask the GP for a different antidepressant or for a referral to a psychiatrist

My eldest DD is also diagnosed with depression, although not on antidepressants as of yet. However, she had CBT therapy for around 8 months, and it just was not helping. We ended up speaking to a local counselling/therapy service and they said that CBT tends to be a shorter term solution, rather than a longer term one, and DD now does counselling/talking therapy sessions as opposed to CBT and they do seem to be helping. Obviously, what works for one person may not work for another but we really have seen an improvement.

The other thing that seems to help is having clear structure in the week, as she feels it gives the week purpose. I'm not in Ireland, but Aware seems to be the Irish Equivalent (as far as I can see) of the charity Mind that is in England. They offer support groups, and whilst they do offer online ones, if you can get her to go along to an in person one, my DD found that more beneficial. Mind did run more structured events such as walks etc, I don't know if there's perhaps another charity local to you that does that, but she found it helpful to be with people who understood what she was going through. Aware also say that they run courses for relatives which might be helpful for you in terms of looking after yourself also. Does your dd work at all?
Shine also seems to offer similar groups as Aware does x

I honestly think CBT is useless for depression. It's far more useful for anxiety or PTSD.

Unfortunately there isn't a solid cure for depression. It's worth asking to switch to a different medication though.

Worth trying different meds (it's a bit of bingo finding the right one)
Worth trying a different therapy and therapist
can you exercise with her? This won't fix moderate- severe depression but can help make it more manageable to live with if she is able to get out with you for a walk?

the best thing you can do is be there for her, friends can drift away from someone with depression and it can be a lonely place

As it’s private, you should not need a referral to a psychiatrist and psychologist. Those are the specialists you need. I’d book in with a psychiatrist and they will then do a an assessment, diagnose her, do a medication review, and recommend a psychologist for talking therapy.