Depression - What help is available?

[supersonic]

My doctor pointed me in the direction of place called IAPT, in Sheffield:

 

http://www.sheffieldiapt.shsc.nhs.uk/how-do-i-get-help/things-to-help

 

Some of the links may be of use.

[Waldo]

As opposed to what?

 

Maybe you are negative! I won't say anymore re: how you come across, I don't want a ban! LOL

 

I also note you have not responded to my suggestion that you make a positive contribution to the thread...

Edited July 27, 2015 by Waldo

[Mister M]

Yes, I know medical help is the answer, but when it isn't forthcoming or there is a waiting list of 6 months+, what can people do?

This is the situation a friend of mine is in with her daughter. She won't take pills, but is sinking into a worse and worse state.

 

Hi Anna

 

In Sheffield there is a support group for teenagers with mental health issues in Sheffield that might be of use to your friend's daughter. Here is there website: http://mt4teen.wix.com/mentalteam4teen

 

They advertised on SF a while ago:

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1238947&highlight=mentalhealthteen

 

Hope she finds them of use.

[Anna B]

Thank you all for your contributions. Very helpful. Please keep them coming. I'll pass them on. I do think we need to talk about illnesses such as these as they can be very isolating.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Anna B

[Chazndave]

Some of the replies on here are infuriating to say the least. I thought about replying to those individuals but I found myself getting worked up so I wont bother, I will just put their responses down to lack of knowledge and lack of experience of severe depression and never crying out for help and getting nowhere! Either that or just sheer ignorance.

 

As for the original post/question. Some people will be lucky and will receive help, some wont. That help may come in the form of medication or counselling as examples.

However before that, they have to be strong enough to ask for it, that in itself is a huge step for someone with depression. The fact that someone is suffering so much but yet can summon enough emotional strength to smash through the emotional brick wall to contact someone for help is extraordinary.

At THAT point, after the first call for help, the person is emotionally and physically drained, full of apprehension, scared and vunerable. No longer are they hidden away in their own cocoon which they have built, which isnt always to protect their emotions but it feels more to protect others from them. Which isolates them further, however not intentionally. They hope upon hope what they have just done will help them, in what way they dont know......to feel... NORMAL?

 

At this point I refer back to my original point, some are lucky and some aren't. Imagine going through all of that only for the Health Care System to let you down? For the first person you speak to (nurse, doctor, mental health assessor etc) to not be supportive... Or to be given medication but you as a person need counselling and to be sent away with a perscription and nothing else, to feel worse than when you went in? To feel like you have wasted someones time, to feel like you should be able to just walk the feeling off, or go and run your troubles away. If you could, you would have done it ages ago!

 

Some are lucky, a competent professional gives advice, is supportive but not patronising. Promises to follow up and does so. Builds a bond. Gains the trust. Medication, counselling whatever is needed... LUCKY.

 

It SHOULD NOT be down to luck! Mental health should be treated just as a physical condition, with set protocols, where everyone gets treated equally, given the same options, the same time, treated like a human.

 

The only way I can describe my own depression many years ago was like an anchor at the bottom of the sea, i couldn't get up from the bottom of the sea floor, in a cold dark place, a constant heavy feeling.

 

I like many knew a walk in the fresh might 'perk me up a bit' or doing some exercise might 'make me feel better'. After all, enough people told me to do it, so it must be true, right? But why didn't people understand that i felt like inside my head was weighed down to the bottom of the ocean? If I had my legs in plaster people wouldn't be telling me to go for a run would they? I felt weighed down in darkness at the bottom of sea by a huge anchor and until I made that move to go for help all I wanted was occasionally someone to drop anchor and come and sit beside me at the bottom of the ocean and hold me for a minutes. No words. Just to Know I wasn't alone.

 

One day, I asked for help. I got medication, it worked but Im still on it. I was never offered counselling, I wish I had been. Perhaps you can call that HALF LUCKY....

[sh3rb3t]

Thankyou. I don't think she has been able to see anyone yet, and mother is getting desperate for help. With reference to the sentence in bold, are such sites available, and could anybody suggest any good ones that might help people? Also any mindfulness groups?

I think the situation in general is so bad, waiting lists so long, that we have to help each other to help ourselves, with sites such as this.

I heard a doctor mention '****ty life syndrome' (half joking) and believe that is a factor at the moment affecting an awful lot of people, and one of the reasons the medical services are overwhelmed.

 

The website the GP recommended is an Australian site: https://moodgym.anu.edu.au/welcome

 

I decided after a quick look to get some good books (or rather, hubby bought them for me in an attempt to motivate me) and the best ones were:

Depression, the way out of your prison

and

Mind over Mood

 

Both are based on CBT style help, and the second one does tend a lot more towards sheets, journal stuff and ‘homework’, which can be really helpful.

 

I know, believe me, that telling someone to exercise because they will feel better does not work with depression. It isn’t as easy as just going for a walk! But if someone takes you for walks, i.e. keeps getting you out of the house for 5-10 minutes at a time under whatever guise they can make believable (in hubbys case it was pushing me out to walk the dog), it becomes a lot easier. These aren’t quick fix ideas, and I don’t expect your friend to buy some books, and drag her daughter outside for ten minutes and all of a sudden she feels good again… But little things, done frequently, over a decent period of time, can make a difference.

 

I’m sorry if my post was one that infuriated you chazndave - I didn’t mean to indicate that treatments are only available if one is lucky, nor do I think that exercise cures depression! But I do agree it helps, and when I was so down I didn’t leave the house for a year, I did want help - I wanted someone to give me my life back - and that was my motivation I guess. I knew I wasn’t right, and I needed to fix it, I just didn’t know how. The hardest part is keeping at doing things for long enough so they make a real difference - because when you feel depressed, long term (delayed) rewards can seem meaningless.

[SnailyBoy]

Maybe you are negative! I won't say anymore re: how you come across, I don't want a ban! LOL

 

I also note you have not responded to my suggestion that you make a positive contribution to the thread...

 

Come on, don't cut my quotes.

 

My contribution is to seek the appropriate medical help, which I have said more than once. Also giving an opposing position that depression can be 'cured' by self help.

 

On the subject of not responding, what qualifications have you got?

Edited July 28, 2015 by SnailyBoy

[crookedspire]

For treatment of any illnesses we need to look at the cause, we seem to live in a society that places a lot of pressure on the individual. Today we have all this technology so many ways to talk to each other but yet most don't know who their neighbour is . I sit any pub and have noticed that people don't talk to each like before but instead I see them texting away on their phones from entering to leaving the pub , face to face contact for some seems to be too hard. All these thing effect mental well been and people live their lives in isolation. Perhaps its time to rethink things do we really want to live our like this perhaps depression is a reflection on our society?

[TJC1]

For treatment of any illnesses we need to look at the cause, we seem to live in a society that places a lot of pressure on the individual. Today we have all this technology so many ways to talk to each other but yet most don't know who their neighbour is . I sit any pub and have noticed that people don't talk to each like before but instead I see them texting away on their phones from entering to leaving the pub , face to face contact for some seems to be too hard. All these thing effect mental well been and people live their lives in isolation. Perhaps its time to rethink things do we really want to live our like this perhaps depression is a reflection on our society?

 

I agree, lots of people feel isolated.

and every little positive step to connect with community builds up to something good in the future.

 

Tbh some good suggestions been mentioned here but some people seem to take their own situation so personal aswell as judging other people its impossible to advise.

 

I will just say you have to find a way to manage it for yourself that works for you. I never said it was easy. Theres numbers on the internet freely available to help.

 

---------- Post added 28-07-2015 at 09:24 ----------

 

Come on, don't cut my quotes.

 

My contribution is to seek the appropriate medical help, which I have said more than once. Also giving an opposing position that depression can be 'cured' by self help.

 

On the subject of not responding, what qualifications have you got?

 

Nobody said 'cured'. I think youve got the wrong end of the stick.

 

---------- Post added 28-07-2015 at 09:29 ----------

 

Some of the replies on here are infuriating to say the least. I thought about replying to those individuals but I found myself getting worked up so I wont bother, I will just put their responses down to lack of knowledge and lack of experience of severe depression and never crying out for help and getting nowhere! Either that or just sheer ignorance.

 

As for the original post/question. Some people will be lucky and will receive help, some wont. That help may come in the form of medication or counselling as examples.

However before that, they have to be strong enough to ask for it, that in itself is a huge step for someone with depression. The fact that someone is suffering so much but yet can summon enough emotional strength to smash through the emotional brick wall to contact someone for help is extraordinary.

At THAT point, after the first call for help, the person is emotionally and physically drained, full of apprehension, scared and vunerable. No longer are they hidden away in their own cocoon which they have built, which isnt always to protect their emotions but it feels more to protect others from them. Which isolates them further, however not intentionally. They hope upon hope what they have just done will help them, in what way they dont know......to feel... NORMAL?

 

At this point I refer back to my original point, some are lucky and some aren't. Imagine going through all of that only for the Health Care System to let you down? For the first person you speak to (nurse, doctor, mental health assessor etc) to not be supportive... Or to be given medication but you as a person need counselling and to be sent away with a perscription and nothing else, to feel worse than when you went in? To feel like you have wasted someones time, to feel like you should be able to just walk the feeling off, or go and run your troubles away. If you could, you would have done it ages ago!

 

Some are lucky, a competent professional gives advice, is supportive but not patronising. Promises to follow up and does so. Builds a bond. Gains the trust. Medication, counselling whatever is needed... LUCKY.

 

It SHOULD NOT be down to luck! Mental health should be treated just as a physical condition, with set protocols, where everyone gets treated equally, given the same options, the same time, treated like a human.

 

The only way I can describe my own depression many years ago was like an anchor at the bottom of the sea, i couldn't get up from the bottom of the sea floor, in a cold dark place, a constant heavy feeling.

 

I like many knew a walk in the fresh might 'perk me up a bit' or doing some exercise might 'make me feel better'. After all, enough people told me to do it, so it must be true, right? But why didn't people understand that i felt like inside my head was weighed down to the bottom of the ocean? If I had my legs in plaster people wouldn't be telling me to go for a run would they? I felt weighed down in darkness at the bottom of sea by a huge anchor and until I made that move to go for help all I wanted was occasionally someone to drop anchor and come and sit beside me at the bottom of the ocean and hold me for a minutes. No words. Just to Know I wasn't alone.

 

One day, I asked for help. I got medication, it worked but Im still on it. I was never offered counselling, I wish I had been. Perhaps you can call that HALF LUCKY....

 

I feel sorry for you, really, you are lucky to have a husband or somebody that close to you who can push you as many people dont have that support.

[SnailyBoy]

I agree, lots of people feel isolated.

and every little positive step to connect with community builds up to something good in the future.

 

Tbh some good suggestions been mentioned here but some people seem to take their own situation so personal aswell as judging other people its impossible to advise.

 

I will just say you have to find a way to manage it for yourself that works for you. I never said it was easy. Theres numbers on the internet freely available to help.

 

---------- Post added 28-07-2015 at 09:24 ----------

 

 

Nobody said 'cured'. I think youve got the wrong end of the stick.

 

Paraphrasing again.

 

What qualifications have you got?