Counselling for depression

[jackiefarmer]

[FONT=Times New Roman][sIZE=3]Hi all[/sIZE][/FONT]

[sIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I was looking for like minded people who may have alreadyundertook a home study course in depression such as this one. I want to enrolbut I am just seeing if anyone has done a similar course to this one throughhome study. [/FONT][/sIZE][FONT=Calibri][sIZE=3][COLOR=#0000ff]http://www.opencollege.info/depression.html[/COLOR][/sIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman][sIZE=3][/sIZE][/FONT]My main reason is to learn more about depressionas I suffer this and anxiety. Your thoughts are

Thanks Jackie

Edited April 24, 2013 by jackiefarmer
It looks unreadable with code all over it.

[steveT95]

Would you not be better off just going to counselling?

[justin1988]

Counseling is awesome. I've tried dealing on my own, reading literature, talking with friends/family. I don't know exactly what it is about sitting down with a trained counselor and going over exactly what I've already thought on for hours and discussed with friends but I always leave feeling better than I did walking in. Initially I didn't want to go to counseling because I thought it was for people with "big" problems or people who weren't strong enough to just shake things off but I've been going for over 6 months now and I don't know where I would be without it. There just really is no consolation for going to actual counseling. It's great.

[shiver23]

I've been "forced" to go to consueling before. Once you find someone actually qualified (I had a psychiatrist) it feels like a weight is lifted off your shoulders. I hate the idea of consueling , but I needed the few times I have been to one. I suffer from depression/anxiety as well, and I am a very intellectual person. To have someone validate my feelings and explain WHY I was feeling that way was liberating.

 

Now I've got to the point where I only take supplements and I am working my way towards self-actualization. I do HAVE to take my supplements though, without them I regress majorly. I was suicidal a year and a half ago, made a few bad decisions and withdrew from university. Now I'm going back to university and completing my degree.

 

I'd definitely recommend talking to a professional. We all need help sometimes, even "smart" people.

[Feelin Frisky]

Depression is chemical. It demands a change in chemistry. That comes with help from a psychiatrist. A psychologist is an after-thought. Either one is clinically depressed or they are simply troubled by external circumstances they need help sorting out. If it's the second then some talk therapy is useful. But no talk therapy can change your chemistry to make it right. None. Taking SSRI medications gave me insight into myself that no one else could give me in a million years of talking. I don't think I'm so unusual that the same isn't happening to the millions of others using non-intoxicating and non-addictive medications in the SSRI class.

[shiver23]

Depression is chemical. It demands a change in chemistry. That comes with help from a psychiatrist. A psychologist is an after-thought. Either one is clinically depressed or they are simply troubled by external circumstances they need help sorting out. If it's the second then some talk therapy is useful. But no talk therapy can change your chemistry to make it right. None. Taking SSRI medications gave me insight into myself that no one else could give me in a million years of talking. I don't think I'm so unusual that the same isn't happening to the millions of others using non-intoxicating and non-addictive medications in the SSRI class.

 

I just want to echo this. I definitely support medication, and I've been on anti-depressants. I've just managed to find a combination of supplements that balance my system. It's not something I would ever encourage someone to "self-diagnose". We do need doctors.

[Feelin Frisky]

Oh dear, as the above poster says "we do need doctors" but I beseech everyone not to think that the vitamin shop is the place to turn to. I did terrible harm to my brain using things sold as "nature's natural relaxant"--specifically my use of the supplement known as GABA created an over-abundance in my brain to the point that my brain shut off my natural production of its own GABA. This is a neurotransmitter that is necessary for transmittal of nutrients to and by-products from brain cells. When I stopped taking the over the counter GABA, by-products like chlorine got stuck in my brain cells. This produced sever general anxiety disorder and the release of "fight or flight" adrenaline in my stomach every time I started to fall asleep. I was up for days and days and it would not go away. I was given the usual panic attack medicine and got addicted to it (XANAX) and that was a whole theater of misery. I finally had to take Neurontin for several months--the side effect of which is anorgasmia where you can't cum. I had similar symptoms once when I read that a combination of super alpha-lipoic acid and L-Carnitine is a key to feeling healthy. It put me in the same box of deep releases of fight or flight as if I'd die if I went to sleep.

 

Supplements are un-regulated and most herbals are toxins that have drug-like properties. That means they effect different people differently and for some the toxicity far outweighs the benefits. Please see a psychiatrist--this is a physician who prescribes medicine for the brain. And even at that, work closely and speak up if what you've been given doesn't agree with you. They can't be sure because there's no blood test to check your brain neurotransmitter efficiencies. It's all about best guesses and cooperative experimentation. Taking supplements on the side is rolling dice on your own. And most doctors will advise against bringing such a wild card into the mix.

[shiver23]

I've been in close contact with my psychiatrist though the whole process Frisky. I only take a Vitamin D, evening primrose oil, and a B-50 complex. I definitely advise the OP to go and get doctor's help before doing ANYTHING (whether it's self diagnosis, taking supplements, etc).