New Member(Long Post)

[suewatters1]

Hi everyone I am glad I found this forum. I had mild depression all my life from a child in grade school. I got worst in my teenage years and early 20's because during that time I lost 2 brothers to lung disease.

I found out 4 years ago I had ADHD which I am now taking medication for it. But last year my depression got worse and I found help and got some medication for it but the medication didn't really work. This January I started new medication and had it increase a few months later( I am now on 150mg of generic Wellbutrin SR twice a day).

But lately with problems at work I am finding that my depression has come back with full force. I am getting counseling from a psychoanalyst but that was every 2 weeks changed to every 3 weeks due to his scheduling.

I was getting counseling from the Canadian Mental Health Association about once a week dealing with self esteem. We finished the topic and my counseling left to go back to school. So I closed my file with them about 2 weeks ago because I didn't know what other goals we could work on. But last weekend I had a talk with the crisis team and I have now re registered back with them. I am going though the assessment process on Wednesday to see how they can help. I am also trying to get other counseling where I can just talk about my daily struggles but I am on a waiting list. Also that is only for a short term at $40. a visit.

My main stress is work and the people I work with and the fact I have other medical health issues that make it harder on me because I have pain and weakness everyday. I don't have the energy to do things like I use to so I have to pace myself and take breaks more often. But with my severe ADHD and now my severe depression things are overwhelming.

Thanks for letting me post

Sue

[Mark]

Sue,

Welcome to our community. I hope you find this place to be useful and friendly.

Though you are dealing with a difficult situation, there are some things to feel good about. Like the fact that you are being proactive about your treatment and looking for ways to make that treatment better, by advocating for yourself. That is a wonderful thing and hard to do when you are feeling depressed and scattered.

Regarding your present medication. It seems to me (a psychologist; not a medical doctor and not someone who is licensed to prescribe medications) that if your medication for depression has been on board for some six months (since January) and you are experiencing renewed feelings of depression, that it is not working for you. This is either because the dosing is not correct, or because this particular medication just isn't for you. An antidepressant medication (or combination of medications) should provide symptom relief in part or in full. If things are getting worse while you are on a medical treatment, that treatment is probably not working.

I suggest that you return to your psychiatrist and report that your symptoms are worse, not better, and see if he or she thinks it wise to alter your dose, supplement with some additional medication, or change your prescription entirely. Do not make any adjustments without your doctor's prescription, as you may end up making things worse if you do that.

It is a great thing that you have been pursuing therapy for your depression. I am a little concerned that you might not getting the best sort of therapy for depression, however. You say that you were working with a psychoanalyst, but only once or twice a month; that is just not sufficient in terms of enough time to make an impact. Also, the specific term "psychoanalysis" specifies a particular type of therapy; one that is unfortunately not one of the very best kinds specifically designed for helping people who are depressed to feel better fast. There are two therapies that are designed and well studied for depression; one is cognitive therapy for depression (sometimes called cognitive behavioral therapy), and interpersonal therapy for depression, which is somewhat based on psychoanalytic principles but which is not psychoanalysis by a long shot. These two therapies have been scientifically evaluated and are known to work for depression. Of these two, cognitive therapy for depression is more widely available.

Some therapy is better than no therapy, in most cases, so even if you cannot get access to the forms of therapy described above, it is still useful to go to therapy most of the time. But if you can get yourself into a course of cognitive therapy for depression (which generally lasts about 3-4 months duration, with meetings once a week) that could be a good outcome.

I also think it would be a good idea for you to use support groups and online support groups like this one to talk about some of the situations that are stressing you out. People can help you make sense of them and perhaps help you better understand how to handle them so that they are less stressful.

Mark