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Patches63 First psychologist appointment
  • replies: 2

Couple weeks ago I had initial appointment with psychiatrist which at the time, and at times now, leaves me feeling confused. Don’t know if flow of appointment was general or not. Hoping some one can share knowledge and shed some light. Have first re... View more

Couple weeks ago I had initial appointment with psychiatrist which at the time, and at times now, leaves me feeling confused. Don’t know if flow of appointment was general or not. Hoping some one can share knowledge and shed some light. Have first review in few days time. at start of appointment he asked what I hoped to get out of seeing him. I mentioned number of psychologist appointments I had attended, was still dealing with mood swings, trouble sleeping, regular SI thoughts and flashbacks, flashbacks that when triggered happen day and night. he asked questions about my past but not in a methodical time line. This started to give me headache and feeling unsettled. I offered to explain events from my child hood to current but he said he would ask the questions about what he wanted to know. This saw the questions relating to when I was in my 20’s followed by one event when I was 12yo followed by events in my 40’s and then back to when I was teenager. I felt so confused and my headache was getting worse. at one stage he asked how old was I when my husband died, how long had we been together. I felt uncomfortable when he asked why I don’t have kids and why my first de facto relationship wasn’t until I was in my 40’s. He kept asking questions about things that happened, my memories and feelings from when I was mid primary school to early 20’s. As I told him the first time he has I have some memories but lot of those years I don’t remember. After him asking same question 2 (maybe 3) times I told him I only have vague memories of majority of traumatic events with my last 40+ years, felt like he didn’t believe me. outcome of 90min appointment with him was he increased my antidepressants and said at review appointment if I’m still struggling he has option to increase the dosage again. The meds are helping as am feeling happier within myself, have interest in things, being socially engaged. When triggered it’s like a light switch has been flicked the other way …. Want to isolate by staying at home, preferable in bed, don’t want to communicate with anyone, go from tears to anger and have no interest in anything, scared to sleep due to flashback nightmares.

Gj-1974 Looking for support services
  • replies: 2

Hi l have had long term depression, anxiety and social anxiety disorder and have recently been through a nasty marriage breakdown and loss of contact with family. I am not coping living independently and can't find , work, have limited money and mobi... View more

Hi l have had long term depression, anxiety and social anxiety disorder and have recently been through a nasty marriage breakdown and loss of contact with family. I am not coping living independently and can't find , work, have limited money and mobility and financial issues. Iam not coping and am wondering if anyone knows of any support services or workers who could help me sort out my life.

purplepuffin Problem with therapeutic relationship
  • replies: 4

This is my first time seeing someone, it has been a few months. We have just been discussing current issues with her giving me advice. Once or twice I heard her sigh in presumed impatience as I was explaining something. She has also been late to seve... View more

This is my first time seeing someone, it has been a few months. We have just been discussing current issues with her giving me advice. Once or twice I heard her sigh in presumed impatience as I was explaining something. She has also been late to several sessions. In a later session I asked what she was planning to do. She mentioned a therapy which sounded good to me. She also said she would do a few things between sessions. However, all sources say this therapy requires weekly sessions, but she booked me fortnightly. I don't know what to think about that. She also didn't do the things she said she would. I am feeling downhearted about working with her. What should I do? I am not sure if I should send her an email asking to be referred to someone else, or bring it up with her at our first session next year, or just do nothing and hope it gets better by itself. I don't want to start from the beginning again with a new person.

Maxiebon Free neurodivergent therapy
  • replies: 3

Hi! I'm an autistic ADHD-haver who is struggling a lot with life at the moment. I also have anxiety and possibly depression, I'm unsure (I was diagnosed with 'reactive depression' in 2015). I have a psychiatrist who I see for mostly managing my ADHD ... View more

Hi! I'm an autistic ADHD-haver who is struggling a lot with life at the moment. I also have anxiety and possibly depression, I'm unsure (I was diagnosed with 'reactive depression' in 2015). I have a psychiatrist who I see for mostly managing my ADHD symptoms and we talk about relationship and family stuff sometimes. But I don't find much support from it, somehow. I'm struggling a lot with general life stuff. I've given up on doing TAFE, because I can't complete a course due to stress. My family is a very chaotic and unsupportive environment for my neurodivergency (I mask the most around them). I'm constantly having meltdowns due to stress, partially caused by them and partially by social struggles and relationships. I can't leave home because I don't have enough money, and I'm struggling with working. I don't believe I'm eligible for NDIS, and my psych won't put me on the DSP because he believes I'm capable of doing better and don't need the help. I'm currently on JobSeeker and in order to keep my payment from them, I need to work 15 hours or more. I did my very first job trial at a retail store a few weeks ago, and it was only 3 hours long and I left it feeling completely spaced out. I barely made it through, because I was spaced out for at least the last half hour, and I'm pretty sure I turned customers away because I wasn't aware of what I was doing or saying. I was like a zombie. If it weren't for my girlfriend who waited for me, I would have been unsafe on the way home. If I work more, I will be going home alone. I also needed a few days' recovery afterwards, I was too exhausted to do anything after it. And that was just 3 hours, let alone the 15 I need! So... This begs my reason for coming here: I'm not sure what to do. I need a therapist who will help support me through all of my stress and actually listen to me when I say I need help. I feel so alone, because everyone is telling me that I'm capable, but when I'm trying my hardest to be, I'm falling apart at the seams. I can't do what people, including my psych, think I can. But I also can't afford to pay for a therapist. So I'm not sure what I can do.

Trae neurodivergent? Yelling, noisy in my head
  • replies: 4

Hi, I'm a single Dad from Sydney and estranged from my kidsI'm trying to find out where I get a diagnosis as I can't think straight through the noise in my head. I've had treatment for depression but I feel it's something else and my GP isn't very kn... View more

Hi, I'm a single Dad from Sydney and estranged from my kidsI'm trying to find out where I get a diagnosis as I can't think straight through the noise in my head. I've had treatment for depression but I feel it's something else and my GP isn't very knowledgeable although he means well.My symptoms are: lack of ability to concentrate due too much noise in my head despite being on anti-depressants. Noise Cancelling headphones "help" so I can relax enough to sleep 4-5 hours.I require text to be HUGE to read it. This is not because I can't see smaller fonts but because I get lost reading the same line over and over again. (I can use text to speech to get past this but it's not always possible and forms are everywhere)Difficulty remembering. When I'm reminded of a memory, it's as clear as day but without reminding everything is a jumble of images. I forget my kids, my name. How long I've been here.disconnected from my body. I feel like I'm inside m head separate from my body.Paranoia. every sound outside my house or creak inside my house triggers me to crawl into bed and if I don't remember to put on my headphones, images of violence against me and being a failure are in my head.Agoraphobia. I used to love crowds, parties and being social but now just going to my front door causes panic. Where do I turn for treatment please?p.s. I'm applying for Centrelink help with assistance

BeBenotes Nothing works
  • replies: 2

I’ve tried about 3 different standard antidepressants, another one I can’t remember and one for quitting smoking and have felt too strange on them to continue. One kind of worked, which was prescribed to stop smoking, but when the dose was increased ... View more

I’ve tried about 3 different standard antidepressants, another one I can’t remember and one for quitting smoking and have felt too strange on them to continue. One kind of worked, which was prescribed to stop smoking, but when the dose was increased from the minimum starter dose ( because it started to not work) I had a terrible mental reaction to it. I have an appointment with my Dr next week but I really don’t hold much hope and am scared of going through the process of trying meds and making things worse and having to pull myself through it again. Not sure why I am writing this I guess I just wanted to say it out loud. Have done years of CBT and it helped a bit but yup still dealing with depression and anxiety all these years later.

Unsure of my life My partner is gaslighting me
  • replies: 1

My partner and I arrived in Bali for a holiday about a week ago. We have had a few fights recently and this just tipped us over the edge. He had a great time in the ferry over, had quite a few drinks then when we arrived at the hotel he passed out on... View more

My partner and I arrived in Bali for a holiday about a week ago. We have had a few fights recently and this just tipped us over the edge. He had a great time in the ferry over, had quite a few drinks then when we arrived at the hotel he passed out on the bathroom floor. I went out and had fun with my friends but kept checking on him. I encouraged him to move onto the bed. He did eventually and started snooping through my phone. The next time I came in I got told to get out and that I’m a liar and a hoar. He then came out to the pool and told me to take off my engagement ring and stormed out. I continued to try and have fun as I had no idea what was up with him. I went into my room later and he had trashed it. The contents of my bag were all over the room, books torn up, horrible comments left as a screensaver on my iPad. My friends tried to talk to him and he said I had been deleting messages on my phone.So I have a very very good friend of that I’ve know for around 15 years(we dated around 15years ago also and stayed friends). He has been there for me though some dark times in my life. I love him to pieces as a friend. Well anyway for some reason there is a message at the top of my phone from his old work phone which comes with a timestamp of today( the day it is opened) and he thinks I have been deleting messages. There are another 2 messages from other people that also does it for some reason. I tried to explain this to him and he didn’t want a bar of it. He said it’s obvious anyway. My friend lives in another state and if I wanted to be with him I would. I wouldn’t have spent all my savings on a house deposit and accepted his marriage proposal if I didn’t want to be with him. He has kicked me out of home and thrown out relationship away over something that never happened. I’m heartbroken