Immediate support
Immediate support

Treatments, health professionals and therapies

Information on a range of different areas, including managing relationships with GPs and psychologists, and finding the right services for you.

Start a discussion

FAQ

Find answers to some of the more frequently asked questions on the Forums.

View the FAQ

Forums guidelines

Our guidelines keep the Forums a safe place for people to share and learn information.

View the guidelines
Jump to
Start a discussion

All discussions

Start a discussion

JKLM Pregnancy and Antidepressants
  • replies: 5

Hello, Just wanting to know if anyone has any experience or advice about pregnancy and use of antidepressants I am currently trying to taper off medication in preparation for starting a family. Jess

Hello, Just wanting to know if anyone has any experience or advice about pregnancy and use of antidepressants I am currently trying to taper off medication in preparation for starting a family. Jess

Anon79 Do I have to see a psychiatrist?
  • replies: 4

I’ve been battling depression and anxiety all of my life. A few years ago I was prescribed meds and had to go to a psychiatrist as a part of my mental health plan. The psychiatrist did more harm than good. He filled my head with thoughts that I hadn’... View more

I’ve been battling depression and anxiety all of my life. A few years ago I was prescribed meds and had to go to a psychiatrist as a part of my mental health plan. The psychiatrist did more harm than good. He filled my head with thoughts that I hadn’t had before. Eventually I went off my medication as I took up running and found life was great, my bad days were lower and life was good. This last year however I have been battling. I’m constantly tired, I hate being social, and i’m quick to anger. However I am scared to death of seeing a psychiatrist again. I feel I need medication again but I will not go there again. Do I have to see a psychiatrist to access medication to give me support? Just asking you guys is a big step for me.

Beetle Had Independent Medical examination by psychiatrist today for workcover . Feeling humiliated
  • replies: 17

Hi After this hour of exam I feel so humiliated as they strip your soul and you leave totally empty. ANyone ad those examinations done? I hope my emotional state gets approved as I spiraled down big time after the accident at work. I was fine before ... View more

Hi After this hour of exam I feel so humiliated as they strip your soul and you leave totally empty. ANyone ad those examinations done? I hope my emotional state gets approved as I spiraled down big time after the accident at work. I was fine before even though I had depression 5 years ago. I do think they try to wiggle out of their responsibility because of my depression in the past? I don't know. I hope not!! anyone had similar experiences? xx

GoodWitch differences between individual & relationship counsellor - confused
  • replies: 8

I've been seeing my individual counsellor for about 4yrs. She's very good & has helped me work through some childhood issues. I feel like I'm on a journey toward being my authentic self. During the sessions I realised my relationship was a big proble... View more

I've been seeing my individual counsellor for about 4yrs. She's very good & has helped me work through some childhood issues. I feel like I'm on a journey toward being my authentic self. During the sessions I realised my relationship was a big problem for me. I've been married 20yrs & my hub & I disconnected a long time ago. So 2yrs ago I told hub we needed marriage counselling & he reluctantly agreed to go. I chose a different therapist for that bc I didn't want him to think my other counsellor was biased. At first I thought she was helping us, but after a time I felt she was missing the point. So was my hub as he wasn't doing any of the things I asked him to do at home. The couples sessions became frustrating for me. We stopped going about 6mths ago & since then I've tried to tell my hub 3 times I think it's over. He goes into denial/blame & I can't bring myself to do anything concrete bc of the kids. So I suggested we go back to the marriage counsellor to talk about how to separate (something she said she would help us with if it came to that). Now She says 'children never get over divorce' & reminds me my hub is trying now which completely glosses over the fact he didn't start trying until I said I was leaving & he got scared. I say bluntly that I have no romantic feelings for him anymore & she just says to go on more dates. I say I feel terrified of having sex & she just says I will have to do it eventually or the relationship won't survive. I feel she's ignoring the fact I said I don't even want the relationship anymore? Also my hub is seeing her individually now. I asked him to get help but I & even his GP told him to use a different counsellor but he doesn't like change so he is seeing her. Now I feel like my feelings are getting completely lost in all this. I know a relationship counsellor's priority is the couple & my other counsellor is helping me the individual, so obvs it will feel different. I don't know if it feels different for legit reasons or if the relationship counsellor sucks. I'm back where I was a year go, in marriage counselling that isn't working. How do I know if the relationship counsellor is bad or if I've just come to think negatively about the process? She says now I need to focus less on myself & more on the marriage, but I'm worried that will destroy all the work I've done on myself already. Am I being selfish? I'm pretty sure I don't love my hub anymore. In fact sometimes I think I hate him. GW

A_Fish Day 1 on bipolar medication
  • replies: 6

I have suffered from anxiety for about 10 years and diagnosed with GAD. Since I was diagnosed and medicated, I have been suffering insomnia and racing thoughts in my head. I just assumed this was normal as I worked in a fairly fast-paced work environ... View more

I have suffered from anxiety for about 10 years and diagnosed with GAD. Since I was diagnosed and medicated, I have been suffering insomnia and racing thoughts in my head. I just assumed this was normal as I worked in a fairly fast-paced work environment. Now that life has settled down for me, my symptoms became more prevalent and last weekend I had to go to hospital twice to obtain some medication to help calm me down. I saw my GP yesterday (a new GP) for a mental health check-up. He has diagnosed me as being bipolar. After reading about the symptoms of bipolar, it kind of makes sense to me now that perhaps I was incorrectly diagnosed 10 years ago. The medication I was on I had to take every day. If I accidently missed a dose, the following day I would feel terribly depressed. I explained this to my GP who told me to stop taking that medication immediately and start on my new bipolar medication. It’s day 1, so far so good. Everything appears normal and my head is not buzzing like it did when I was on the old meds. I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and could tell me a little bit about the first 2 weeks of their journey after switching from a SNRI to a bipolar med. Thank you

tallypez Medicare and the Safety Gap
  • replies: 1

Does anyone know if the full $$ payments you make to psychologists after your 10 Mental Health Care Plan sessions have expired count towards the annual Medicare safely net amount? I stopped submitting my claims to Medicare after the 10th session and ... View more

Does anyone know if the full $$ payments you make to psychologists after your 10 Mental Health Care Plan sessions have expired count towards the annual Medicare safely net amount? I stopped submitting my claims to Medicare after the 10th session and I am not sure what I am supposed to do now. Do I still submit them to Medicare so they go towards my safety net amounts? Thanks

fred4761 Christianity and Psychological/Alternative/Complementary Therapies
  • replies: 2

I guess the issue that I am having at the moment is determining if I can be a Christian and still participate in alternative therapies. I was raised a Christian and attended church until a trauma that resulted in depression/anxiety/OCD. I had been on... View more

I guess the issue that I am having at the moment is determining if I can be a Christian and still participate in alternative therapies. I was raised a Christian and attended church until a trauma that resulted in depression/anxiety/OCD. I had been on a high dose of meds and was doing CBT with my psych until 4 years ago when I started developing gastrointestinal issues and testing revealed chronic erosive gastritis – most likely due to the long term high dosage of meds. The gastro recommended coming off meds altogether and looking into more natural and alternative therapies. My psych talked with the gastro and began decreasing my meds and I am now down to less than half of my original dose. We tried other meds but couldn’t find anything that worked and didn’t have side effects. It is a balancing act between the minimum meds I can take to manage my symptoms and that will cause the least amount of problems to my body. I am still doing CBT regularly and have seen psychologists to learn alternative techniques for dealing with my anxiety and depression. I have found EFT Tapping to be helpful and was also introduced to meditation and positive affirmations. My psych suggested breathing exercises and yoga. I got really into positive affirmations and started reading some of Louise Hay’s books and have found that positive self-talk has been beneficial to me. I often look at Louise Hay’s facebook page for daily affirmations and recently someone had commented that affirmations were evil and New Age. I began looking into what Christians think about alternative medicine and found many of them saying things like TCM, Acupressure, Ayurveda, Aromatherapy, and Massage were bad. I have improved so much since taking a more holistic approach to my health and incorporating yoga and mindful meditations to my daily routine. When I do meditation I refer to it is my meditation/prayer time as I find that the two seem to go together. Then I found some articles on how EFT Tapping is bad and Christians should not do it. I am so confused right now. Why would my doctors be teaching me these tools if they didn’t work? Why is acceptable for a Christian to fill my body with high doses of medication that have harmed my body yet these more natural therapies are frowned upon? Up until a few days ago I was in a good place and felt like I had a found a good balance of medication/medical treatments/psychological therapies and complementary/alternative therapies.

MoMoPotato People talk about being "me" again. I am not sure who I am without depression. Anyone else?
  • replies: 3

A lot of the posts/articles etc regarding being treated for depression and anxiety say that the person felt they were themselves again after medication or therapy; that they had recovered. I think I have been depressed and anxious since at least 13 y... View more

A lot of the posts/articles etc regarding being treated for depression and anxiety say that the person felt they were themselves again after medication or therapy; that they had recovered. I think I have been depressed and anxious since at least 13 years old, possible 10 years. It is difficult to say as I don't have a great number of memories from the earlier years, but i have felt depressed for as long as i can remember. Has anyone else experienced this, and what happened when you were treated? Is there another "me" inside?

Guest_1211 Feel like I have made a huge mistake.
  • replies: 1

Sorry this is super long!! So, I have been seeing a wonderful psychologist for the last 6 months. I had a termination (for many reasons, not really my choice) not long before I started seeing her. My GP thought I had reactive depression, but we now t... View more

Sorry this is super long!! So, I have been seeing a wonderful psychologist for the last 6 months. I had a termination (for many reasons, not really my choice) not long before I started seeing her. My GP thought I had reactive depression, but we now think it was just the thing that pushed me over the edge, and I couldn’t keep the mask up any more. It was not the main cause of my situation, I have felt awful for a very long time. After working with her almost weekly, I abruptly texted her yesterday and said I wanted to cancel my next appointment. Now I feel like I just cut my last lifeline. I felt like I was getting nowhere and felt worse. When I think back now, I still think in some ways I do feel worse, but maybe I’m just more aware now of how bad I’m actually feeling. Thinking over what we have worked through together I realise maybe that I have made some progress in that I have a lot more insight about why I feel like I do, or how I handle situations. I have had trouble agreeing with a lot of observations she makes because I have worked so hard to keep my emotions under control my whole life, or failed to acknowledge that some situations I’ve been in are pretty awful. This means I’ve found it really hard to open up and share much of myself. I have struggled when she uses the word ‘trauma’ or talks about some of the people that haven’t treated me well in a negative light. I have felt uncomfortable when she says nice things about me. I feel like a failure when I freeze up and can’t share anything, or get overwhelmed with emotions, which she identifies as dissociating. I feel ashamed when she talks about the termination. I feel like I fail to help myself every time I see her, like I’m not helping myself and I’m wasting everyone’s time. She also suggested medication to help with my incessant thoughts/worry and help me be able to access my emotions without being overwhelmed by them, and I am scared by that and feel it’s another failure. Other factors why I was so irrational yesterday: I had emailed her during the week and hadn’t had a response (which is perfectly reasonable, I know that), I had a terrible migraine (I have a lot of these), I stayed home from work and let people down by doing so, and it would have been my due date. So I know it wasn’t a rational time to make such a decision. I feel so stupid now, and I don’t know what to do to help myself.

Bluebirdbrown Asperger’s syndrome. Do I have it ? So picnicking
  • replies: 2

Hi, Hmmmm... it’s nothing special to talk about myself. I actually don’t really know what I want here. I just wandering around to browse the a syndrome called Asperger’s syndrome as I worry I have it. I googled and I seemed to tick most boxes. I am p... View more

Hi, Hmmmm... it’s nothing special to talk about myself. I actually don’t really know what I want here. I just wandering around to browse the a syndrome called Asperger’s syndrome as I worry I have it. I googled and I seemed to tick most boxes. I am panicking now. I have anxiety disorder for my entire life. Does anyone have an idea how to diagnose it and if any treatments available ? I normally have troubles of understanding people, I can’t read people’s minds, I don’t feel welcomed by any kind of conversations, I feel so lonely and horrible, I don’t like myself etc ... I feel so puzzled so I like to find out. Thanks.