Continue with therapy or try just medication?

Amy_G · ‎09-11-2014

I was diagnosed with depression like 3 months ago and I’ve been going to see a psychologist for 10 weeks but it’s been completely useless.

I’ve also been taking antidepressants for almost 4 weeks and they haven’t worked at all yet either so the GP is increasing the dose, and she said that since the therapy isn’t working that the problem is likely to be mostly chemical so like if therapy hasn’t worked at all by now it probably won’t…

But I kind of just think that my therapist wasn’t very good. It seems like her whole approach was to tell me to do things that I didn’t want to do or couldn’t be bothered to do usually, and even when it was clear that I couldn’t do those things and that nothing she was doing was helping, she just kept going with that approach the entire time. Then she basically said it was my fault that there was no progress because I wasn’t “fighting” hard enough.

So I can’t decide whether I should just keep going with the medication without any therapy and see if there’s a change, or whether I should find another psychologist and try again with that?

Or maybe I could wait until next year and get a new mental health plan and try therapy again then so at least if it’s useless I won’t be wasting money?

I’ve been doing some of those free online self-help cbt things, like moodgym etc., and they’ve also been no help, so I sort of don’t know if cbt would be any better in real life or not?

This is so frustrating everything feels useless :(

geoff · ‎09-11-2014

dear Amy, thanks so much forjoining us.

You post is rather a curious one, not at all meaning it's your fault what's so ever, but what your GP and therapist have said to you.

Firstly antidepressants (AD) are supposed to be used for correcting the imbalance in the chemicals in our brain, and for some people they may take longer than 4 weeks, and secondly it may not be the best AD for you, as a SNRI didn't have any effect with me whereas the SSRI has, but this didn't happen straight away, but that's with me.

I have to disagree with your GP, although I am not qualified to make this decision, but we can go through several therapist/psych's before we find one that we can click with, and this is so important.

This person who you have seen again has not handled your sessions very well at all as you just can't lecture a client to do what they believe you should do, this isn't counselling she's trying to be a teacher, and how is someone with depression ever going to listen to any of this, I certainly wouldn't.

What I would do is click onto 'get support' at the top of this page and there will be a list of doctors etc who are aligned with BB to treat people suffering from depression, and choose one in your area, and if you decide to do this then they will direct you to another psych, as I believe that these two need to be replaced, because at the moment you have dealt with the wrong set of cards.

So to answer your question let's start again with a new experienced GP and another psych.

Can I say that I had to go through a couple of psychiatrists as well 2 or 3 psychologists before I found the right one, who I did see for 20 years.

All of the advice you have been given has been totally out of whack. L Geoff. x

JessF · ‎10-11-2014

Hello Amy, I agree with Geoff. Imagine if you had something wrong with your leg and were sent toa physiotherapist. If it wasn't getting better after a few weeks, and your doctor said "well therapy won't work for you", you'd laugh him out of the building.

And the mind is much more complicated than a broken bone or a twisted muscle.

Do persevere with a different therapist. You should know after the first session if you are going to click with them or not. Find out their way of working and ask for a plan. Good therapy should be focused and not meandering, with you just going in for an hour a week and rattling off your problems.

Medication is a very important part of managing my depression and anxiety, but I wouldn't have been able to cope in the long term without learning good coping skills and emotional regulation through good psychologists. Keep going till you find the right one, you're worth it!

Amy_G · ‎13-11-2014

Thank you both for your responses!

I definitely will start over with a new therapist, I just hope it goes better this time because I'm very shy (and probably actually have social anxiety too) so I'm really not a fan of meeting and opening up to new people!! But yeah I think it's worth trying again especially for being able to cope with things in the long run.

I'll probably stick with this GP at least for now, but I'll wait and see how the next few months or so go with her and then maybe think about changing if she's not working out.

Thanks again!

- Amy