Got a question related to mental health? ASK DR KIM

Chris_B · ‎23-08-2016

Hi everyone,

This is a thread for asking questions of our resident GP and counsellor, Dr Kim, who pops into the forums regularly.

PLEASE NOTE as per our community rules, Dr Kim won't be able to answer questions about medications, these are best discussed offline directly with your mental health professional.

UPDATE - 01/03/2018
BEFORE YOU ASK DR.KIM PLEASE CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING POINTS:

Dr Kim's time is limited! We cannot provide an ongoing dialogue with Dr Kim in this thread - one post/question per person please
We'd recommend you have a look through the forums before posting here to see if your question has already been answered by Dr Kim, our other members, or if there's information about it already on the beyondblue website. If a question pops up that has already been answered previously, or if alternate resources are available, one of our moderators will reply and direct you to the link.
When writing your question, imagine you are speaking to someone in person i.e. provide a clear and detailed post with enough information that outlines how Dr.Kim can help you.

Background

After 20 years of experience working as a GP, Dr Kim realised in 2003 the aspect of her work she enjoyed most was talking to people and understanding the way they think and behave – and so she underwent training in counselling and therapy, where she now solely works.

Her experience includes working with a wide range of mental health issues including anxiety, depression and adolescent mental health.

“Given my training I also see couples, siblings, parents with their children and entire family groups,” she says. “In this work I hope to give families the skills to understand one another and have the strategies to communicate and manage relationships that are distressing them. I believe strongly that best therapy is achieved when there is trust in the therapist's ability but also their genuine desire to understand and help.”

Dr_Kim · ‎11-09-2017

Possum Magic said:
Hi Dr Kim

I have recently turned a corner with depression but not having much change since. Maybe little changes but what is an average time frame to full recovery?

Possum Magic

Hi Possum Magic,

This is such a hard one to answer as it really varies. There are a few things that need to be ticked off:

1. That the diagnosis is correct ( i.e. when some people are not getting better it is because they have been inadvertently treated for depression but they may have bipolar or hormone issues or other things that may mean the treatment is different )
2. The treatment dose is correct . The doses that are required vary and I have found that sometimes people need a higher dose of medications to get the effect they are looking for with the medications ( if they can tolerate any side effects that may occur , and of course under supervision of their doctor)
3. The history . What I mean is that the history of the illness does affect the expectations of recovery . It is unrealistic to expect someone who has a strong family history of depression , has experienced trauma and has suffered with it for years to just recover within weeks. However someone who has little family history , with little trauma history and a brief episode has a better outlook .

So…. My suggestion is to double check your situation and align your expectations according to your specific case. The rule of thumb for medications is that we expect some response from them within 6-8 weeks and if you don’t have this , check with your doctor about changing dose or type. However, the other treatment modalities are also slow to kick in and require patience - like the exercise and he cognitive work of counselling so don’t be too disheartened if the response to them takes time ( a few months) . Keep at it and remember that the effects are all additive.

I hope this is somewhat helpful as a guide and I am happy that you turned the big corner.. but there may be a way to go until you are totally under blue skies and that is OK.

Possum_Magic1 · ‎11-09-2017

Hi Dr Kim

Thankyou for your reply. I will raise a few things with my psychiatrist next appt. My first depression was bought on by a hormonal injection. This time around I'm in peri menopause. I did tell my psychiatrist this on my first visit and numerous times since. I can feel small changes but not as fast as I would like. Basically I'm fed up. I had hoped that since I have been on an antidepressant for over 20years that once I began treatment that my response time would be better than what it is.

Time and patience is as difficult as the depression. I feel like I'm losing half a year of my life.

Kind regards

Possum Magic

Dr_Kim · ‎11-09-2017

kellie2 said:
So this is the questions . i have panic attacks tigered by a variety of things one is high intensity training, only sometimes andd. Generally the first one will be something eles and then training will be really hard for a few days.

I am training in a groups enviroment. They are the same group and we are training to compete in our sport.

My coach is aware of the situation but not the others. So the question is do you think i should tell them.

There are a few issues here

1. Are you getting help to manage your anxiety / panic attacks?
If so , great. If not , you might want to think about getting some help to manage them as they are pretty brutal to manage on your own. You can start with some reading on the topic, looking at websites like https://www.headspace.org.au/young-people/understanding-anxiety-for-young-people/ or https://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/anxiety or read up in a book like “Change your Thinking “ by Sarah Edelman. If you need more help, speak to your GP or call Headspace or Beyond Blue for suggestions.

2. Will it help to tell your training group ? This depends on what helps you to sooth the panic attack and the response that you may get from the group. You see, panic attacks are primitive responses that were designed to protect us from predators way back when we were vulnerable from attack and needed to be on high alert and ready to fight or run from a predator in the wild. These days of course that protection mechanism is swimming into action at inappropriate times and it makes us feel awful. learning how to “turn off” the response and calm your body and mind down to feel safe again is an important skill.

Your training group may or may not provide resources to help you do this depending on their level of understanding, maturity, patience and skill in this area. It may be super helpful for you to have a “ buddy”or two to just sit with you and tell you “ everything is ok “ until the feeling passes. But if they can’t or won’t do that, then it might make it worse if they try and rush you to “ get over it” or say things like “ don’t be stupid”.

I would get the assistance you need first to work out specifically what you need when you are in the midst of the attack , and then talk to the coach to see if they think the group are up to helping you .
Good on you for trying to get on top of things.

Jamesgu3 · ‎13-09-2017

Where s the help now button?

Just Sara · ‎14-09-2017

Hi Dr Kim and shout-out to Kelly2;

I'd like to add something I found out during my own anxiety while training. It seemed the rise in adrenaline during high intensity workouts was causing concern. I did some research which gave me information on how to address it.

Keeping the heart at a low rate and doing less intensity will reduce anxiety. I did this and it worked. I also found that I could train my body to accept slow increases in intensity each week going by my body's reaction. eg shaking/vibrating/breathing changes.

I included self talk during training to encourage myself to keep going, but at a safe rate. I don't like doing group activity due to this, it takes my mind off self assessing.

I hope this helps...

Regards;

Sara

Sophie_M · ‎14-09-2017

Hi James, welcome to the forums. Immediate support is not available through this space. Please call our support service on 1300 22 4636 to speak with one of our professional counsellors.

Just Sara · ‎14-09-2017

Hi again Dr Kim;

Due to increasing discussion about accessing psychological services for low income earners, I thought I'd give some ideas from my own experience.

The Rape Crisis Helpline in my state, NSW, (not sure if it's national) is a port of call I often use to combat related issues 24/7. After I called 6 times, I was given a case worker and different phone number to call. I leave my name and number and they get back to me asap. I did this at 2am and was called within 30 min's.

My details from those 6 calls are written about in notes by consultant clinical psychologists. They're specialists in the field and I can assure you they're absolutely wonderful and extremely professional.

I also called the Mental Health Crisis Hotline when things were dire. They were also amazing. They gave me information on free services in my area, or as close as possible.

When I was hospitalised in February this yr, I was allocated a MH Case Worker on departure. He's lovely and very experienced. I had an issue he didn't know how to deal with, so he referred me to a 'free' psychiatrist on their books at the clinic. She was really helpful.

The clinic is privately run, but is under govt funding as an NGO. I'm sure there'd have to be other's around, but maybe people think they're like other centres and don't provide free services to clients.

The last thing I suggest is writing to your local member. I've done this on several occasions with positive results. The more people speak up, the more can be heard and hopefully changes will be imminent. Yes, it takes time, but we have a right to be proactive in how our country's run, by whom and where our tax $ are spent.

If they want our votes, they've got to do the work.

Sorry for ranting; it's also a sore point with me as with others.

Best of luck to us all...

Sara

GOZ · ‎14-09-2017

Hi am i a bad father to my family for going to work and not able to spend much time with my son? I been through court and got 100% care for my boy. But i know a boy needs a mother and the real mum should be the best one. So I've been letting her back to his life. But she's just angry with me beyond description for taking the boy away in the first place even when she say i did the right thing . At 2 and half yrs old he had rash all over his bottom. So i did not return him back to her. And we went to court. She has been in and out of the house for the last yr. Now she's taking me to court again.

Just Sara · ‎15-09-2017

Hi and welcome guest_7981 to our caring community;

It sounds like you have quite a difficult situation on your hands, it's no wonder you've reached out. Your courage in doing this is amazing at such a delicate time.

Please don't feel bad ok, but this thread is for Dr Kim to answer medical or psych problems from a physicians perspective. I know it's confusing trying to navigate the site, so if you try to find the Welcome an Orientation section and read the threads that advise you what to do and how to do it, you'll find things easier.

Please don't let this put you off ok. It's just that organising threads makes it easier for us to find you, and will make sense when you're a bit more experienced, that's all. We care about what you've got to say and will encourage and support you as best as we can.

Don't give up because we're not giving up on you.

See you on the forums; I'll be keeping an eye out for you. 🙂

Warm thoughts...Sez

Sophie_M · ‎15-09-2017

Hi Guest_7981, as Sara has suggested, it would be good if you could start a new thread in the Relationships & Family Issues area. If you do have a question for Dr Kim, please post again here with an idea of what you would like Dr Kim to address for you - read the first post in this thread for a good to what this thread is for.