How to heal from loss and loneliness

[Santana]

Hello.

I'm in a bit of a bad place.  The last three years have been rather traumatic, including a divorce, and the loss of both my parents.  Recently my youngest child left home and the intensitiy of the loneliness is almost suffocating.  In addition,  I took on a new job 12 months ago and the stress has been phenomenal.  I am anxious all the time and I can't sleep.  I am now experiencing severe fatigue and nausea everyday.  I don't have a psycholgist at the moment as my last one closed her practice and it has been difficult to find someone else.  Last November I stopped my antidepressants and at the moment I am feeling increasingly depressed.  I don't want to go on antidepressants because mum had dementia and I've read that they have been linked to an increased risk in older people.  So I am really stuck. I don't have much of a support system, just one or two friends I speak with ocassionally.  But I don't want to dump on them too much.   I am experiencing so much emotional distress at the moment... I sometimes despair. I hope maybe chatting here will help.

[james1]

Hello Santana,

I'm so sorry to hear about your losses over the last three years, and the terrible loneliness and isolation you must be feeling at the moment. I'm glad you've reached out as I hope we can help be a part of your support system. It sounds like you'd like a person to just chat to and we are certainly here for you.

Another free option is the various support phone lines like BeyondBlue's 1300 224 636. Have you tried giving them a call before? They're not a replacement for a psychologist, but I found it helpful to just have someone on the phone and be able to actually speak to a person when I was having particularly stressful periods.

Let us know how you are going, and I hope you can have a peaceful weekend.

Take care for now

James

[Santana]

Thank you for your reply, James.

We all need connection.

I will keep in mind the phone number to call.

I hope you have a good weekend too.

Santana