I finally plucked up the courage and today went to visit a doctor about the constant down feeling, crying etc. After a chat and me filling in a questionaire she told me moderate depression was to blame. She said i have two options: Counselling or Medication. The problem with counselling is that i could only get it by going privately which is lots of money and seems a little absurd. That leaves medication. I would like to point out i am only 17 so finding this a little hard to deal with and i have a lot of fear of the side effects. She told me to go away and talk to my parents about it and come back in 2 weeks with what i want to do. I dont have the best relationship with my parents at the moment and to be honest am a little too ashamed to go to my friends for help. Could anyone here advise me?
I would not feel comfortable giving you advice. Is there an adult you can talk to? An aunt, a teacher, a school counselor? Does your parents insurance cover counseling? There are clinics that charge by what you can afford. At your age meds can be tricky. You are too young to carry this alone. Maybe your parents would be more understanding than you think. Hope you find a solution. Godbless
Hi ICF, good work going to the docs! I find it interesting that the choices were therapy OR meds. Some people do both. IMO therapy is how you work out the issues. Why can't you use the NHS for counseling? I would suggest talking to your parents. Please keep us posted.
Thank you for the replies! I cant go via the NHS because the waiting list is simply too long and even then i will only get to see someone every minimum 6 weeks. I would not like to go on medication this young and will avoid it, a counceller would help more but i think i will try to find one other than privately. The only thing is that it's not really any specific issues causing this so i wouldn't really know what to say...
ICF, how about getting on the list for therapy anyway. Your name will come up and you might get to see a therapist more often. I know of 2 people here who get NHS therapy and they both go weekly plus get extra appts when needed. You might talk to your parents and they might think that paying for therapy is a good idea. You can always talk about your issues here too because IMO self-understanding is how you get better anyway. I remember talking with you before and some issues did come up if I remember correctly. Just my opinion here, but to me it sounds like you just have things to sort out in your head so that you can function better. The conservative view on meds is that they are for when you just can't cope anymore (can't sleep, eat, carry on normally). There is a lot of info out there on teenagers and anti-depressants and they do seem to have more side-effects for this age group. Are you going to talk with your parents?
I had a little chat with my parents, they're not against meds as they are both on them but they also feel they are a last resort and that all i need to do is busy myself and i'll be fine. I find it hard trying to get them to understand and then get agitated.
I see, they don't feel that therapy is an option. They want you to just "get over it" and if that doesn't work then go on meds like they are (instead of dealing with the issues IMO). With this attitude I can see why it is hard for you to get them to understand and then you get agitiated. The plan B that I see is get on the list for NHS and while you are waiting work toward self-understanding here.
