For anyone who has seen a psychiatrist, therapist, etc, what have they done for you? Does it really make you feel that much better? Or do you have to go on meds to feel any different?
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I see a Psychiatrist and yes it does help. You have somebody to talk to about issues and meds can help you get back on track at times. Help you to deal with anxiety and heavy depression long enough for you to pull your shit together. Seeing a psyhiatrist is not the answer to all of your problems but it can HELP big time if you are severely depressed and having mental and emotional problems that keep you from having a normal life.
It all helps but it is a matter of finding the right ones whether it be a dr to talk to or meds to take. The sooner you start though the faster you can find what works for you. good luck.
It honestly do help, but you have to make sure it’s the right therapist. One that you feel a connection with, not someone who you feel is just sitting there judging you, and just nodding their head every once in awhile.
I have been swing the same therapist for 3 years, and she has become like my best friend. She is awesome and she dont hold back. She tell me the truth, and she listens, she helps me with and through my problems. She’s just the best :).
You just need to find someone right for you 🙂
Good luck
A psychiatrist will listen to you about how you’re feeling physically – depressed, anxious, etc – and will discuss medication options and keep you on track with them. Appointments typically last 15-20 minutes and once every month or two.
A therapist will listen to you about your feelings and experiences and try to help you understand and cope. Appointments are typically one hour and once per week.
They are two different people, it’s not like on tv, your therapist cannot prescribe drugs and your psychiatrist is not interested in the emptiness you feel over such and such thing going on in your life.
I’ve been on psychiatric medication for 12 years and yes I do think it has been helpful. Not great, but I’d say I’m less miserable than I was before the drugs. Not happy, but less miserable. I decided to stop everything about 8 months ago thinking it hadn’t helped at all and I was still miserable and nothing was going right but then I started to feel like before and remembered just how much worse it can be and went back on. Hooked for life. Sigh.
Therapy has not been useful for me because I’m impossible to crack. I lied to my therapist, and I refused to talk about the things that in the end I really, really need to talk about but I don’t want to. She came close once and I started shaking uncontrollably and crying and it was horrible and I decided to just bottle it back up and never think about it again.
So I say go for it and don’t let anyone tell you there’s something wrong with you or that you’re weak for seeking help because you’re not. When a person with an irregular heartbeat goes to see a cardiologist it’s not because they’re weak, it’s because there’s something wrong with their heart that can hopefully be corrected. When you go to a psychiatrist it’s because there’s something wrong with your brain that can hopefully be corrected. The heart patient isn’t embarrassed, and neither should the psych patient. The problem is that it’s all so subtle and you can never really be sure what will and what won’t help. It’ll take some time to find the right mix.
Good luck!
I’ve been going for about 3 months and it hasn’t made me feel any better…. I think I get too distracted in sessions thinking “you’re charging >$100/hour for this??”. I mean geez, I’ll sit there and listen to me cry for a quarter of that price =P
But I would definitely go the psychiatrist route. It’s frustrating (and expensive) to go to a therapist and then have to go through the trouble of *then* finding a psychiatrist who can prescribe drugs. If only I had known!
Therapy works great. Much Better than taking psychiatric medications. you might be interested reading Medication Madness Dr. Breggin he is a psychiatrist who is a against staring psychiatric medications as they cause brain damage in people and cause side effects that can make things MUCH worse. I know because I went through this psych med stuff tried all the anti depressants they make and the side effects made me out of control. I know I wish I read this book when I was starting out as a psych patient 6 years ago. would Have save me ALOT of trouble. Hope this helps you.
Weird. Therapy always made things worse for me, but psychiatric meds are the only thing that’s ever actually given me any kind of improvement in my quality of life. The world is an odd place.
For the record, Peter Breggin’s work is highly disputed by credible researchers. Dr. Russell Barkley, among others, has written a detailed review in which he points out several factual errors and logical fallacies. That’s not to say that certain medications aren’t over-prescribed or that the mental health care system is perfect, but if you’re in distress and you *want* to improve things, it’s worth looking into those options and utilizing whatever resources are available to you. If it doesn’t work, you can always take a break and reevaluate.
Well, it makes sense. I mean, considering that depression causes neural atrophy and cell death, it can also be considered a form of brain damage over time. Maybe Mr. Breggin failed to determine causality adequately and overgeneralized the facts.