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I seriously need help
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I am an 18 year old female who was diagnosed almost a year ago with chronic depression by a psych team. I also saw a GP about anxiety problems last summer too, and I have huge problems sleeping. I feel that I have exhausted my options with depression and anxiety and sleep and I really need some medication to help sort these problems out alongside my counselling, for example. However I have a big issue with being heard when I see a GP, I find it difficult to communicate with them as I get so anxious about it and I just go along with anything they say which usually is just 'go to counselling, I don't want to prescribe you medication, if it doesn't get better come back' and I don't go back because I feel they will be dismissive of me again.
My counsellor at school really wants me to get an Autism assessment because she thinks I have Asperger's and I agree that I would like to be assessed for that. I also recently was reading about Borderline Personality Disorder and I am concerned that I fit many of those symptoms too but obviously it would be ridiculous to self-diagnose and sit and worry about it all. My question is, would it be possible for me to be referred by a GP to a mental health team or something that could just generally meet with me and sort of assess me for everything and see what their conclusions are? So that I could sort out the Autism diagnosis (if I do have it) and also my concerns about BPD and discuss my issues with depression/anxiety/insomnia all of which I've tried to control without medicines but haven't had much success with?
I have the most fantastic chance to go to an amazing university next year but it is conditional upon me achieving very high A-Level grades. If I do not achieve them and lose my chance to study at this university I really do not know what I will do. I am so desperate for help and I was just wondering if there is anything you can advise me like what should I say to the GP to convince them to prescribe me medication or to get referred to a CMHT so they can assess me properly and decide because I feel so dismissed and abandoned by the various GPs I have seen (my GP surgery is a drop-in so I don't always see the same one) and I really really need proper help to get me through this year so I can go to university next year.
Any advice?
My counsellor at school really wants me to get an Autism assessment because she thinks I have Asperger's and I agree that I would like to be assessed for that. I also recently was reading about Borderline Personality Disorder and I am concerned that I fit many of those symptoms too but obviously it would be ridiculous to self-diagnose and sit and worry about it all. My question is, would it be possible for me to be referred by a GP to a mental health team or something that could just generally meet with me and sort of assess me for everything and see what their conclusions are? So that I could sort out the Autism diagnosis (if I do have it) and also my concerns about BPD and discuss my issues with depression/anxiety/insomnia all of which I've tried to control without medicines but haven't had much success with?
I have the most fantastic chance to go to an amazing university next year but it is conditional upon me achieving very high A-Level grades. If I do not achieve them and lose my chance to study at this university I really do not know what I will do. I am so desperate for help and I was just wondering if there is anything you can advise me like what should I say to the GP to convince them to prescribe me medication or to get referred to a CMHT so they can assess me properly and decide because I feel so dismissed and abandoned by the various GPs I have seen (my GP surgery is a drop-in so I don't always see the same one) and I really really need proper help to get me through this year so I can go to university next year.
Any advice?
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Comments
basic answer is yes, in theory your GP could refer you back to the CMHT for a psychiatric assessment. the autism assessment would be different so that would probably happen separately. the issue that makes it a bit more confusing is that you were assessed last year so there might be some reluctance around repeating the assessment, unless there have been considerable changes since then. were you offered any treatment after the assessment?
if you explain what you want and the reasons for it then your GP should be happy to make the re-referral. be aware though that mental health services generally are moving away from diagnosing people and are making their access criteria more strict (i.e. you have to be quite unwell to get assessed) so some GPs might be more reluctant than others and there is no guaranteeing that the referral would be accepted. also autism is particularly difficult to spot in females so you might have to push quite hard to get your point across.
you talk about persuading your GP to give you medication but there is not much you can do other than be as honest as you can, and if the doctor thinks it would help then they will probably be fine with it. i think a lot of people with mental health problems feel that they are not being heard and it might be because we really struggle to explain our feelings as they are so painful.
remember that uni will always be there. if you don't feel well enough or don't get the grades this time then there is always next year and the year after. it is better to be ready to go than to go because it's the done thing. also if you do have Asperger's then it will take a long time for you to adjust and find out ways to cope and you might not manage that in just a few months. just something to think about.
take care x
Last time I was assessed by a psych team I was referred to them by my school counsellor at the time (she has since left the school and I now see a different one) because of feeling low and having trouble looking after myself like eating/sleeping and stuff just generally symptoms of depression, and self-injury. Because of this, the psychiatrist and psychologist who met with me a few times obviously tailored their questions accordingly and only asked me about these things and the whole experience was extremely draining for me so I was not in a position to volunteer extra information about other difficulties I have/had, if that makes sense?
I am concerned because I know that many of my thinking patterns are ridiculous and I was convinced they were like that because of being depressed but I'm starting to think that perhaps it's the other way around and that it is my strange thinking patterns that make me depressed; there is no huge source of trauma in my life, I effectively MAKE problems up where there aren't any and get myself very upset and stressed about issues that often do not really even exist! I especially notice that I have issues with inter-personal relationships, I'm paranoid about upsetting people and being abandoned by them and as a result my behavior often results in them leaving me when otherwise they would not have done as there actually was NO problem to start with. I obviously don't do it on purpose and like I said I've only just had this realisation very recently; and even with that realisation I seem unable to control my thinking patterns, because I have already reached the point of depression which makes me too lethargic and down to be able to make an active effort to change the thought processes that are making me depressed in the first place...sorry, I know that's probably very long-winded, I hope you can understand what I'm trying to say (hence the suspicion about having a personality disorder or something).
After I was diagnosed with chronic depression I was referred by the psych team to counselling outside of school to deal with my depression and self-injury, but in practice I mostly used it help me with my social anxiety instead. I saw this counsellor over the summer and stopped mid-September because it was too impractical for me in term-time. It was very helpful for my social anxiety and my in-school counsellor was very helpful for my issues with self-injury but none of it really seemed to have an effect on my feeling depressed.
Some excellent advice from omg hi there.
It sounds like things are tough for you at the minute and with the pressures of exams and worrying about uni and the future it cant be easy. *hug*
It might be worthwhile going back to your doctor and being as upfront as you can with which ever one you see. It can be a pain these days and difficult to build up a relationship with your doctor if your constantly seeing different ones every time.
Try and give them a full picture of how your feeling. You clearly have a lot of insight and into how things have gone for you over the last year and express your situation with a lot of clarity.
You talked about your counselling and the how it helped you previously. Is there a possibility that could be looked at again, this time to fit around your studies. Again, your doctor should have more information regarding services in your area.
Keep posting here and let us know how things go for you.
Phil :thumb:
you don't need to have experienced trauma to be depressed, sometimes it just happens to people without any clear trigger and that can sometimes make it even more difficult to overcome because you don't know what it is that you are depressed about. but ultimately clinical depression isn't about being depressed about a particular experience, it's about just feeling really low, often for no clear reason.
'faulty thinking' is really common in depression and also in general. it doesn't necessarily mean that there is something pathalogically wrong with you. it might be worth you getting a self-help book on CBT if you feel that your problems are really linked to thinking. it might help you while you are waiting for more support.