Hi all. I’m new to this amazing website. I live in Australia and actually met you, Helen, many years ago and you even stayed at my house with my cousin
Anyway I was diagnosed with depression 12 years ago. Previously I was always soooo upbeat, hyper even. Nothing really got me down or was insurmountable. 1yr after my son was born I had left an abusive partner and moved to a small town..in effect isolating myself masked by ‘a new beginning’. One morning I woke up and couldn’t stop crying..all day…all night. I went to the local doctor only to be plunked on drugs..BOOM! Well they worked but now I’m stuck on them as they have adjusted my chemical balance, and the 2 times I have tried to come off them…well….it’s ugly (not to mention hell for my now 13yr old son and wonderful partner (still Andy Helen!). Hindsight is 20/20 but I think if I had only returned to Sydney, to friends and family, the drugs may not have been necessary (cipramil, then effexor/xr, now mirtazon). I felt it was easier for the doctor to pick up a prescription pad than really THINK, or open the phone book to suggest a councellor.

Hello Georgie, it sounds like you have two wonderful men in your life who love you dearly and they love you dearly because you are wonderful too.  For your son to be so wonderful, he has obviously learned from you!  You must be very proud and it sounds like you brought him up while suffering from Depression so I hope that you are proud of yourself too.  I do hope that you have had a lovely Christmas with them and you are probably celebrating New Year with them right now.  So Happy New Year!  I have taken cipramil and efexor in the past but am not familiar with the antidepressant that you are taking at the moment.  The medication is obviously working for you which is great and given how well the medication alone is working for you, are you thinking now that you would feel even better still with counselling now to get to the root of the depression?  It sounds as if you are in a much better place mentally and emotionally now to ask your doctor about seeing a counsellor than when you first asked to see someone and if you feel that you would like to and want to, then you really do deserve the opportunity to do so, so please go to your doctor (even a different doctor) and request it. Often antidepressants help peoples’ mood lift to help them to be in the right place to accept therapy and want to talk about their situation but they do not take the place or alleviate the need for psycotherapy.Sometimes depression is caused by our needs aren’t being met.  Lots of studies show that it is the Depression that causes the chemical imbalance and not the chemical imbalance that causes the depression, so the antidepressant is treating the symptom but not the cause.  They are not a magical cure and do not take away the problems. They just help us carry on with the old and maybe damaging lifestyle or situation and issues but cope with them a little better. Whatever you decide Georgie, I wish you lots of luck, health and happiness and a prosperous New Year and remember that YOU ARE WORTH IT! Best wishes, Helen