I feel a little guilty for the lengthy break I've taken from blogging about depression, mostly because I hope I didn't lead anyone to believe that after starting to "take candy" things were just magically cured. Because they weren't, not even close.
So, just to recap things, I started to "take candy" almost 3 years ago. Initially the plan was to stay on them for a year, however, they did their job so well and the thought of possibly relapsing to the depressive mess I was before has made me decide to stay on them indefinitely. And I'm super cool with that.
Now, where was I? Like I mentioned in Part Three, taking anti-depressants did wonders for my depression. Jon started to see glimpses of the girl he thought he was marrying and I started to think that life after marriage might be not that bad. There were the odd occasions where Jon and I would argue or I would be annoyed by something petty and my mind would start to spiral back into the unhealthy, depressive patterns I had previously been held captive by, but for the most part, things were good. That is until Jon and I were thrown headlong into our next trial as a married couple: the miscarriage.
Don't let my blog post on the ordeal fool you, I was a mess. And my depression came back with a vengeance. It quickly became clear that my candy probably wasn't going to be able to get me through this alone, so my parents and Jon began to strongly encourage me to seek counselling. When I was initially diagnosed with depression, my doctor also wrote me a prescription for "Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy," but since the anti-depressants were working so well, I hid the little note for CBT even deeper in my purse. Fortunately, since I now had the proof that what my doctor recommended actually worked, I didn't need quite as much convincing to set up some counselling.
Rather than going back to my doctor to seek a referral to a psychologist, I made a quick phone call to the LDS Family Services in my area. I explained that I had been diagnosed with depression and was prescribed CBT. This information was taken down and reviewed in order to place me with a counsellor best matched for my situation. A week later I was placed with a wonderfully intelligent woman who had a private office out of her home.
Now, why the heck did I go through LDS Family Services? Well, if you're LDS, wouldn't you want to be seeing someone who already has a grasp of the ideals you've been taught and are striving for? Although my faith is second nature to me, and anyone else belonging to it, a therapist who is not familiar with that particular aspect of your life probably won't be able to see the whole picture of you and your situation. Which is why I'd recommend going through LDS Family Services to anyone who is LDS. But what if you don't like the counsellor you've been placed with? It's perfectly fine to ask for someone else. In order for counselling to work it is absolutely essential that you feel comfortable with the person you're speaking to.
And so it began: the chapter of my life where I was seeing a shrink.
Was I scared?
Absolutely terrified. And embarrassed. What if someone I knew saw me?! I would die.
FYI: Someone I did know saw me. A lady in my ward met with the same therapist right after I did. And I didn't die.
Did it work?
Yes. A thousand times yes.
When all was said and done, I ended up only needing to visit the counsellor four times. I saw her once every two weeks for two months and that did the trick. And it ended up being completely different from what I was expecting too. I didn't have to lay on a fancy divan while she furiously jotted down all my flaws and idiosyncrasies and I wasn't constantly bombarded by the response of, "...and how did that make you feel?" Instead, it was a lot like visiting with a new friend who just wanted to listen to me vent and then give advice. Except her advice and knowledge had credentials backing it up. The first visit was spent entirely with her getting to know everything about me. She then took the time to develop an understanding of how I handled situations that were stressful or uncomfortable for me and what my thought processes were when things would get me down. From there she helped me think of ways in the past that I had coped with different situations and how I could apply those coping methods to the new situations that would come my way. It was all actually quite refreshing. She never made me feel stupid. She never told me I was wrong in my thinking or actions. Instead, when all was said and done, I left feeling like I had solved the problem on my own and that she had merely asked questions that guided me to my own solution.
Would I recommend counselling to someone struggling with depression?
Absolutely. I would also recommend that counselling is the first treatment sought when diagnosed with depression. I realize that advice is completely backwards from how things went down with my own depression, but I am confident that in some situations, counselling may be all it takes to get back on your feet.
Do I think if I had done counselling first I wouldn't have needed medication?
Hmm. I'm going to say no. When I think back to how very sick I was, I'm confident I would have needed anti-depressants to get back on my feet regardless of whether or not I had counselling first.
One last thing worth mentioning about counselling is that if you're going to go in completely skeptical and cynical about everything, just don't go. I strongly believe that in order for counselling to work, you need to be willing to open up and make yourself a little vulnerable. You could be seeing the best therapist in the world and they wouldn't be able to do a thing for you if you refuse to even let them try.
So, just to recap things, I started to "take candy" almost 3 years ago. Initially the plan was to stay on them for a year, however, they did their job so well and the thought of possibly relapsing to the depressive mess I was before has made me decide to stay on them indefinitely. And I'm super cool with that.
Now, where was I? Like I mentioned in Part Three, taking anti-depressants did wonders for my depression. Jon started to see glimpses of the girl he thought he was marrying and I started to think that life after marriage might be not that bad. There were the odd occasions where Jon and I would argue or I would be annoyed by something petty and my mind would start to spiral back into the unhealthy, depressive patterns I had previously been held captive by, but for the most part, things were good. That is until Jon and I were thrown headlong into our next trial as a married couple: the miscarriage.
Don't let my blog post on the ordeal fool you, I was a mess. And my depression came back with a vengeance. It quickly became clear that my candy probably wasn't going to be able to get me through this alone, so my parents and Jon began to strongly encourage me to seek counselling. When I was initially diagnosed with depression, my doctor also wrote me a prescription for "Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy," but since the anti-depressants were working so well, I hid the little note for CBT even deeper in my purse. Fortunately, since I now had the proof that what my doctor recommended actually worked, I didn't need quite as much convincing to set up some counselling.
Rather than going back to my doctor to seek a referral to a psychologist, I made a quick phone call to the LDS Family Services in my area. I explained that I had been diagnosed with depression and was prescribed CBT. This information was taken down and reviewed in order to place me with a counsellor best matched for my situation. A week later I was placed with a wonderfully intelligent woman who had a private office out of her home.
Now, why the heck did I go through LDS Family Services? Well, if you're LDS, wouldn't you want to be seeing someone who already has a grasp of the ideals you've been taught and are striving for? Although my faith is second nature to me, and anyone else belonging to it, a therapist who is not familiar with that particular aspect of your life probably won't be able to see the whole picture of you and your situation. Which is why I'd recommend going through LDS Family Services to anyone who is LDS. But what if you don't like the counsellor you've been placed with? It's perfectly fine to ask for someone else. In order for counselling to work it is absolutely essential that you feel comfortable with the person you're speaking to.
And so it began: the chapter of my life where I was seeing a shrink.
Was I scared?
Absolutely terrified. And embarrassed. What if someone I knew saw me?! I would die.
FYI: Someone I did know saw me. A lady in my ward met with the same therapist right after I did. And I didn't die.
Did it work?
Yes. A thousand times yes.
When all was said and done, I ended up only needing to visit the counsellor four times. I saw her once every two weeks for two months and that did the trick. And it ended up being completely different from what I was expecting too. I didn't have to lay on a fancy divan while she furiously jotted down all my flaws and idiosyncrasies and I wasn't constantly bombarded by the response of, "...and how did that make you feel?" Instead, it was a lot like visiting with a new friend who just wanted to listen to me vent and then give advice. Except her advice and knowledge had credentials backing it up. The first visit was spent entirely with her getting to know everything about me. She then took the time to develop an understanding of how I handled situations that were stressful or uncomfortable for me and what my thought processes were when things would get me down. From there she helped me think of ways in the past that I had coped with different situations and how I could apply those coping methods to the new situations that would come my way. It was all actually quite refreshing. She never made me feel stupid. She never told me I was wrong in my thinking or actions. Instead, when all was said and done, I left feeling like I had solved the problem on my own and that she had merely asked questions that guided me to my own solution.
Would I recommend counselling to someone struggling with depression?
Absolutely. I would also recommend that counselling is the first treatment sought when diagnosed with depression. I realize that advice is completely backwards from how things went down with my own depression, but I am confident that in some situations, counselling may be all it takes to get back on your feet.
Do I think if I had done counselling first I wouldn't have needed medication?
Hmm. I'm going to say no. When I think back to how very sick I was, I'm confident I would have needed anti-depressants to get back on my feet regardless of whether or not I had counselling first.
One last thing worth mentioning about counselling is that if you're going to go in completely skeptical and cynical about everything, just don't go. I strongly believe that in order for counselling to work, you need to be willing to open up and make yourself a little vulnerable. You could be seeing the best therapist in the world and they wouldn't be able to do a thing for you if you refuse to even let them try.
An excellent example of a person counselling wouldn't work for.