I'm going to see a doctor on Tuesday. This is my first time away from my childhood family practice doctor, and I'm very nervous. I've had some sort of problem for about ten years now, probably depression but I've never been diagnosed. I never told my childhood doctor about anything I was going through because my mom worked with him and I knew he would tell her and it would be a big deal and I would probably get into trouble with my abusive dad because of it. So now it's a few years later and my husband has encouraged me to go to a new doctor in our new city and finally tell someone what's going on with me. Our marriage is falling apart because of my moods, and if it does, i don't think I'll survive it. So going to see this doctor is one last chance for our marriage and for my life.

But I don't have any idea what to say... How do I make it clear to my doctor that I'm not doing this for attention, I'm really hurting very badly and have been for years. I just am so afraid that she's going to undermine my feelings and not helP me at all... How should I approach this?