[Kakaneki]

I just joined this since I've tried tons of coping mechanisms and haven't found something that fits so why not right?

I feel sort of stupid even posting on here. I read a few of the other posts already and have learned about some truly terrible situations that some people are in. I have had no big life changes recently. I haven't lost a loved one, been let go from a job or diagnosed with a chronic physical illness. In March, I was on a trip to Mexico for spring break. I was on vacation with my boyfriend and my best friends. My grades in school were great and my relationships with family and friends were great. I was well loved by the girls in my sorority and in excellent physical health. In theory, my life was perfect. Yet, I spent most of my trip crying and I didn't know why. When I came home, this continued. I felt sad, hopeless and spent 3 or more hours a day crying. In April I finally went to see an MD and was diagnosed with depression. Apparently pulling frequent all-nighters like many other college kids depleted my serotonin levels to the point that I could no longer control my mood.

I have tried a number of antidepressants and we're still trying to figure out which is right for me. In the last month, I began seeing a new psychiatrist/therapist who diagnosed me with GAD and PPMD. I have also become agoraphobic and severely underweight secondary to my depression.

I have a close friend who also suffers from depression and it helps to talk to her sometimes. I wish I could feel as comfortable around mental health professionals as I do my friend. My mom tries really hard to be there for me but I can see how frustrated she sometimes gets with my moods and complete lack of energy. I can tell that she tries hard to understand that I simply cannot control my emotions or complete lack there of at times. I know she didn't ask for a kid with mental illness and I feel bad about the toll it's taking on her to help me get from day to day.

I have a hard time talking to health care workers about the way that I am feeling because I know exactly what they are doing when they speak to me. As a nursing student, I understand the patho and symptoms of mental illnesses and all of the meds used to treat them. All health care workers are taught to speak to patients using "therapeutic communication." It sounds nice and works well when communicating with non-mentally ill patients but I feel as if I am being spoken to condescendingly at my appointments.

What I would love to know are what types of coping mechanisms people are using that seem to have a positive effect on them. As of late, I have realized that the coping mechanisms that I have been relying most heavily on are not eating and self-mutilation. I understand that these are not therapeutic coping mechanisms and am therefore praying that I can find some other ways to cope.

[sashasiegel]

let me know if youd like to talk

[phoenix47baby]

outside activities:

volunteering
hospital, museum, charity organization ----so you will get "outside" of your head and not think so much about yourself. This is a key to getting out of depression along with balancing the serotonin levels. I am glad you are taking an antidepressant. Getting really involved with your sorority, maybe even giving yourself permission to take a nap every now and again. Both self-mut. and starving are self-imposed acts which mean you are thinking inwardly. The idea is to get busy and start thinking about things outside yourself. That is why i suggested outside volunteering @ a hospital (oh, right you're a nurse to be) for get that one, but museum or charity work might be a good idea. Good Luck and sending good thoughts your way. phoenix47

If the therapy and meds are not working, perhaps it is time to help your therapist get it right? As you know, therapy is a cooperative venture. Both you and the therapist need to do your part. Your part includes telling the therapist you do not like being talked down to, and anything else that stands in the way of progress.

Good luck.

[Rohag]

Hi, Kakaneki!

Originally Posted by Kakaneki

What I would love to know are what types of coping mechanisms people are using that seem to have a positive effect on them.

Here's a link to a thread here where a few people talked about what they as depressed individuals actually do to manage the illness: What do you do to help your depression? I'm sure you already know of or can easily find "formal" advice.

Thanks for the "therapeutic communication" insight. That explains some weirdnesses...

On that subject, some of the folks here print out their posts and hand them to their therapists/doctors. On occasion I've composed a prepared statement of events or symptoms to give to a doctor to save me the trouble of going over the same material repeatedly with new providers.

May you find what you need.

[lonegael]

If you can see a therapist, you might want to ask her for help in identifying and expressing emotions. It is often really hard for people who have depression to figure out how and what they are feeling, and how to let those around them understand this. Often there's a lot of just OUCH that is hard to sort out and differentiate, and that is hard to deal with. A lot of folks SI to try to decharge the mess of unidentifyable, painful emotion. There are better ways to do it and a good T should be able to help you. Be gentle to yourself. You mom didn't ask for this, but neither did you. Keep posting, OK?
PS: I'm sorry if I sound condescending, but I actually have had to learn how to be over obvious when I communicate because otherwise people in the country I now live in all too eagerly "misinterpret me". It might be therapeutic, it might even be comunication, but it's not meant to be "therapeutic communication"