[Bluesday]

I've never been treated medically, but suffered from depression and anxiety for years. I have a physical next week, should I tell my regular doctor? Will they refer me to a psychologist/psychiatrist? How have some of you gone about getting treatment for these conditions?

[TheLifeFantastic]

Originally Posted by Bluesday

I've never been treated medically, but suffered from depression and anxiety for years. I have a physical next week, should I tell my regular doctor? Will they refer me to a psychologist/psychiatrist? How have some of you gone about getting treatment for these conditions?

First off I would like to say never be nervous about telling your doctor how you feel. If you, the patient, feels like there is a problem then you should describe to your Doctor how you feel.

It really depends on the doctor if they will refer you right of the bat. It also depends on how severe your depression and anxiety is as well. I know from working with my doctor that he was the one you started me off on medication, but it finally reached a point that he did not feel comfortable treating me for my depression. That's when he referred me Psychiatrist.

It's been about a year now in my treatment. My anxiety levels have gone down, but due to a chain reaction of bad events my depression has been a constant battle, but I know for a fact that if I did not get treatment I would not be here today. So my friend I hope that you will discuss this with your doctor so they can start steering you to the better path.

[OneInBillions]

Personally I finally decided to go in and talk to my GP, or regular doctor, at the end of 2013. He was really nice and understanding. He referred me to a psychiatrist -- they specialize in mental illness so they're really the ones to make the "official" diagnosis. Just tell them each about all the symptoms you've been experiencing. Then you can discuss with the psychiatrist how to proceed with your treatment, including seeing a psychologist for therapy or starting medication. In my case, my GP started me on generic Prozac, though I continued seeing the psychiatrist and changed to different medications.

When I decided to get help I knew I had major depressive disorder and social anxiety disorder, but was additionally diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and a possible autism spectrum disorder. More might be going on than you know, or perhaps less. It felt good to finally get a proper diagnosis, though, instead of guessing myself for so many years.

I wish you well.

[Smileonmyface]

I also started with my gp who also referred me to behavioral health. Initially it was my ob/gyn who put me on medicine for depression he said he could "feel" it back when I was pregnant. I was so grateful for that because it was so hard to talk about. Since then it's gotten easier to ask for help. Your gp is a good place to start.

[Fuzzybear]

[Apathy123]

I went straight to a psychiatrist for help when I started treatment but either way works. Whatever feels more comfortable for you.

[healingme4me]

Originally Posted by Bluesday

I've never been treated medically, but suffered from depression and anxiety for years. I have a physical next week, should I tell my regular doctor? Will they refer me to a psychologist/psychiatrist? How have some of you gone about getting treatment for these conditions?

My GP leaves the therapy field, up to his patient's own free will. He doesn't refer in this direction. That said, I've utilized my health insurance provider for a list of covered providers, and sought out my own T, except my current T, I'd showed this list to my pdoc, who highlighted a few T's from the list, after my health insurance changed and my T, at that time didn't accept the new insurance. Pdoc was referred by my neurologist.

[Bluesday]

Thanks for everyone's input. I saw my doctor today and she put me on a low dose of Paxil to start and gave me the contact info for psychiatry. Has anyone here ever been on Paxil?

I haven't been on Paxil, but I've been on other SSRIs. (that's a class of antidepressants Paxil belongs to) I hope you find something (meds, therapy, whatever) that works for you and that the depression lifts.