[sassypants]

I went to see my shrink yesterday and I felt as if I had to
keep explaining to her, that I was very emotional, crying
spells and still depressed. She asked me if I was working
yet. Well last month she filled a report for my Social Security
Disability. She did not REMEMBER.Then she said,
well if you do get the disability , Are you planning to stay on
it forever? I told her no, once I start feeling better I would
return to work.I think she is convinced that I can work at
a full capacity. She finally gave in, when I started crying
and gave me another med to go along with the other 2
that i am on. Do you think it is time to change my shrink?
She made me feel guilty, for asking for the disability. I told
her, if it did not get approved, I would only work part-time and I
did not care if it was $8.00 an hr. Has anyone else had
an experience like this with their shrink?

[asylumgardens]

I have never had one like that. Generally they encourage working since being active tends to help depression, but I don't know if you have other medical issues, too. I have only ever had therapists encourage me in a good way, though.. none ever tried to make me feel guilty, etc. If you don't feel comfortable with her, or if she continues to push this, you might be better off finding someone else..

[Lothlorien]

Hi sassy, nice to meet you. I don't know your history but I agree with garden that it would be better to keep working if at all possible. Your shrink probably isn't judging you so much as just asking your intentions and trying to get a feel for where your head is at.

I don't remember the exact statistic but the rate of people returning to full time employment after being on disability for mental health reasons is low, 40% I think.

I'm not saying this will be you but for a lot of people it leads to a downward spiral. Anything positive that you can do for yourself to connect you to an active life you should hold onto with both hands.

I should say that I've had episodes of MDD for many years so I know how hard it is. My heart goes out to you and I wish you well. Please keep in touch to let us know how things work out.

Oh, and you should tell your shrink how his/her comments made you feel.

Lothlorien

[Direction]

Good posts....

[dreamrunner]

Sassypants,
I agree with other posts.Only once in the last year and half did my T ever suggest taking time off.That was only a handful of days......I have however,taken a few sick days when I was nonfunctional.
I know its hard to work but I found that idle hands a devils workshop.Working gave the me the push to get out of bed and become functional and the opportunity to focus on something rather than my illness.
Good luck

[sassypants]

Thank you everyone for your input. I also forgot to mention
that when I did work, I missed one or 2 days a month.
I feel as if I am not a dependable person. Infact, up until
last week I was sleeping from midnight to 5 p.m. the next
day. No matter how much I tried , i could not stay awake.
My shrink finally prescribed generic ritalin,but of course
my depression and crying spells are still bothering me.
Believe me , I would definitetly would work if I knew I could.
I was a perfectionist at work, and I always went out of the
way to help, our customers, co-workers or whoever needed
the help.
I do have my profile listed,so it tells a little more of myself.

Thanks again.

[selfy]

if u dont like the way she is dealing with this matter and is makingu feel guilty,,, id change your T,,, but did u tell her that it made u feel guilty?may be human error.. Ts make mistakes too
take care
self

[sassypants]

Hi! No I did not tell her that she made me feel guilty .
I guess its a late reaction, since I was crying non-stop, just
before I left her office. I guess I will see how I feel before
my next appoinment, that way I can figure out if I need to change doctors. And so true about your statement. t's makes mistakes. I understand that because everyone
makes mistakes.
Thank you for your thoughts.

[so_it_goes]

I don't want to add to any problems but be prepared to go the distance with your Social Security Disability claim. Not just mental illness but 75% of all claims are turned down the first time. It will more than likely take a year or more for your claim to get approved. I speak from experience. I would have to agree with Lothlorien about returning to work. I also have an anxiety component with my depression and the thought of going back to work comes close to going into a full blown attach. Good luck and hang in there.

[jefftele]

i feel it's a real tricky one the work and mental health, its seems a sweeping generalisation that work is good for everyone with mi, i have depression and anxiety related problem in returning to work ,financially i'd be worse off if i went back ,there is the fact that i've been out of work so long now and my age 51 that employers would not see me as a safe bet. i don't have the strength to work for myself anymore and my depression is of a recurent nature so what is my option? staying on disability. i would so love to be how i was ,but i'm not. there is tensions with my situation but i have to learn to gratefully accept my benefits and the situation. it is not my fault i have this illness , i wish you well

[sassypants]

Hi! Thank your for your advice.Yes, I am well aware that my
disability could take up 2 years. At this point I would
jeopardize my ability to qualify for SSD, if I tried to return to
work. Once, I feel better if I ever will, I am going to try to
do something part time. I am going to hang in there,
and wait. My friend also applied for SSD, for the same
reasons I did. She was aprroved within 6 months, without
an attorney.Hopefully I will have same kind of luck.
If not, then I know that God has other plans for me.

Thanks again for responding.

[sassypants]

I definitely agree with you. I feel that I am not well enough
to work at this time. Even, with all the med's, nothing has
worked for 6 years.Yet I pushed myself and missed quite
a few days every year at my last job. I was also working in
a hostile enviornment, which added to my stress and
depression. I was so sick, I was crying at work all the time.
I ended up suing the company for how they discrimanted
and they continued to harrass me every day. I won, and I
am so sad that there are really mean people out there. I loved my contacts at my job, and all my co-workers in the
shop. But it was not meant to be. No job is worth all the
stress, and harrassement. Thank you for responding
to my post. I wish you well also.

[wickedwings]

great posts in this thread. obviously, work can be beneficial, of course, but it's not for everyone. i haven't been able to hold down jobs for many years, even when my depression was under control. whenever i tried to work, i would pay such a huge price because i somehow become physically ill everytime. for the money i would make, it wasn't worth it because the price was too high for me in terms of health. but, i kept my life meaningful by having many hobbies. yeah, at first, i had to change my thinking in terms of my worth, since society has placed worth in terms of whether we work or not. if you can't work, it doesn't make you less of a person than anybody else. it's really the cards that we were handed to deal with, and we just have to do the best with what we have. Focus on what you have or can do, don't worry about what you don't have or can't do. I don't know where I picked up this motto, but this helped me. Hope this helps you.