Is there any point?

Has it helped you, in any capacity? Do you find that you've learned anything new?

Yes, to be depressed and have talking-therapy may be of big help for short or longer time depending on what sort of crisis one is in with the depression. Sometimes people meet a therapist they don't like. That's OK. One can try another one.

Originally Posted by Singer47

Yes, to be depressed and have talking-therapy may be of big help for short or longer time depending on what sort of crisis one is in with the depression. Sometimes people meet a therapist they don't like. That's OK. One can try another one.

Can you describe how it helped you?

Originally Posted by emptynightmare

Can you describe how it helped you?

First of all it felt good that someone understood me and respected med as a person. I got the feeling that when someone was willing to take me seriously, I wanted to do my part of the job well. Good therapy is a cooperation between therapist and patient on the way to a better life for the patient.

I think that to benefit from therapy one has to be willing to trust and cooperate, - to look into dark corners of ones life and be eager to build better coping skills. It is also important to have a goal to work for "in the end of the tunnel". Therapy can go up and down (that means that one has to be able to tolerate backsliding without running away).

If you want to go to therapy, the wisest thing you can do, the way I see it, is to prepare yourself for being able to talk about yourself without hiding, - to prepare yourself for cooperation and not to dismiss good advice from your therapist, but rather be able to ask for an explanation if you don't understand. If things are difficult to talk about, tell you therapist. He will understand! It is not about being clever, but about to dare to develop a relationship with the therapist and to trust that the therapist is skilled enough to know how to end this close relationship when you are well enough to make it on your own.

[Etherin]

I think it could be helpful because you can talk about what's bothering you and get feedback. I picked up a few helpful tips. What I didn't like about it is that if you're not "progressing enough" it can make you feel inadequate/like you're wasting each other's time, so I guess it's better for people who are extremely ready to change their ways.

Originally Posted by Etherin

I think it could be helpful because you can talk about what's bothering you and get feedback. I picked up a few helpful tips. What I didn't like about it is that if you're not "progressing enough" it can make you feel inadequate/like you're wasting each other's time, so I guess it's better for people who are extremely ready to change their ways.

Well, therapists may say things in different voices. They are only human. Most important is that we as patients start to understand that therapists work for somebody who want results. If they don't make progress with a patient (and cannot give a professional account for that), their boss or the insurance company will start to be impatient. If the therapist cannot document for those who pay them why the patient isn't moving forward, then it might happen that sessions have to stop. If a patient is told that she or he has the capacity to become better, the patient has to take the chance. The therapist is not a good fairy with a magic wand.

In my view psycho-education should be about the frames the Psychiatrists an Psychologists work inside as well. That may help the patient to understand that he or she don't have to hurry up to become low in depression, but to understand that she/he has to use the resources when they are available.

I had good luck with my therapist. He took the time, that is followed me in my ups and downs. He showed that he trusted in me and believed that I should be able to walk my way out of depression, suicidal thoughts, - periods where I could not see the hope ... And he was right. I did become well! That my condition later became chronic has nothing to do with the therapist. Things happened (that I had not asked for) that was unbearable ...

So it is. We have no guarantee, but still we can invest wholehearted in our future and in the hope of either get rid of our depressions or at least learn to cope with them. Therapists are good at helping with that! If one wants a human therapist, one will have that. If one wants a god without failures one has to seek elsewhere ...