Lets all be anxious/depressed together.

Seren_

G-Money wrote: »

More of a question. For those of you who are on anti-depressants, did a regular GP prescribe them or did you have to see a psychiatrist?

My meds were prescribed by my GP, but under the supervision of a psychiatrist. I was originally prescribed by a psych though when I was first diagnosed.

I've been doing okayish lately. Just need to get more motivated, need to start working on that from now on. Hope you guys are all okay x

Princess Peach

G-Money wrote: »

More of a question. For those of you who are on anti-depressants, did a regular GP prescribe them or did you have to see a psychiatrist?

I've only ever been to GPs about mine for over 3 years now, cause I settled pretty well on the first one I was put on, just had the doseages tweaked over the years. If you want info about them, GP is the first port of call.

Mimbo

Going through a pretty bad period at the moment. I could burst out crying at any stage. I'm trying my best not too because I'm in work. I have been going for Reiki and the therapist told me that the anxiety/crying has to come to the fore because it can be healed. I am just so tired, I don't know how much more of this I can take.:(

degausserxo

Mimbo wrote: »

Going through a pretty bad period at the moment. I could burst out crying at any stage. I'm trying my best not too because I'm in work. I have been going for Reiki and the therapist told me that the anxiety/crying has to come to the fore because it can be healed. I am just so tired, I don't know how much more of this I can take.:(

I found that reiki helped me quite a bit. I could never and still can't cry, but something about reiki helped me let it out. Good luck with it.

Mimbo

Cheers Dega,

I hope the Reiki comes through for me as well. I would never really cry either but maybe now I am releasing and letting go of some of the bad stuff. It's very hard to see the good it is doing you when you feel so bad. Hopeful this slump will pass.

Gremlinertia

Having the most realistic dreams of late none of them good, this morning i had to text a friend of mine to check he was alive. Suppose he's wondering why the crazy hermit text him out of nowhere! However after figuring out that was a dream i'm now relaxing a bit. Milky coffee and playing with the dog, little things..

jtsuited

Mimbo wrote: »

Going through a pretty bad period at the moment. I could burst out crying at any stage. I'm trying my best not too because I'm in work. I have been going for Reiki and the therapist told me that the anxiety/crying has to come to the fore because it can be healed(

You know Reiki is complete and utter bullsh1t right?

Princess Peach

jtsuited wrote: »

You know Reiki is complete and utter bullsh1t right?

You have personal experience of it?

jtsuited

Princess Peach wrote: »

You have personal experience of it?

Doesn't matter if I have or have not tbh. It's complete and utter nonsense not backed up by evidence whatsoever.

But actually yes, I experienced it once when a well-known-now-deceased-'doctor' told me he'd like to try it on me. To be fair, I did leave his clinic laughing my ass off.

The holistic/complementary/alternative medicine brigade love jumping on depression and have all sorts of silly explanations rooted in new age spirituality and airy-fairy nonsense.

Sardonicat

Having a really bad day today. not had a day like this in a long time. Feel very down and grumpy and lethargic. Even went to bed in the middle of the day and had a sleep! Never a good sign.

Hopefully this is just a one-off. Tomorow will make an effort to be pro-active. Will keep a close eye on my moods over next few weeks to see if a pattern is emerging.
/ rant over.

Keep fighting the good fight folks. And if it's working keep doing it, whatever "it" may be.

Gremlinertia

jtsuited wrote: »

You know Reiki is complete and utter bullsh1t right?

You base this on?? Source is required in fairness..


Not trying to be mean, just wondering, sometimes some things work, and others do not, writing something off out of hand is not helpful to both myself and others who feel this thread is a support network. Sorry for being cranky tonight.

Grem

nesf

Princess Peach wrote: »

You have personal experience of it?

Personal experience counts for nothing. If you want to show that reiki works then show studies showing it works. The burden of proof is on those making the claim etc.

Just because a person finds something works for them doesn't mean it works in general and this is an extremely important distinction to draw. There's a strong placebo effect with reiki and other alternative medicines and you need studies etc to exclude it from the mix.

Princess Peach

nesf wrote: »

Personal experience counts for nothing. If you want to show that reiki works then show studies showing it works. The burden of proof is on those making the claim etc.

Just because a person finds something works for them doesn't mean it works in general and this is an extremely important distinction to draw. There's a strong placebo effect with reiki and other alternative medicines and you need studies etc to exclude it from the mix.

I was asking based on what the forum charter says about only posting about personal experiences of alternative medicines.

nesf

Princess Peach wrote: »

I was asking based on what the forum charter says about only posting about personal experiences of alternative medicines.

This forum should be moved to Rec then if people can't ask for evidence behind a treatment.

Princess Peach

Pretty tough to find any definitive evidence of a sure fire treatment for depression, it being such a subjective mental illness.

So if a few posters here find Reiki is working for them, how is anyone to say otherwise?

I find Mario Kart is form of treatment for me. Doesn't mean its going to work got everyone, doesn't mean its bullsh*t. I think meds work well for me, could find many articles saying otherwise.

I just found jtsuited's comments very unhelpful.

nesf

Princess Peach wrote: »

Pretty tough to find any definitive evidence of a sure fire treatment for depression, it being such a subjective mental illness.

So if a few posters here find Reiki is working for them, how is anyone to say otherwise?

I find Mario Kart is form of treatment for me. Doesn't mean its going to work got everyone, doesn't mean its bullsh*t. I think meds work well for me, could find many articles saying otherwise.

I just found jtsuited's comments very unhelpful.

The point is that reiki has no solid evidence to support it at all. None. You could get sham reiki and probably get just as good an effect if you didn't know which you were getting. If reiki was free, eh, I wouldn't have a problem with it but it's not. Meditation on the other hand is free and has some evidence showing its effectiveness in depression. Which is why you get such a ruckus over people talking about reiki. Some alternative therapies show effectiveness, some do not, not all should be treated the same then no?

The problem isn't that one person gets something from reiki, it's that by posting on this thread about it it's effectively an advertisement for it and this is the point that should be challenged.

nesf

Can't bloody sleep despite taking 7.5mg of Zopiclone and 1mg of Rivotril.

banquo

That sucks, know the feeling. Tried breathing exercises, etc, yeah?

nesf

banquo wrote: »

That sucks, know the feeling. Tried breathing exercises, etc, yeah?

Yeah tried my usual meditation techniques, nothing seems to be working. My body just seems to have decided that now is awake time and sedatives don't seem to convince it otherwise.

tbh

nesf wrote: »

Princess Peach wrote: »

I was asking based on what the forum charter says about only posting about personal experiences of alternative medicines.

This forum should be moved to Rec then if people can't ask for evidence behind a treatment.

people can ask for evidence without being a dick about it. i too found jsuiteds post to be unhelpful, particulalry in a support thread. jsuited, please dont post like that again

nesf

tbh wrote: »

please dont post like that again

Is that aimed at me, jtsuited or both of us? It's unclear in your post.

tbh

nesf wrote: »

Is that aimed at me, jtsuited or both of us? It's unclear in your post.

jsuited.

neemish

Peoples, can we not do this please?

One of the things I value about this thread is that we don't get into arguments about what we find helpful.

jtsuited

tbh wrote: »

people can ask for evidence without being a dick about it. i too found jsuiteds post to be unhelpful, particulalry in a support thread. jsuited, please dont post like that again

ok.
not sure how calling something that has ZERO evidence behind it bullsh1t is being a dick but you're the mod.

I would actually say it's far more helpful to point out to sufferers of depression what the evidence says are the best ways of recovery. There is huge money in depression treatments for quacks.

And according to the evidence, antidepressants (slightly better than placebo in mild cases, signficantly better in severe depression), exercise (30 minutes of intense exercise 3 times a week/45 minutes moderate exercise 5 times a week), meditation and certain talk-therapies are all helpful. And as always, all of them together are far better than either alone.

If you want the evidence for any of these, please go to the Cochrane collection, which is the largest meta-analyses database on evidence based medicine.

cochrane.org

I understand that this is a support thread, but I think it would be greater for everyone to actually get better through the tried-and-tested evidence based treatments, than to dilly dally around with all the various forms of quackery aimed at depression sufferers.

As has been mentioned, the FIRST port of call for anybody suffering depression is their GP. Not 'qualified professionals' in areas that are complete pseudoscience or flat out New Age quackery.

jtsuited

Princess Peach wrote: »

Pretty tough to find any definitive evidence of a sure fire treatment for depression, it being such a subjective mental illness.

Nope, antidepressants, exercise and certain talk-therapies have years of data to back them up.

Princess Peach wrote: »

So if a few posters here find Reiki is working for them, how is anyone to say otherwise?

Because there are only two types of medicine....that which has been proven to work and that which has not. Reiki falls into the former category. People should be aware of this fact.

Princess Peach wrote: »

I think meds work well for me, could find many articles saying otherwise.

I can find you loads of articles saying the Queen is a lizard or that the MMR vaccine causes autism. But there is no evidence for either claim. You have been prescribed medication based on the evidence available to your doctor.

tbh

jtsuited wrote: »

ok.
not sure how calling something that has ZERO evidence behind it bullsh1t is being a dick but you're the mod.

Let me just clarify, I don't want to pull the thread too far off-topic, but I want to be sure you know where I'm coming from.

The person posted that Reiki has helped her. That they experienced a benefit from it doesn't mean that others will, but it's also not up for debate. S/he got benefit from it, and that's all that counts.

S/hes offering her experiences of something that has benefited her, and that's great. To then reply saying "you do know that's bull****, right?" is needlessly aggressive and may put him/her off posting in future.

By all means discuss it (probably best in health sciences) or say "well, I don't believe in it, but if it works for you..." or whatever.

But I don't want someone being made to feel like a liar or a shill because they posted the truth, as they experienced it.

Now, I'm happy to discuss this over PM if you want to continue the conversation. I'm not saying you're a dick or anything, I'm just pointing out that the tone of your post isn't suitable for this thread, and I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't post like that again.

jtsuited

cool, fair enough. hopefully i've explained myself in my above posts. i understand if this isn't the place for a discussion like this.

Princess Peach

I just would really hate for anyone to start questioning something they are getting benefit from. Whatever helps, you should just do it

jtsuited

Princess Peach wrote: »

I just would really hate for anyone to start questioning something they are getting benefit from. Whatever helps, you should just do it

Well I don't think it's that simple. A lot of people with depression in particular, have an ongoing battle with it for a very long time. This is sometimes because they only get partial treatment and then fluff out the rest with stuff that doesn't really help (to a significant degree).

When depression isn't treated fully, patients often fill that hole with a whole load of other stuff from chakra realignment to workaholism to pretty much anything. Now this would be fine if they were doing great but a lot of the time they're only keeping their head above water and relapse is only around the corner.

And, as Nesf, points out, there's big money in the 'alternative' treatments. I put it in quotes because alternative medicine by definition means stuff that has either been proven not to work, or, has not been proven to work.

Listen, if slapping yourself with a wet fish everyday alleviates your depression, I'm all for it. But slapping yourself with a fish has not been proven to work whatsoever. And considering there ARE vitally important proven treatments for depression (anti-depressants + exercise + certain talk therapies all together) it is an awful waste of both time and money for depression sufferers to be seeing quacks.

So if someone said 'should i slap myself with a fish every day, it makes me feel better' I'd say 'go for it, but make sure you're fully treating the problem with the evidence based treatments first'.

Clinical depression is a SERIOUS, insidious nasty condition you wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy. By thinking that Reiki or homeopathy or acupuncture etc is gonna take care of it is not very helpful at all, because it often causes people to not seek proper treatment to end their horrific, needless, suffering.

Princess Peach

Nobody here has said the it was their only form of treatment though

If you want to call alternative therapists "quacks" thats fine, I just don't think its helpful for people here who have benefited from it or who want to try these things.