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New to this and happy to find this place

ElmoNew Contributor15 Jan 2020, 1:48 am AEDT

New to this and happy to find this place

Hi all,

I cant believe I havent thought of looking for a place like this but happy to have found a place as open and inclusive like this.

Ive been battling Mental illness since a young age and have never been able to make a concentrated attempt at facing my illness although they may be more.

Ive been through medical system throughout my entire life battling many skin conditions aswell as having asthma and anaphyaxis, so naturally i like to avoid doctors or medical facilities as much as possible. aslong as I am feeling okay or better.

About two years ago i realised I had let my mental health deterioate to the point where i was failing in any attempt to further my education or work life. I had isolated myself from all that was close to me. I have since managed to recover myself and achieve a successful job and recently within the last 6 months i Have realised that i need to gain further insight to fulfill the last steps in my journey.

How ever I find that everytime i engage with a pyschiatrist or physchologist i find that my motivation to return is diminished. I feel like that the whole experience becomes exhausting and almost futile. Im just unaware of how to get through the experience as i know my next episode may not be one i can control and may cost me more then I have ever lost before.

I have been diagnosed with major drepressive disorder and more recently bipolar affective disorder

2 replies

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In response to: New to this and happy to find this place

CheerBearSenior Contributor16 Jan 2020, 3:41 pm AEDT

Re: New to this and happy to find this place

Hi @Elmo and welcome to the forum. I remember when I first came across this site and how surprised I was I hadn't thought to look for something like it earlier! It's great that you found your way here 🙂

It's awesome to hear you made it through what sounds like a really rough time a few years ago. Well done with recognising you could now use some extra support and trying to find that though sorry to hear that's becoming difficult. I can imagine it being more challenging given your medical experiences.

Are you able to talk with the psychiatrist or psychologist about how you're finding the experience challenging and your motivation diminishing? I find it can be tricky to engage with support people at times but sometimes it helps me to be open about that with them and work through it together a bit (sometimes not though).

Looking forward to seeing you around 🙂

In response to: New to this and happy to find this place

ethSenior Contributor17 Jan 2020, 8:52 am AEDT

Re: New to this and happy to find this place

Welcome from me too @Elmo It's great that you've found us and I appreciate your open sharing of what's going on for you. I spent a long time looking for support groups before finding the SANE forums so I know how good it can feel to find them. I also have bipolar (1) and a history of many years of major depressive episodes interspersed with hypomania/manic periods and am happy to answer any questions you have about it if you tag me (put an @ then type my name and it will show in a drop down box where you can click on it - as I have done with your name above). Personally a crucial part of managing for me is having both psychologist and psychiatrist that I have a good therapeutic relationship with. You have the right to 'shop around' for one who is a good fit for you, tho' if you're on a mental health care plan from your GP you only get 10 appointments a year for psychology. I have NDIS which covers a lot more sessions per year.
There are other aspects of how I cope including keeping daily charts of mood, sleep etc and also taking my meds as prescribed (for me that's a must).

I understand the fear of what might happen if you have another episode and want to stress that you can learn how to maintain insight into what's going on for you and when things are starting to change either up or down and strategies for self-care and stability at those times. That's why those therapeutic relationships where I am totally honest with the therapist, combined with the monitoring charts are so important for me.

Feel free to tag me and I'll always try to respond when I'm able to. Take care, @eth

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