Poor prognosis?

[Ssmith]

Hi guys,

I read on an online report that people who get into specialist services for mental health problems have a poor outcome when they have severe or complex problems. I have both. I have depression, GAD, agoraphobia when I'm feeling like this, probably a tiny bit of OCD. I feel like I'm not going to get better because I've read this and it's made me lose a bit of hope. Is there any advice someone can give me?

[GingerFish]

Years ago, I was housebound from panic attacks. I couldn't even make it to my wheelie bins outside my house. I was having severe panic attacks a good few times a day. I was suicidal, depressed, agoraphobic and never thought I would recover but 3 years on, I am more confident than I have ever been. I can go into town myself, on buses myself and I love shopping alone too. I never thought I would have recovered. I received little to no help for my panic attacks as my doctor at the time was unsympathetic to the problem so I done it all my own by reading Claire Weekes books and making my own charts and challenges to work through. If I could get through that on my own, anyone could do it, especially with help from a supportive doctor that everyone deserves. As for OCD, I have had that my whole life, so before the panic attacks and agoraphobia kicked in and I've been in and out of therapy for that my whole life. I am currently back in therapy for that and OCD is a chronic condition, which means you do have it for life but like other chronic conditions, you do learn to manage it and for some people that is almost as good as a total cure so people don't dwell on the stories about people never recovering especially from things like depression and GAD. Most people do recover and go onto lead very happy lives and to be honest, become all the more stronger and confident from their experiences as it showed them just how strong they are. A symptom of your conditions is to feel hopeless and that you will never recover so try and remember that part of what you are feeling is only a symptom, not an actual fact, no matter how true it feels.

[Fishmanpa]

Never base your prognosis on what you read on the internet. If I had listened to what the stats and articles said about my chances with cancer, I shouldn't be here.

It's totally unique to the individual and comes down to attitude and inner fortitude to keep pushing when it feels you can't do any more. As GFish said, often, the experience shows you just how strong you can be and actually are.

Positive thoughts

[Ssmith]

Thank you guys. This is exactly what i needed to hear :)

[MyNameIsTerry]

I am currently back in therapy for that and OCD is a chronic condition, which means you do have it for life but like other chronic conditions, you do learn to manage it and for some people that is almost as good as a total cure so people don't dwell on the stories about people never recovering especially from things like depression and GAD.

GAD is considered a long term condition too but as you say, people do recovery fully from it. My OCD started in my mid thirties and about 4 years after my GAD and I can tell you that I have stopped all my compulsions, something I thought was impossible back in the bad stages. The obsessions are proving harder but I do have the complication of my med that started it all off and this is probably not helping me get past them.

There are also people who have recovered fully from their OCD. There are people who say they have recovered from their HA, which can be an obsessive-compulsive disorder. HA spans GAD, OCD and Somatoform Disorders group and certainly the latter 2 share more common ground.

So, don't give up on it, BlondieFish :winks:.

---------- Post added at 05:00 ---------- Previous post was at 04:55 ----------


Hi guys,

I read on an online report that people who get into specialist services for mental health problems have a poor outcome when they have severe or complex problems. I have both. I have depression, GAD, agoraphobia when I'm feeling like this, probably a tiny bit of OCD. I feel like I'm not going to get better because I've read this and it's made me lose a bit of hope. Is there any advice someone can give me?

But what are all the factors involved? Those specialist services deal with more complex problems than anxiety disorders e.g. personality disorders which are more ingrained and harder to treat, bipolar, schizophrenia, delusional disorders, etc. Many of the people they treat have organic disorders that cannot be cured, only controlled like some I've just mentioned.

So, be careful reading these reports.

My GAD & OCD were so bad in my relapse (and I never had OCD before this) that I was saying exactly what you are here. Several years on and I've much better than I was back then.

I class myself as severe & complex, my entire day revolved around my OCD with my GAD being the primary push behind it. I did the same things everyday, struggled changing clothes, couldn't eat without strict routines, had to walk the same journeys doing all my compulsions throughout. I was agoraphobic for a couple of months at the worst of it.

There are people on here that were so bad they ended up being sectioned yet they are not back to work and leading much better lives.

[Ssmith]

Thanks Terry.

I guess because this has gone on for 5 years to some degree and I'm currently at my worst, having tried pretty much every SSRI, i feel like I'll never get better and I'm one of those cases where I'm treatment resistant. I think I'm feeling pretty hopeless as well because I'm just constantly waiting for help or on waiting lists. It's been a good 6 months since this big relapse and i could probably put all the treatment I've had since then in a week. So frustrating just waiting and waiting and it leaves me more and more pessimistic that i can't get better

[MyNameIsTerry]

I've had my GAD 9 years and the OCD came in the relapse about 3-4 years ago. I was off work my first year after the breakdown but then I got back into work for several years. Coming off Citalopram led to the relapse as I just wasn't ready as more things needed to be addressed BUT until about the last 9 months of my work I was doing really well.

When I relapsed I was put on a different med and it hasn't helped but my GP was adamant it was my anxiety and I was naïve back then. I spent a couple of years clawing my way back out of my OCD hell...which I never even had when I relapsed!

After the relapse I had Guided Self Help and then CBT. Neither did much for me, I was too far gone at that gone BUT my therapist got me started on Mindfulness and 6 months later, after the CBT had ended, I started working on the goals I just couldn't get anywhere near in therapy. So, it's a matter of finding things that work for you, it's all individual.

All the matters is that you recover, not how long it takes. I'm still working on it 3 years on but I'm in a much better place than back then.

You will find loads of people on here no what you are feeling. The last thing you want to hear is about a long length of time, I remember it well but it doesn't have to stay the way you are feeling right now...I could go back in time to tell that person I was to hang in there but it wouldn't make him feel much better as the daily onslaught was just too much. So, just keep working on things and little by little it will improve.