Just been diagnosed

[Chickenpea]

HI
I'm 38 and have suffered with anxiety and a round and round cycle of depression my whole life.
I have just been diagnosed with GAD. I am currently off work have been for just short of 2 months. They are starting to put pressure on my return and I am just not ready. GP has just started me on citalopram as I have been having suicidal thoughts. I have had CBT for 3 sessions and apparently I can only have 6. My fit note ends next Friday and Im in a panic. I just don't seem to be getting a handle on this.

[venusbluejeans]

Hiya Chickenpea and welcome to NMP :welcome:

Why not take a look at our articles on our home page, they contain a wealth of information and are a great starting place for your time on the forum.

I hope you find the as site helpful and informative as I have and that you get the help and support you need here and hope that you meet a few friends along the way :yesyes:

[Affraidofliving]

I'm brand new here too. Although I have different issues, I understand what you are saying about returning to work. I had a real fit with my anxiety roughly 8 months back and it seemed forever before the daily meds would help at all. I didn't want to work, I didn't want to do anything but lay in bed. I would basically watch tv in bed, have a panic attack, take Xanax, fall asleep, wake and repeat. It was rough, I didn't get suicidal thoughts but I wasn't enjoying life at all.

After I forced myself to go back to work and would struggle to get through my day it very slowly started to get easier. It was easy to hide in my bedroom and sleep but I did know the longer I kept up that behavior, the harder it would be to break the cycle. I'm no expert but I think you may have to force yourself to go back to work, maybe just a half a day at first but, I think it's an important step.

Again, I'm no expert. Just some guy who's afraid of everything all the time. So, I may just be saying nonsense but, sometimes just talking is helpful.

[GS83]

Hi Hun

I had CBT with talking therapies and it took an awful long time for me to ge the hang of it and feel I was making progress. I was given many more sessions than I shoduld have been but they did it on an individual basis is it worth asking your counsellor for more or saying that you are worried about the sessions ending? If there's nothing they can do can you go back to the GP and ask for the next step?

Xx

[Sam Winter]

Are you with a part term service? that could explain only having six sessions, I'm currently with a part term one as I didn't get into the real mental health services but I'm getting instead of the standard 6 because of how bad I currently am, it's worth asking your counsellor if there's anything they can do x

[Chickenpea]

Thank you for all your replies. I have counsellor tomorrow so will see how things feel after that.

[Bigboyuk]

Hi Chickenpea I have suffered too with many bouts of depression and often feel I cant go to work today, my boss too doesn't understand atall alll they care about is the damn contract in case they lose it. I know someone on here cant think where (it's a big forum) posted some guide lines that employers MUST follow if some one has a disability of any kind that could affect their work, so basically your boss cant fire you just because you have a MH condition just hope some one can remember the link and re post it here :)