Counselling
 

Ok, I'm now 20, to be 21 this year. I have a feeling I'm slipping back into the depression that I came out of over a year ago. I had 'counselling' but it was not successful. I felt it didn't work. I don't think it was the right type of counselling. What does counselling involve for depression?

I can feel myself slipping back into it. I really don't want to. I don't want to go back to the doctors. I've failed again, haven't I? I can feel it. I don't want to be on this spiral again...

:ermm:
x

hey sweetie
i think you are really brave for posting this and thinking about going back to counselling
you havent failed and it is really really smart of you to feel yourself slipping and wanting to stop it and fix it before it gets bad
i think you will have to go to the doctor's though
umm are you in the UK or USA? i don't know how it is in the UK but in the USA you can call your insurance company and get a referral for therapy, or you can go to your doctor's, like your GP and they can refer you. or, if you are in school, like college or uni, you can see your school's counselling center. if you are at a job lots of big employers have on-site therapists. my last job had one and it was called their EAP or employee assistance program.

anyhow,
for depression usually people see one person for some kind of talk therapy, and a psychiatrist for medication therapy (if you choose to take meds and go on anti-depressants or anti-anxiety stuff which is up to you). it takes different degrees and licenses to be able to diagnose and prescribe medications, so you have to be a medication specialist and psychiatrists are the only ones trained to do that.

for the talk therapy, lots of people can do that but it is usally psychologists or different types of counsellors like CPNs or social workers.

there are all different types of therapy and counselling because there are lots of different schools of thought in psychology and each type sort of created it's own therapy system. for depression usually people have psychotherapy, lots of talking and such and working on changing your thoughts and figuring out what caused the depression and fixing it to make the depressed thoughts go away. there are also therapies that focus on your behaviors and your actions and stuff, not just talking and your thoughts, and two of those are CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) and for SI more specifically i just heard about DBT (dialectical behavioral therapy) and both of those involve changing your target behaviors in order to improve your mental health in addition to talk therapy and that sorta stuff.

okay wow i wrote a book i hope i havent confused the heck outa you

i really encourage you to call your doc or talk to somebody
you deserve to feel better and finally get some help
it's scary and not fun and for me the first time i called to get help i felt soooo stupid and like some pathetic crazy person but it's not true and these docs and psychs make a living helping people, it's their job and they took that career because they wanted to help people feel better, so don't feel stupid or scared
be brave you can do it
take care
xxxooo
callie

Callie said it so well. Just want to encourage you to get help. There's nothing wrong with asking for and getting help.
*gives you a reassuring hug*

Thanks for the hugs. I just dunno what to do. I hate being depressed and battling everyday. It's always an uphill battle huh?
x

omgosh it's a sucky battle, i don't know if it's uphill or downhill or sideways and sometimes circular, but it's sucky and annoying and confusing but necessary and so much better than not doing anything which only makes it worse
ignoring problems, hoping they will go away and fix themselves, i can say through personal experience does not work AT ALL :(
i wish you good luck and send you lots of hugs
you know what to do i think
nip this in the bud before it gets worse
be brave and call your doc
it isnt as scary as you might think and you will feel SO MUCH BETTER
xxxooo

Hello there,

As someone who has been in therapy for depression and PTSD for about three years now, I can tell you it has been a tremendous help.

The two major therapy techniques my therapist has used with me are:

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which is a newer one out there and a bit of an offshoot from CBT.

As someone also mentioned, DBT is good and specifically used for self-harm and other self-destructive actions. I was in a DBT group a while back and learned a lot.

If you Google any of these, you should be able to find some good information on how they work.

Good luck. I know a good therapist can go a long way towards helping you.