Was it effective - ie. finding the right meds?
Also for anyone interested.
Mental Health First Aid is 2 day course. Very similar idea to normal first aid.
But itās about responding to and recognising people who are dealing with the many types mental Illness.
I always recommend parents of teenagers and also teachers to do this course. Itās a very simple and easy to follow guide for how to support anyone.
Melbourne Uni sometimes offer the course for free, to parents of Teenagers who are willing to be part of their research.
Check it out.
http://mhfa.com.au
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I was lucky It showed was already on the right meds ( Zoloft, but it gave me peace of mind I was on the right stuff) I think itās some kind of DNA/ gene test.
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Has anyone else found some GPs to be less than useless? Had one actually prescribe me a high dose of āroids whilst I was going through bouts of pretty high anxiety. Was not great
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I agree. Took a lot of trauma trying different medications. I would only use a GP for the mental health plan rebate, to get referrals, medical certificates or scripts if my psychiatrist was away.
I wouldnāt have a GP prescribe anti depressants. Though that is purely from my bad experiences.
When I told my original Dr that I wasnāt improving he just doubled my intake.
Went to different Dr got new prescription
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Those lines confused me 
Iāve only started suffering from anxiety the last few years. Diet and exercise make a massive difference. Shift work for my wife and myself make it hard too.
Iāve had a lot of friends on medication for depression and theyāve had a really hard time starting off and then at the other end so good luck to anyone going down that road. Saying that it was worth the effort for them.
Great thread btw.
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I had a GP after a psych diagnosed me with PTSD after I was physically attacked by 2 ice addicts who I discovered they were prostituting their 6 year old to pedophiles for drug money. That instead of medications to help me sleep I should covert to Jehovahs Whitness.
True story
Wowā¦just wow. 
Ugh.
So, so, so much of our health system relies on GPs not being ā ā ā ā . And so often theyāre out of date, switched off or just incompetent.
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Hey jono - Iām a social worker too 
thats terrible you were treated that way and have seen a similar attitude taken against colleagues and friends
And in a wider level I hear you, bullying is absolutely rife in the so called helping professions
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Itās my personal and professional opinion that GPās should not diagnose/prescribe for mental health issues. There are some wonderful ones out there but there are also many many with absolutely no idea. Our system sucks, the alternative is wait months to see a psychiatrist in the public system and even then some are notorious for dosing people up to their eyeballs on benzos and not doing thorough assessmentsā¦end rant
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Weirdly, I found it funny. After the fact. The GP that is, not the other stuff
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Couldnāt agree more. Itās beyond a joke that bullying is an issue in mental health organisations. I honestly blame middle management. Middle management is absolutely sh*t house in the welfare sector. Usually itās people who have no skills in leadership or management, but have kissed some ar|se with line managers to get promoted. Then end up being threatened by younger staff who have far more qualifications.
Anyway, in my circumstance my manager said to me, āof course having a child is tough, what did you expect? You need to suck it upā
Great leadership.
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Personally had great response to cognitive behavioural therapy provided by a psychologist that specialised in that area. Was for anxiety, stress & feelings of worthlessness etc brought on by complex relationship issues and exacerbated by an incident at work.
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Bullying is rife in all lines of work. Iām not allowed to take annual leave cause I have had 14 days sick leave in a year. I feel like I canāt take sick leave even when I need it now. All they care about is themselves. I wonder sometimes how they would deal with the same situation
Iām sure they canāt do that? Youāre entitled to your annual leave regardless of sick days. Give the union a call and theyāll be able to answer it
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Some of the tales regarding management attitudes towards mental health (or even health in general in a couple of instances) are slightly alarming.
Iāve been fortunate enough to avoid any ongoing chronic depression, though have had one particularly bad bout of stress/anxiety induced depressive episodes. Was around 12 months ago and about 1/2 way into my first term of proper uni (having done only certificate and diploma level courses in the past) and I allowed the stress/anxiety to build up which really came to a head with a relatively small trigger (Iād gotten to my First Aid course early to have lunch before we started and the cafĆ© had nothing I wanted to eat nor did I have cash on me for the milk bar down the road). I can remember sitting in my car for 30 minutes and signing up for the organ donor register before researching into the organ donor process and the likelihood that I could preserve all my organs whilst committing suicide (as it turns out itās nigh on impossible; the best āsolutionā I could find was shooting yourself in the head in a specific manner that shut off your cognitive functioning but kept your vital organs ticking over, and that what Will Smith does in 7 Pounds definitely wonāt work).
Over the following 4-5 weeks I had a few more similar breakdowns like this prior to exams (one of the worst left me fetal positioned on the lounge room floor for an hour), and then I found the first fortnight of holidays surprisingly difficult as well.
I ended up seeing the GP and getting a referral to a psych after discussions with a friend who is a psych student and also after taking a couple of tests on either the Black Dog Institute or Beyond Blue websites and scoring horribly on them.
For me personally, I describe my situation like being caught in a rip. I was so stubborn about tackling it head on and trying to convince myself I wasnāt overly stressed or anxious that I simply wore myself out mentally and made it worse. When I learned to accept what I was feeling I found it much easier to deal with and work around.
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Never really admitted to myself that I might have a problem. Although the signs are there big time!
Iām not keen on being medicated as I donāt think this will be the answer for me long term. Basically Iām scared shitless to becoming reliant on meds!
Iām terribly unfit currently and I think this is the answer for me moving forward.
I think the penny dropped for when a good mate called me recently and we got chatting and he opened up about his battle with PTSD and how many of our mates are going through hell. He said I was about the only one of the boys that has held down a job! (Thatās about 30-40 blokes that are like brothers). He dug a little deeper with me and then said I should seek some help. Iām still sitting here although I have filled in some paperwork. Anyone else find it hard to do what should be simple tasks like filling in some paperwork correctly? Itās taken me about 3 months and still not there yet!
For those that are veterans (East Timor for me) there is a lot of help out there but most of us donāt know where to start. Iām at the very early stage of getting help but luckily I have others that can help me out and all it took was a mate having a chat.
I find one of the best things for me is chatting to other veterans.
One thing that Iāve always struggled with and I know a lot of my mates have is 'it was only East Timor ā compared to previous Vietnam Korea Ww2 etc and other conflicts since like Afghan and Iraq Timor was a walk in the park!
One thing I know for sure that a happy jovial confident young man went overseas but at some point over there there was a shift and a completely different person came home!
Anyway thanks for listening and I wish everyone well. I think this thread could help some of us struggling. Itās the first time I ever written about it so I guess itās a start.
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If you recognise it yourself, then itās likely that youāve been carrying it around with you undetected for a long time.
I encourage you to start the process.
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