Here we are ladyBT
Thing is CLKD - not amount of therapy is gonna help if the problem is really screwed up chemicals in your body. I always describe it like having an untuned engine in a car - if you don't get the oil/water/air and electrical balance right - the engine runs rough/loudly or not at all! - bodies are just the same. If we could all change the way our bodies react just by thinking there wouldn't be about 47k + women posting on this site, the majority of whom have hormonal depression or emotional psychological issues due to the female chemicals in their female bodies!
To me although it might seem far too simple loads of illness that cant seem to be fixed are all to do with in-balance in the body. The NHS never does proper testing of hormone levels - vitamins, minerals, thyroid, cortisol, inflammation in the blood etc.
Are you still seeing anyone? Mental health services are always going on about "your support network". I didnt have anyone - no friends (didnt have time) loads of illness in my family - my mother was disabled - my children were premature and one was a great ormond street heart baby having operations - then I married into a family with genetic cardiomyopathy!! only I didnt know it at the time - so I was always the one looking after everyone else.
Has it got any better as you have got older or have you just learnt to live with it?
Many years ago there was a train of thought that concerned chemical imbalances in the brain. My Dad in the 1960s underwent treatment in the form of deep sleep. The idea I think was that the body would heal itself, including the brain if left to rest without input from outside stresses. Along with that awful therapy ........... where the brain is stimulated.
Dad was given lots of drugs in order to maintain deep sleep. For a while it seemed to work. When my depression hit in the 1980s, I was told that I was 'pre-disposed' to depression. So no offer of finding out if there was/is a chemical imbalance.
My pre-menstrual weeping episodes were different to the depression suffered later on. CBT never helped. I went into therapy to get rid of issues that were bugging me = anxiety. That worked well; discuss, decide, ditch. It didn't help my depression.
When my friend ended his life 2 years ago I contacted 'mind' charity as I was in danger for a while. They were very helpful at the time and I didn't need to go to a walk-in centre. I stopped any counselling sessions in the late 1990s. My GP keeps me topped up with appropriate medication and I am more aware of how depression creeps up. I have a loving husband
. Depression nor anxiety R no longer the forefront of my daily worries, in that I can go out and about - as long as I don't plan too far ahead!