Clinical Psychologist Depression?
Q.A worse problem is that depression is hard to diagnose reliably, and a few health professionals aren't happy diagnosing depression anyway - they sometimes have old-fashioned ideas about there being some social stigma attached to such a diagnosis, and think that they're being helpful by *not* giving a diagnosis of depression. In particular, while most GPs are very supportive of people with depression and have no problems with the idea of diagnosing depression, some are a bit behind the times and avoid such a diagnosis like the plague.
A.Low self-esteem is often tied in with self-doubt. You can doubt your own ability to judge things correctly. That means it's very common for people with depression to think that they're somehow `Okay really' and feel that they're some sort of fraud who's not really ill. After all, it's just in the mind, isn't it? Well, I've thought that, and it's wrong. Yes, depression is all in the mind, but it's still a real illness. If you've been diagnosed with depression you're ill and that's that. Depression is very much a treatable and curable illness: treatments include drugs, counselling and psychotherapy of various sorts, and lifestyle changes. They are all effective, usually more so in combination than alone. Most GPs these days are well aware of depression as an illness, so you need have no fears on that score. Depression is a depressingly common illness (apologies for the weak joke), and all GPs have patients suffering from it. They know that telling someone with depression to `just pull themselves together' is a stupid idea, so you won't get told that either unless your GP is a throwback to the 1920s. Assuming that your GP diagnoses you as having depression, the usual treatment involves a prescription of antidepressant drugs, possibly some other drugs such as sleeping pills in some cases, and perhaps a referral to a clinical psychologist, a counsellor, a psychiatrist, or someone similar. This referral depends on the availability of the appropriate people in your area and what your GP thinks is most appropriate for you. As far as employment goes, you can't be sacked for being ill, and depression is just an illness. If you have depression, need treatment, and don't get it, you might end up unable to do your job and you *can* be sacked for that. This means that it's normally better to get treatment than not. But there are a few things to be aware of: some antidepressants can cause drowsiness which can affect your abilty to drive and use machinery, so this is something you might like to discuss with anyone who prescribes antidepressants for you. And I have heard that a history of `endogenous' depression can adversely affect your ability to *enter* some professions, such as health care. Endogenous depression is depression that's not been triggered by any obvious external cause. The opposite form of depression is exogenous depression: depression caused by external factors, such as (for example), a death in the family, loss of a job, and so on. If you have had depression and a prospective employer thinks that it was triggered by external factors (exogenous depression), you are possibly less likely to have problems getting a job. As far as treatment and severity of the illness go, I know of no difference between exogenous and endogenous depression.
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