Depression,PTSD and BC

Sister

I know that the ideal would have been to make an appointment months before but I just wasn't ready to talk to anyone until I got near the end of chemo.

Vangirl

@Sister Also you never quite know where you're going to be mood wise, in my experience. The psychological support on offer is fantastic but not responsive enough.

Sarnicad

And this is why they say our mental health system needs work. 

I think I’ve been fortunate. My onc has a psych as a part of his team and my gp wrote my mental health plan asap once I asked for it to be done. That said my gp has had me in major tears so had already offered a psych appt to me previously with the psych in her practice. I did giggle at the last question I was asked in that assessment about suicide - my answer was things are bad but not that bad. 

Ive managed 2 sessions with the psych and she has given me some great strategies for dealing with a few things and recorded a relaxation exercise to my phone which when I was up in the middle of last night I used and it got me back to sleep

Sister

I always find it amazing how walking can be quite meditative and mindful (there's some buzz words).  I was out at dawn this morning and I was thinking about my sessions with the psychologist and how I've used her to offload more than anything . It came to me that my thoughts have been much like a load of soggy washing a dryer - spinning around, tangling up but going nowhere fast.  Seeing the psych is like having to take that heavy load of washing outside, shake things out and hang them on the line in the sunlight.  Hopefully, I will get to the stage where I can take them off, fold them and put them away - use some of them and maybe throw some things away that are worn out or no longer fit.

kmakm

I think that's an excellent analogy @Sister.