[Closed] How much counselling have you had for depression/anxiety?

I didn't keep count, I think about 8, on the NHS though so however many I'm allowed. But he did say I could ask for more in the future (and I think I will, struggling at the moment).

Tried drugs, they didn't seem to help at all.

Vicky, whilst not linked, I have had both depression and counselling in the past. The depression was a long time ago now and was dealt with successfully with a combination of medication and a large change in personal circumstances; essentially I got divorced.

Counselling was the result of a very stressful and sad part of my life. In the space of a year my ex-wife and I lost two babies and, separately, my father to cancer. The babies were the result of IVF (hugely stressful anyway for a couple) and the clinic suggested and provided counselling should we want it. I took them up on the offer and found it useful. My wife, not so much. The those two losses and the subsequent third one significantly strained our relationship to the extent that we got divorced last year.

I was still seeing a counsellor semi-regularly during that period because it was useful to have someone to talk to and that could offer advice on how to cope with situations. I realised however that I was starting to use the sessions just to moan about things, so slowly cut them down to once a month and then to a stop.

It cn work for some people, maybe not for others. As for the number of sessions, I guess that is up to you. I was never given a number, I just went and when I started feeling like it was enough, I stopped.

However I have this sense that if I get depression again in the future then it's because I've failed, as 12 sessions should be enough.

Cured in 12 hours? If only it was that easy, i'd have taken a couple of days off work and sorted myself out years ago.

Seem silly when you say it like that doesn't it?

All the the sessions do is provide you with the tools to cope and /or recover. Sometimes though, simply having the tools is not enough to get the job done.

Over 18 months Vickypea. Mine was integrative - not just CBT.

I was scheduled for 8 sessions on the NHS with my current councellor but that was upped to 12 on my 8th scheduled session as it took until then for me to open up/get to a realisation of an issue.
The waiting list was 18 months!
I didn't click with my councellor from a couple of years ago and gave up on the cbt half way through the sessions. Which probably left me on the naughty step with regard to the waiting list.

I'm on velefaxine at the moment.

Over the past 4 years I've had 8ish (group CBT) through the NHS, 6 through an employers OH (CBT), 3 (useless)sessions with a university counselling dept whilst a student and for the last 18months have been seeing a private therapist weekly-fortnightly (transactional). (Expensive but worth it)This is now reducing down to an ad hoc session as and when I need it.

Also been taking citalopram and propranolol for a lot of that time.

I had one session it putme in a train of thought to allow me try and sort it myself. However a late friend who was a psychiatrist also helped, he met with every weekend for months wouldn't make allow for excuses, we road miles together on our bikes just the two of us. What I never realised is what he was also actually doing, he was counselling me but as he was so good at it I never noticed. I wish I'd realised what he was doing before it was too late, I never did get the chance to say thank you. 🙁

Of course it didn't cure me I still have episodes but I'm better now at living with it and can recognise when it's effect me much better.

Probably not much use but I'm, hopefully after six weeks off work and in a bad place, staring on the road to getting over accumulated anxiety from indirect trauma, two sessions so far and I've been told I will be receiving Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing which is eight more sessions. My issues have quite a specific trigger so may not be pertinent to you and my employers will be paying for the treatment.
Best of luck, I suppose you (we) always have the free on line STW counselling service as well 😉

About 2 and a half years I think, then had a bit of a relapse and tried cbt then found my local MIND group which was a great place to share experiences, and that introduced me to mindfulness too. So a lot more than 12 hours!

[i]"12 sessions should be enough"[/i]
It's all about [b]money[/b] though, isn't it?

With limited budgets, that's all the NHS is prepared to pay for. And for lots of people, that will be adequate.

If you were seeing a private therapist, I guess you might be asking the opposite question "Do I really need 1200 sessions of counselling?"

I had about 5 or 6 private sessions but did "shop around" with a couple of counselors first to find one I clicked with - that was the key for me.

But my anxiety / depression was very much circumstance driven - long drawn out break down of a relationship that I didn't want to end, combined with being isolated in a new job / city, living in a tiny holiday rental and all my stuff in storage. The counselling helped me to come up with some coping strategies and understand what was going on in my head, but ultimately I had to change circumstances to properly move on.

I was given 6 sessions with a therapist through the NHS after a very bad break up, I thought this wouldnt be enough so agreed to have more sessions with the lady who I clicked with quite well.

After some big behavioral changes and some anti-d's which in the short term made things worse for a while until i stopped taking them, lack of sex drive, shutting myself away as i felt i was broken etc, really crappy side effects.

Think in the end I had a years worth of private counselling every 3 weeks paid for by the mother who in turn was actually one of the root causes to most of my issues!

Vicky, it sounds like you are in a much better place that when you posted previously, which is great to hear.

I have this sense that if I get depression again in the future then it's because I've failed

This sounds very similar to some of things you said in your previous thread, about which I made the following comment back then:

It's sometimes said that depression is an illness of the strong, rather than the weak. Your comments about "fight, fight, fight to stay afloat" and "I'm feeling under huge pressure to stay well" sound like you are putting a lot of responsibility and pressure on yourself to cope/keep on going, and I would be concerned that that in itself may exacerbate things.

Read what you have written: even in your treatment to improve your well being, you are exhibiting the same traits of pushing yourself to meet and exceed the target, and getting anxious about the possibilty of 'failing' and 'needing' more talking therapy (as opposed to thinking of it as simply you benefitting from some more talking therapy). Those traits probably make you a very high achiever at work and home, but they also have the potential to be very self-destructive.

The fact that you are still putting yourself under such pressure to perform is concerning. If that is so ingrained in your personality and fundemental to who you are, then maybe continuing but less frequent talking therapy for the rest of your life might indeed be a useful tool for you to help you keep yourself feeling well and at your best (think of it as a performance aid).

PS I am hoping you've booked a holiday or two (or three) for next winter to look forward to when it starts getting darker.

Thanks very much everyone, it's really helpful to hear. Interesting to hear that a few of you eventually realised that you'd had enough and wound it down. Once I realised that I had a good relationship with my counsellor, I kind of "cranked it up" with each session until I felt that I could talk about a few traumatic and difficult issues so I felt it finished at a peak with a little unfinished business.

willard- I'm really sorry to hear what a difficult time you've had, hope things are a little better now.

12 sessions does seem to be the limit with the NHS, and as above, it really is about cost. They expect to see some change in behaviour through those 12 sessions. Personally, CBT did not work for me, I struggle with counselling, it seems to highlight all the problems, and how crap life is for me and make the situation worse. As you said, I agree and IMO it really does depend on if you do 'click' with the person you are seeing. I do have the benefit of a place on a charity counselling service as I can't afford to pay for it myself, maybe there is something similar available where you are. I think Mind offers this service too, but demand is high and fill up fast.

I have 'treatment resistant' depression. After years of combinations of drugs and a couple of times as an patient at a mental health hospital. I have just had two meetings with a CDAT team (Complex Depression Anxiety and Trauma), the guy I have seen is excellent and the range of services they can offer is impressive, unfortunately it seems that you need to go through a literal, living hell to get access to this service. Again the waiting time for any of these services is a matter of months, and as I'm desperate to move away from where I live, when a course of treatment has been decided and applied for, I doubt I will actually be here.

If I remember correctly, you suffer with back problems, I could be wrong. I think you need to concentrate on what keeps you healthy, fit and strong, both mentally and physically. Good luck, I hope you find a solution, sorry I don't have anything good to say.

I saw a therapist privately for Anxiety as I could just pay and see someone that day rather than wait for a referral. Personally it didn't do a lot as I think I was too far gone at the time. SSRIs worked wonders though so the minute I was on them, all my issues vanished in a few days and I had nothing to discuss...

My wife is going for her first CBT session up north (Glasgow) tomorrow; she tried it a couple of years back when she was at uni in Coventry, but didn't really connect with the counsellor. She's on sertraline (150mg so big dose I believe) and it helps her cope, but obviously there's no such thing as a perfect cure, just methods of coping.

She started running regularly this past couple of weeks (after literally two years of me trying to convince her to) and we've both noticed an immediate positive effect on her mental state, so don't underestimate the power of getting out on the bike or similar! She dips in and out of depressive episodes, unfortunately the worst ones have involved her trying to cut herself which is the main reason she's going to CBT.

Let us know how you get on, all the best!

Try reading this book - somebody very strongly recommended it on a depression thread a while ago and I bought a copy for a mate of mine that suffers and he thought it was good.

There's a bit in there that shows research indicates that keeping a diary can be a lot more effective than talkative councilling, for example. Might be worth investigating his ideas :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1447273370/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My partner is going through this at the moment, they have offered 6 sessions.

TBH, If you found someone you liked, and it was helpful, at the end of your 12, if you can persuade them to give you more, then do so, if not, ask if they will see you privately.

If it helps you get/stay well, its got to be worth it.

There are voluntary organisations that are either male or female-only, just have a Google for your area, and they'll be much cheaper than private practice. The counsellor might be accredited, registered or in training, so look for an organisation that works to BACP guidance and where all of the counsellors are at least Diploma-level and you should be fine with any

I didn't find CBT effective, but other counselling from the same counsellor was far better for me

Is 12 sessions enough? IANAC, however, some clients will have more complex needs and some counselling qualification courses ask students to undertake more than 12 as part of the qualification

Since I was 18 (44 now) I've had 6 counsellors that I can remember.

The last one was probably about 10 sessions which I stopped about 2 years ago.

I just can't seem to click with any counsellor I don't think and am still suffering terrible lows to this day.

Been on different medication since that time too. Currently 100mg Sertraline.

Not sure what, if anything has helped to be honest but then maybe that's just how my mind works.

I'm out of answers and feeling very worried about things.

How much counselling have you had for depression/anxiety?

None.

Yet, but It's heading that way. I've got the no. of the Employee Assistance Programme & I think I'll have to bite the bullet & call them.
I've also got a Formal Attendance Review Meeting next week with our boss. 🙄

neilwheel- yes, I had a successful spinal fusion 3 years ago.

I'm able to ride a reasonable amount these days- I ride at least twice a week and have done some big days out on my mountain bike and several road rides of 100 miles this year - despite being "no spring chicken" as someone on here once noted 😀
I am restricted by pain though- I would do more if I could!

poltheball- yes, I find that a few hours on the bike is a great mood lifter.

TurnerGuy- I kept a diary during my counselling and continued with it this year, I agree it's been very helpful

I think enough people above have said they don't think that 12 sessions is very much, but I'll add myself to that list...

I've been through 10 sessions of NHS counselling and felt is was useful but only really got things started. Unfortunately, due to the massive NHS waiting period, for me those 10 weeks actually coincided with a period in which I'd been feeling the best I had for years. Some months afterwards I plummeted down rather far again.

I think another thing to remember is to try not to imagine there is some required amount of therapy given how much a person has been through on paper.

By that I mean that, for myself, because I've never really been through anything you would find on a conventional list of traumatic experiences, it would be (and often is) easy to imagine that my persistent struggles with life are therefore mostly my own fault and something to deal with alone. But I'm getting better at not beating myself up so much for that and trying to avoid blaming anyone -- particularly myself -- and remembering that the worlds just a very strange and confusing place nowadays

I was referred for counselling around 2000, typically one session every six months after a few frequent early ones. I didn't get much out of it at all, he concluded i suffered from "bipolar depression with a seasonal pattern"...

Which is the science boffin way of saying Seasonal Affective Disorder!

I had about 6 sessions before I finished counselling. Really nice person to talk to and go over things, but counselling was not the solution for me. (btw I had major anxiety with a little bit of depression - depression was probably due to being fed up of the anxiety).

VP - It's good that you are riding. Have you thought about Yoga, Tai Chi or something similar with low physical impact and some mental/meditation element too. Have you thought about volunteering for some projects or charity, if you have any time spare, helping others can be a good medicine.

I suggested on the similar thread about the combination of 5HTP and St John's Wort, the first should increase serotonin production and the second limits it's re-uptake similar to the way SSRI drugs work. You might want to do some research and consider this as an option if you can't tolerate the drugs. Entirely your choice but this combination may give you enough of a lift if you feel that you are falling back into the blackhole. If you do choose to try this I would suggest you try it when feeling well rather than waiting until there is a problem, if that happens, start at the lowest recommended dose or try them separately in the first instance.

I had 12 sessions of CBT for anxiety a couple of years ago

First block of NHS counselling was 4 years ago, 6 sessions then put into a group, can't remember how many that was, maybe 8 sessions. Then about 2 or 3 years ago I had 6 sessions with a local charity. Currently back with the NHS, had a dozen sessions so far.
(For social anxiety and low self esteem leading to depression).

I did four months of CBT, one session per week. Got me to a place where I could implement the strategies on my own.

However, it wasn't NHS, but private paid for by company health insurance policy.

I got 7 one hour sessions of group CBT through the NHS.

To be honest, it wasn't much use. The therapist was great, but too spread out among the group for it to be any use. A lot in the group were only just starting to engage when the sessions finished.

I also had 6 sessions of one to one counseling via work. Much better, gave me a proper perspective on my life and not just the issues.

All this time I was on a low dose of Citalopram, and I still am 12 months later. Need to wean myself off that but GP practice is proving a bit odd about it.

Interesting reading for me.

I woke up one morning in April this year and started to feel what I now know is anxiety, it's pretty shit. I tried to live with it for a couple of months but it got worse and worse and I made some rash and poor decisions thinking I'd found the cause of my worries.

On the worst days I was having 5 or 6 panic attacks a day.

Spoke to my GP about it, I wasn't expecting much, he advised they couldn't hurt me and I should play with my phone when they come on and wait for them to pass, not great, didn't want to give me drugs but referred me to primary mental health care.

I've been evaluated as having Bi-Polar depression which causes the Anxiety, which was pretty scary, I say "evaluated" because it was a 40 min Q&A over the phone not sure how accurate it was.

Either way my only treatment option at the moment is CBT via Silvercloud which hasn't actually been rolled out yet, and there's a waiting list which is pretty shit, a waiting list for progam that's not finished yet.

I'm told it's computer based self-help where you can interact with them via portal messages.

I kind of wish I'd asked for drugs now, I'm sat here now on a high simmer, I'm a halfway serious bit of strsss away from a panic attack.

Hi

Not read the whole thread. Personally I have had a few sessions of private counselling - I only needed a nudge in thee right direction. I am a huge fan of the person centred type of counselling but as you have found out the key thing is the relationship you have with the counsellor - styles are less important

As for NHS - mental health is very much the Cinderella relation as you have found out and treatment is cash limited quite severely. Thats the position. Blame the politicians.

CBT via a computer is a very poor second best to proper counselling but CBT is a fairly simple and prescriptive process

To the OP - you really might have exhausted the NHS options available but it sounds like a decent course of person based counselling could but what you need so private is your only option. If you do go down that road remember that its your choice of counsellor thats important in the end.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and experiences, this is really interesting. Trying different therapists until you find one that you can work with doesn't seem that unusual.
I had a long conversation with the NHS team manager for our local service and he said it looked like I'd already had a lot of therapy when in fact I'd only had one lot that was any good (having tried 2 previous counsellors and quit after 3 sessions, and tried CBT which wasn't for me)