Hi,
I see a grief counselor that is a psychologist. I also attend a local hospice support group even though my husband wasn't involved with hospice. It's led my social workers. I take medication for depression though I was given this by my family doctor when Brian was diagnosed many years ago. I suffer from anxiety and depression and I don't know if I can ever go off of the medication. I think I need an increase or a change in my meds since Brian died, but my doctor says it's too early to consider that because it may be more situational and he does not want to over medicate me.

Good luck to you and let us know if we can help in any other way.

Nessie from KY

Mgould,
You can give anyone a hug from their journal entry even if they are not your friend. If their profile is locked you just request to friend them.

I don't attend counseling but attend a grief group setting with PHD's in attendance. It is peer to peer widow/widowers. It is very helpful to me and they meet every two weeks.
Peace to you,
Dave

I attended counseling sessions through Hospice at first. They have trained grief counselors and it was free. I also attended an 8 week support group for younger widowed people. I was fortunate enough to be able to talk to a counselor one on one through the help of my church. I had no insurance after my husband died and had no way to see one otherwise. It made a world of difference for me.

Mgould,
I meant from their Discussion entry, other wise you have to friend them because thier Journal is locked sometimes.
Dave

Hi ~ bless your heart. I'm sorry you're having such problems. I know how devasting this is.

After my husband died, I started talking to a grief counselor. That did me a world of good. You can get in touch with someone thru Hospice, even if you didn't use their services. They have great counselors for grieving people. I've also been in therapy off and on most of my adult life. I prefer psychologists -- I seemed to have gotten more results from them. I've been to psychiatrists too, and I never got much input from them -- they just sat there and wrote in their records. LOL

I got my antidepressant medication from my regular doctor. I guess I felt that he too should be part of my treatment and know what was going on with me. It was a life-saver -- I don't think I could have gotten thru it without medication.

And you can send a hug or message to anyone you want to -- unless their profile is private. Then you can't send anything. LOL

Best of luck, and please keep us posted on how you're doing. Keep talking -- it's the best treatment. God bless & please take care. Hugs, Lee

A psychiatrist is the one who should be giving prescriptions since they specialize in the brain and keep up on all the studies and latest medications that are most effective in the use of depression. General practicioners should really be referring to a specialist for matters relating to depression and anxiety so the patient gets the best possible treatment.

There are lots of professional counselors who can help with grief and talk therapy--psychologists, licensed social workers, psychiatrists. When I was going (and yes, it helped!) I got my medication from a psychiatrist and had talk therapy sessions with a social worker. It helped a lot.

Good luck with this!

I go to a Christian counselor, at a family guidance center. It is local, about five minutes from my office. The psychiatrist at that very office prescribed the anti-depressants when I needed them.

I can return to my counselor any time I want, but I don't need, nor do I want to be on the meds anymore. I am always going to go backward at some point, and need to learn to process it myself, without the aid of drugs. They were very beneficial at the time I really needed them, but I don't really need them now.

Bottom line is take the tools that are available to you that are going to help you the most. Don't feel weak nor ashamed.

My therapist was a Licensed Clinical Social Worker - an "LCSW" - that I was able to see for free through the Employee Assistance Plan at work. My older son was also able to see her for free as well as he was my dependent. If you are working and your workplace has an Employee Assistance Plan - "EAP" - check it to see if counseling is available to you and your kids. Ours was a gem and we still see her, even though it's not through the EAP anymore. As she is an LCSW, she is less expensive than a Psychiatrist would be. Cost for most of us is an issue, especially if you've lost benefits because of your loss.

My younger son received counseling for free through his school. He met with the school psychologist - she was a Ph.D. - Clinical Psychologist. He also received additional counseling and support through his guidance counselor, and we worked together on making sure he got the support he needed.

I went through my grieving without medication. I used nutritional supplements to counteract some of the toll of the grief. Most medications don't work for me or give me bad side effects, and frankly, I was having to hold everything together for me and two disabled kids so I had to have a really clear head! Later on, I was having anxiety problems related to my hormonal changes as I'm going through menopause, so my doctor prescribed Zoloft. It back-fired and made me have suicidal thoughts which is really out of character for me. I had to go off that and have remained med-free.

Only an "M.D." can prescribe medication, whether it's your primary care physician or a psychiatrist (psychiatrists are M.D.s). An LCSW or Ph.D. cannot prescribe medication - they can recommend it to your primary care doctor and then your MD can prescribe. It's a little different in the UK - generally in the UK your psychiatrist recommends it to your General Practitioner ("GP") and the GP prescribes it. That's because the UK actually has a National Health Service.

Meds can be an important help, and they don't have to be heavy-duty or be something you take forever. It's important to work with your doctor if you want medication, and generally they will want to run some basic blood tests before they prescribe anything. In particular, they will want to check your thyroid function as poor thyroid function can cause depression. Thyroid problems also tend to first show up in mid-life.

Hope this helps. Love and Hugs, Martha