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Don’t take depression on all on your own! Find a therapist.

Don’t take depression on all on your own. Find a therapist. It’s the best advice I can give, as someone who has tried doing it not only alone, but also with a therapist. The better way? Bringing on the help of a solid therapist that fits with you. Depression is more than sadness. It’s a tangle of so many symptoms, and a therapist knows how to untangle some of those symptoms. Get your head in a better place.

Don't take depression on all on your own! Find a therapist.

Don’t take depression on all on your own! Find a therapist.

I’ll tell you straight out – I don’t like meeting with a therapist. What I mean is, I despise sitting for 45 minutes, once a week, talking about what’s going on with me. It doesn’t work for me. I never found a therapist I liked enough to sit there with, sharing and talking. It’s annoying to watch them jot down notes, and ask questions that annoy me.

I’d get in the car each week, dreading going. I mean, for f*ck’s sake, I didn’t even want to go pick my kids up from school, right? Now I was supposed to get in the car, drive close to a half-an-hour to get to the therapist, and sit there for 45 minutes talking? About me? My problems? Who in the world wants to do that, right? The best part? I was paying a crazy amount of money each week, because my insurance doesn’t cover anything for therapy.

Quite simply, it wasn’t helping. Plus, it was sucking the life out of my bank account. SCREW THAT NOISE. However, I had to find a better solution, because help was necessary. Being a girl who work on the internet….that’s where I went to find a better solution.

Writers need to write

Talking about my feelings, and my emotions, and my life, isn’t for me. I’m a writer. Writers need to write. I needed a therapist that understood this concept. A therapist that knew I’d open up more if I could write about myself. And guess what? I found the perfect solution, that cost far less money than the regular therapist bills!

Even better? Daily contact with my therapist. Uh, yeah, you read that right. DAILY contact with my therapist. No waiting for a week to chat with a therapist, while sitting on her couch. Again, writers need to write. We don’t want to talk about shit nothing, we just want to share through our words. It’s who we are. Our bones ache for written words to read, as well as write. Writers need to write.

Therapy online

Therapy online. It’s a real, legit thing. I found a few different options, and chose to combine a paid one, with a free one. I am not affiliated with any of these options. However, these are the ones I found and I know these might help others out there, who are like me – hate traditional therapy, but still need the help. You can’t take depression on all on your own, that’s something I’ve figured out, and need others to understand.

BetterHelp

BetterHelp is the online therapy option I went with, just because of the price and I got a bit of a discount. No other reason. It’s not better than any other online therapy program, it’s just different. It has licensed therapists, it’s private, and it has an app for your phone. BOOM.

Personally, the first therapist they matched me up with I declined and requested a new one. Her first suggestion was medication, and it sent a red flag up for me. I said thanks, but I’m going to go look for a new therapist. BetterHelp matches you based on a questionnaire, so it might take a couple of attempts for the right fit, but my second therapist? HOME RUN. She gets me, she understands me, and she’s great at responding in a reasonable amount of time.

You also can do video chats, if you prefer to “meet” with you therapist. Very flexible.

TalkSpace

TalkSpace is another option. It’s a great fit for many, and it also has video and audio. If you’re not dead set on just texting, and writing, like I am – you’ve got a lot of options with TalkSpace. Very reasonably priced, too. Also has an app for your phone. I’m not going to say I’ll never try it out, because I’m always open to new experiences. However, my current therapist is perfect for me, and she’s on BetterHelp, not TalkSpace.

Hell, if I need to bring on another therapist to help with some of “stuff,” I have no qualms about going to TalkSpace! When you need help, you find it wherever you can get it. And EVERYWHERE you can get it.

7 Cups

7Cups is free. You can sign up without paying a thing, and find yourself a listener, or a therapist. There’s a few questions when you sign up, and then you can choose to go with a listener, or a therapist. Sometimes, you just need to talk to someone, and your friends are just sick of listening to your shit. It’s true. So, I use 7Cups more for the listeners, who are just there to listen. Let you vent, if you will.

However, they can also help with depression, and many other issues. It’s a solid option for anyone who doesn’t have the money, but needs the help. It’s private, anonymous, and a great option. When you need help, you have to find it however you can!

Just get help

The moral of this entire article? Just get help. If it’s traditional therapy with a weekly therapist visit, good. Not into that, and want to go the online therapy route, excellent. Just get help. Simple. Take this from someone who tried doing it alone, and finally asked for help. The better way is to GET THE F*CKING HELP. Trust me.

Again, I don’t have any affiliations with any of the above places. None of the links are going to make me a damn dime. All I want is to let those of you out there reading about my journey, and who are going through similar experiences, there is help online. And they are all private, I have done the legwork and use two of these options. I trust all three websites. So just get help. Trust me, it’ll be the best decision you make on your journey with depression, anxiety, and marriage issues.

 

By | 2017-06-01T12:25:03-04:00 February 6, 2017|Depression & Mental Health|4 Comments

About the Author:

Staci loves to write, and loves to share her "take" on everything thrown her way. Movies, entertainment, food, fashion, shopping, money, travel and family. There's nothing off limits at NovemberSunflower.com, and Staci's always telling it like it is: good, bad, and all that lies in between!

4 Comments

  1. Jeffery Williams February 10, 2017 at 12:18 pm

    I think this is something that’s really important for society to start figuring out. These types of problems can be *really tough*. Thinking that you should have to deal with these things on our own is incredibly unhealthy.

    I have a good friend who was having a bunch of issues a few years back. It turns out that she was later diagnosed with moderate bipolar disorder – seeing a therapist has helped her wonders. It’s crazy how many of her problems about anxiety and depression were solved by just talking things through with someone!

    Thanks for writing this article – I think it’s something a lot of people need to hear/read.

    • Staci Gerardi February 12, 2017 at 9:46 pm

      Many are unaware that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. It’s not a good idea to go it alone! Help is necessary, and I want people to know that there are plenty of us out here living with depression. We aren’t just surviving, but we’re thriving! Thank you so much for your beautiful comment. Your support is important to me. Thank you.

      • Jeffery Williams February 14, 2017 at 12:34 pm

        “Many are unaware that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. It’s not a good idea to go it alone!”

        I totally agree! If only more people had that mindset. And thank you for putting together this article! It’s something a lot more people need to see.

        • Staci Gerardi February 14, 2017 at 12:44 pm

          Please, share as many times as you can!!! I would love more people to see the entire series! So many people hide, and don’t get help.

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