Hi Sam,
I have made a doctors appointment to talk about my depressive symptoms, to see wherever or not i do have depression and treatment i can get in order to start recovery.
Do you have any advice on how to talk to my GP? I'm really nervous.
Thank you
Hi there,
Talking to a doctor about mental health can be a huge step for someone who's been battling an illness. Often one of the challenges of mental health can be getting to the point where someone's able to ask for help, so to do so is very positive. It's natural to be nervous but there are resources that can help you.
One of the best ways to begin planning to talk to your GP is to think about everything you want to say in advance and write it down. You can do this in any way you like - by making a short list or writing out everything you want to say in full. If you get stuck when you're there, you can always go back to your list, or even give the list to the doctor so that she/he has everything you want to say.
A good tool for making this kind of list is Doc Ready - it's a website designed to help you talk to your doctor about mental health. It has advice about your rights as well as a tool that allows you to create a list to take with you.
If you want to practice talking to a GP, you can do that by talking about your mental health with one of our counsellors. Doing this on the phone is a good first step to talking about it in person, and calling us is free, so you can call as often as you like before your appointment. If you don't feel able to talk on the phone then chatting online with one of our counsellors is another good way to prepare.
I hope that helps, thanks for taking the time to write to me.
Take care,
Sam
You can talk privately to a counsellor online or call 0800 1111 for free.
You can ask me about anything you want, there's nothing too big or small. I read every single letter but I can only answer a few each week. My replies are published here on my page.
