How can I explain to the psychiatrist what has been going on, now that I am feel!


Question: How can I explain to the psychiatrist what has been going on, now that I am feeling better!?
Sorry this is quite long, but I need to explain the situation for my question to make sense!.

I've just come out of a period of what I now have to admit seems to be some sort of mental illness, it started off with a depression lasting a couple of weeks, although I think I had been mildly depressed for a long time before that!. Then I had a couple of weeks of extreme and rapid mood swings (every few days, sometimes hours and even minutes) from very low to very high or very irritable with attacks of rage and self harm!. Then the mood swings stopped but I was left in a deep depression, and experienced psychosis (delusions, hallucinations etc), and other symptoms which have seriously affected my life, relationships, university, etc!.

This has been going on for almost a decade, with long periods of being totally fine then these periods of illness, which I have only recently been able to acknowledge, as I always tend to make light of it all once I am feeling better!. My family have encouraged me to seek help and to tell the doctors everything which has been going on, which I have!.!.!. and I have now been referred for a psychiatric assessment!.

However, by the time I spoke to the doctor I was already well on the way to getting better, and I am now feeling pretty much back to normal!. Now I have finally realised I need to get help for this, and am ready to be honest and open about it, but all I can do now when i see the psych is to explain things in retrospect!. They won't see how I am when I am experiencing these symptoms, because I'm feeling ok now, so its going to be really hard to explain it all without sounding stupid, and I'm really worried that they won't understand what I have been going through and the effect it is having on my family!.

Does this make sense!? Basically I don't know if I'm going to get any benefit from psychiatric assessment because I am not ill now!. And when I am feeling fine its really hard to put accross what its like when things are bad!. Any advice would be much appreciated!.Www@Answer-Health@Com


Answers:
Yes, this makes a lot of sense!. You've explained it really well!. Any reasonably good psych should be able to understand it!.
You've already mentioned the weakness with explanation, as soon as you're feeling better you make light of it!. This is normal but it does mean that anybody assessing you won't have full information on which to make a diagnosis!. The reason most people do this is that there was something scary about the illness & they don't want to re-experience it even by talking about it!. Sometimes the psych might ask you to come back when you're next unwell & give you a phone number to ring for an emergency appointment!. There is another technique that works nearly as well, though it takes a lot of practise & preparation!.
First you think anout the last time this happened, think when it was, where you were & how long it lasted!. This sort of wraps the experience in a safety envelope, you know it isn't happening here & now & what you re-experience will come to an end so it makes it feel safer to remember knowing you can come out of it again!. Sometimes they give you techniques for coming back to reality such as touch something in the room unconnected with the experience, or look out of a window & see the view & realise that's not part of it!. So you know you can safely come back out of your memory!.
Next you think of your experience as a memory that's safely packaged as a video tape!. You learn to identify a start point & a finishing point & to control your "video" to freeze frame at the start & the end so you know you can always safely go back to those freeze points either immediate reverse to the start or fast forward to the end!. Sometimes its easier to practice this technique on a safe memory such as making a cup of tea before you try it on the real thing!.
Now you're safely in control of the (imaginary) video machinery run the "tape" of the memory very fast from beginning to end & stop it!. Then say what you saw in no longer time than it took to run through!. Now take it a little slower & say what more you saw second time!. Keep doing this until you feel safe running in real time & saying what's in the video!. It may not just be sights & sounds, it could have all senses including emotions, but you'll learn how to turn all these up & down as you practice!.
When you can do all this you should be able to tell the doctor what you go through in a way (s)he can really understand, but it's equally possible that you may gain some insight of your own that may help you limit the effects of the illness, so next time it kicks in you may be able to handle things a bit better!.
Best of luck!Www@Answer-Health@Com

Print out this question and give it to your psychiatrist!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

any psych will listen to you!. and if you told them exactly what you wrote on here it might help!. just because you are feeling better now doesnt mean that your illness is gone!. tell them everything despite what you think may not make sense!. it is there job to decipher your feelings and your not the first person to feel this way!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

This is always the case even with much physical pain!. I have had toothaches that go into a type of fuge state when I hit the doctors office!. Don't be so hard on yourself!. hey will know that you are suffering from depressive bouts!. I am a 48 year old man and you sound just like me!. If the psyche cannot understand you get a smarter one!. Good luck !.!.!. to us both!.Www@Answer-Health@Com





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