Hi Starra, Thanks for sharing all of these experiences here with us. Finding the right help and not getting the answers you are looking for can be very frustrating. Please don't hesitate to follow up with your own doctor and let them know things did not go as you had hoped. Sounds like your career research is going well! Good for you for looking into this. We hope that you find the online program helpful in addressing these concerns. We also have a sister site that specializes in anxiety located at www.paniccenter.net Keep us posted on your progress. Casey _____________________________ The DC Support Team

This career counselling thing is looking better by the moment. I've been doing my research, finding companies I want to work for rather than trying to find the right posted position. We'll see if the shotgun approach works any better. I'm going to look into it, and add it to my treatment plan for the goal of finding a new job.

This doesn't mean I can't get the therapy I want, it just means that I'm probably going to have to go through another waiting list for a different program and that might be more difficult to find. I don't want to spend half of my mental health insurance entitlement trying to find the right fit... but that is a possibility.

I find that there is a layer still of old-school doctors -- caring perhaps, but dictatorial overall, and refuse to be questioned. Individual differences or the idea that a patient may come to them with some level of intelligence and/or self-awareness just doesn't feature in their view of the world. Patronizing and myopic to the point of dangerous are other descriptors that come to mind. A couple of examples (I have several more, but I'll restrain myself): My father had a stroke. He hated the medication he was being given -- his head felt confused enough already, he said, and he wanted to try alternative therapies. A naturopath suggested ginko biloba, and, though I'd read that it could be helpful for stroke victims, I encouraged him to ask his GP about possible interactions, etc. His GP said that this stuff was all just mumbo-jumbo, but that it wouldn't hurt him so go ahead and take whatever he liked. Dad's stroke was hemorrhagic and ginko is a blood thinner. Thankfully he had a few doctors/specialists that he was seeing, most of whom kept their knowledge up-to-date. A friend suffered a head injury such that she fell unconscious and was taken to hospital. She was discharged five days later with a diagnosis of hysteria and it went into her chart that she was being obstructive to her care. They didn't seem to worry about the fact that she was still vomiting, aphasic (thankfully temporarily), a walked like a drunken sailor. The obstructive bit came in because she was unwilling to sign forms that she could make no sense of (tough questions like: Do you have any metal in your body? she couldn't understand). No cognitive check, no MRI, no follow-up plan. I am astounded at the state of our medical community. One person out of how many have you seen in your years of therapy, etc says you're making it all up because you don't fit into his view of what people struggling with anxiety and depression should be like and what treatment they should respond to? I know that I'm simplifying it and there were no doubt other things that brought him to this conclusion, but it really doesn't seem to me as though he merits much credibility. I'd consider what he said, as there may be some kernels of truth somewhere in it, but please do put it into balance with what every other

Starra, Have you tried going to someone who is a career counselor and specializes in helping people who are unsatisfied in their present jobs to do some self-evaluating to find a career that is better suited to their needs? I have depression and anxiety issues also. I am going to school to become a counselor and am now taking a class on vocational placement and as soon as I read your post I thought I mention career counseling for you because that seems to be the area in your life that is troubling you(other than the unexpected psych eval). I hope you find a way though your current situation and I hope my post can be some help to you

My GP sent me to an appointment today for what I was told was a referral to a specialized Anxiety and Stress CBT program. It ended up being a psych evaluation, during which I was informed that I do not have any "definable" depressive or anxiety disorder, because I don't have any of the symptoms of the major depressive disorders nor the symptoms of any of the major anxiety disorders. I cannot be fit in a box. Add to that my inability to take any medication involving the reuptake of serotonin and my previous adverse reaction to Welbutrin, and I'm essentially "untreatable in the traditional fashion". (His words, not mine. Since the vast majority of my anxiety and related depression is centered around work and co-workers, he decided that my problem is narcissistic, histrionic and adjustment maladaptive personality traits, but very clear that I did NOT have any of the associated "disorders". He discouraged one-on-one CBT and medication and instead wants to send me to group talk therapy to learn interpersonal and social skills. I am absolutely irate. I have had very, very bad experiences with group therapy, and generally back-slide rather than move forward in this type of therapeutic setting. This appointment is not what I agreed to and it is not where I want to go. My anxiety is based around the fact that I'm fearful that I suck at my job and it's a sign that I am in the wrong job. I can live with that. One of my goals is to get out of this damn job because it's not well suited to someone like me. This appointment has totally thrown my goals and plans off kilter. I feel as though everything I want to do and everything I want to be in the future has been kicked to the ground and stomped on with the words "Your personality will never allow you to be anything." I've been in and out of the mental health system for more than half my life at this point and this is the first time I've EVER heard this. I'm so angry and confused, and I now I have to go back to my doctor and tell her that we need to start all over. I feel as though I'm getting no where with this, and it's all just a waste of time, because at the end of the day, I'm still going to hate the things about my job that make me hate it. And that's the beginning and end of it all.