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Let me be honest... (🚨 This text contains references to mental health struggles, including depression and anxiety 🚨)

In March 2015, I visited a psychiatrist for a first time. I was frightened. It had been around 4 months since I started suffering. I remember I woke up one Saturday morning in November 2014 and felt stressed for no particular reason. My body was behaving awkwardly. I became restive. It was troubling to say the least.

My sleeping disappeared completely in the first few days of that unusual Saturday morning. Every night I felt tired and sleepy but as soon as I went to bed my body would start having multiple nervous tics that were preventing me from falling asleep. In the mornings I would get up feeling like a shipwreck. I was restless during the day and couldn’t do anything other than sitting isolated in my room and staring at the ceiling in profound silence.

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The anxiety was getting severe every day. I kept isolating myself further both from my family and friends. I rarely went outside of the apartment because I felt that people on the street were watching me. During the long winter nights I tried to relax my body as much as I can. Unfortunately, the nervous tics kept my brain awake.

Somehow, I survived the last two months of 2014 and welcomed the new year with one voice screaming in my head:

'You must do something or else you’re going crazy!'

In the midst of these agonizing first weeks of 2015 I went to see my GP doctor and later talked to a close friend. Both of them hinted that I might be suffering from depression.

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The difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist is that the first is qualified to diagnose your medical condition and prescribe you the correct medications to stabilize the chemical processes in your brain.

You don’t visit a psychiatrist for talking therapy sessions. You do this with a psychologist.

Sometimes people recover from severe mental breakdowns by just taking the right pills under the supervision of their psychiatrist. Sometimes, you should accompany the antidepressants treatment with talking to the right therapist at the right time.

4. Not all antidepressants are equal

There are specific pills for each mental health problem.

Stop reading what other people are saying about taking antidepressants.

Trust your best psychiatrist’s judgement.

Overcoming depression is possible.

You are not alone 💜

Ten years later, I’m still taking the same pills and visiting my psychiatrist once in a year. I recovered from the severe anxiety. The paranoia vanished completely. Overall, I feel fine.

Overcoming depression is a long and challenging process. Here’s what else I have learned:

1. Everything in life happens for a reason

Today, I’m 42 years old. I’m responsible for what has happened to me in my young adult years. My depression was a result of the reckless life I had pursued in the past.

2. Seeking sufficient help in times of emerging personal crisis is imperative

If I consulted the right doctor at the right time in the beginning of my mental breakdown, I'd have spared myself and my family all the negative emotions and experiences we went through.

3. Consulting the best psychiatrist is the first step to recovery from your severe mental breakdown

If you have panic attacks or suicidal thoughts, and cannot sleep well for months, you should consider calling a psychiatrist.

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I had been spending my days still isolated in my room in complete silence. I was unable to use my laptop or watch TV, or even read a book. Every activity felt unnaturally stressful and unnerving.

Time was passing unbearably slow. I began to hear voices in my head, suicidal thoughts followed through. I was on the verge to break down irreversibly.

In March 2015, I visited a psychiatrist for the first time. I was frightened. Until then I had assumed that all people, who talk to shrinks, are literally crazy.

I was wrong!

The psychiatrist calmed me down and explained me what I had been experiencing for such a long period of time. She prescribed me antidepressants and told me everything was going to be fine. I just had to be patient. We agreed to meet again in a month.

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