Question for psych residents.

[Jani]

OK, here goes the case.

If somebody( it's me) is in a stage where past unpleasant memories are constantly coming to mind and make the person be in a melancholic phase is this clinically significant ? No sleep disturbance/ appetitie/ cognitive changes yet. However some unpleasant past incidents keep coming to mind and make me tearful 1-3/4 times a day.

Any suggestions- Is this within the normal end of spectrum ?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[GoodFriend]

Are you a medical student Jani?

If you are wondering whether or not you are depressed ask yourself these:

Sleeping disturbance? Early morning wakenings? (You said: no)
Interest in formerly pleasurable activities?
Guilty, worthless feelings about yourself?
Energy levels of yours? How often do you feel a lack of energy or ambition?
How is your concentrating ability? Are you more forgetfull than before?
Apetite? (You said no problem.)
Thinking or planning to harm yourself or others?

If you answer a couple of these with "yes" (aspecially the last one) you should speak with a mental health professional.

 

[freud]

I definitely think you could benefit from seeing a therapist for some focused therapy regarding whatever past event is upsetting you. How much is this event effecting your current functionality and though it may not be incapacitating to be tearful 3-4x/day, you may really benefit from processing whatever it is that is bothering you and moving on.

 

[Jani]

Good friend, thanks for your reply. I don't think I have any of those symptoms other than feeling guilty and worthless-but even these are on the background of feeling sad.

To make it even more clear, It looks as if I am not clinically depressed, but the question is why is it I am not being able to be happy mentally and be happy with what I have achieved instead of having to worry why a number of things did not happen the way I anticipated. Is there a way of changing the thinking pattern ?

BTW, I am starting my IM residency next year.

 

[Jani]

I got your reply just when I sent the last one.

You could clarify this for me. I got laid off recently by my boss who wanted to bring in somebody else ( he says it is because he could pay this person less ) and when I heard this I felt very sad and then he refused to pay me for about 4-5 wks and no reasons were given. Only favour he did was wrote a LOR for residency prorgram for next year.( I am an IMG from Australia with almost 2 yrs of residency training in Oz) This attitude makes me feel very angry, feeling a lot less worth about myself and only thing I want to do is forget about it and move on but I simply can't- Is it a normal response or am I over reacting ?

 

[psydoc]

Hi Jani
I agree with freud.
I think that if these "unpleasant memories" are coming back to the extent you have described, and if you are willing to go over the facts that happened in your past with the aid of some professional help, and are motivated to do so, it may be wise to seek professional advice before you meet the criteria for depression.
After all, having a condition that can be diagnosed with DSM is not the only reason why one might need psychotherapy/counselling.

 

[Darth Vader]

PTSD secondary to your boss ripping you off? Oh well, I guess that you can development an adjustment d/o to just about everything these days. If you are truly having difficulty getting over this, realize that you have lived a very sheltered life so far and you should probably seek counseling because things will only get worse from here.

 

[willow212]

Jani,

Sounds like you went through an experience that has made you doubt your self-worth.

While it's not "abnormal" to feel sad about events like this, it's a possibility that you might be internalizing things more than other people would. It might help to hear that other people would blame the situation, not themselves.

From what you've written, it seems that what happened is not your fault, and I'm guessing there is not much you could have done differently to change the outcome. What do your friends/etc think?

Talking to friends might help, as might talking to a therapist, as other posters have suggested.

(MS-4)

 

[mdblue]

Hi,
Depression is a distinct entity, and as mentioned above it is not an all-or-none phenomena. But, do you always have to be happy, and if you are not is it absolutely necessary to pop in some pills to make you so- I don't know. Use this -ve experience and affect to introspect, talk w/ someone not necessarily a therapist, just someone who cares, and believe me you will emerge a more strong person.
Best of luck!