Ask Dr. Dombeck
Psychotherapy and Mental Health Questions

I am a 48 year old female who is very depressed. My father was an alcoholic and my mother was an enabler. There was no love or affection ever shown in my home. I was constantly put down and degraded. I seemed to be handling all this quite well until I was twenty. The night before my brothers wedding he got into a car accident where his fiancee died and he lived. Because he had a couple drinks and lived in a dry state he was being charged with manslaughter. I handled a lot of the legalities and my brothers issues since my parents couldn't. He ended up committing suicide 5 months later. AT first I hid my feelings as I always did. A year later I couldn't get out of bed. I did finally conceded to counseling and medication. That really helped. My therapist moved out of state and since then I have gone to a few but I never seem to stick with it. I really connected with that first one and can't seem to connect with any other. I took Effexor for several years until that became ineffective. Both my parents are deceased and the depression has worsened. I have not taken an antidepressant in four years and need to find a good therapist and antidepressant. I seem to cycle with being angry and overstimulated to not being able to get out of bed. One psychiatrist diagnosed me with manic depression disorder and I believe that. Please direct to proper therapy and specifically some medications. How long do I need to wait for the meds to work? Thanks ...Sandy

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