What are the chances of being taken seriously?

The first doctor I saw about depression basically told me I was being stupid and to piss off. The second doctor took me seriously and prescribed me antidepressants immediately as he thought I had severe depression. Some doctors are utterly useless, whereas others will try their best to help you. Don't let my bad experience stop you seeking help, depression/bipolar can be life destroying and you shouldn't put up with either if you can get help.

As for what to say, what are your symptoms? I find writing things down (just bulletpoints will do) and that way I won't lose my head when under the pressure of seeing a doctor, and if worse comes to worse you can always just hand him the list.

I'll try and keep this short and to the point, I have depression or bipolar or SOMETHING, theres something wrong with me. I've hated myself and life for 5 years now and I've failed university twice because of my lack of drive and just lack of enthusiasm towards life and university and I really want to sort my life out.

I want help, I want to be happy, I want a degree and I just want to not want to feel persistently sad and to feel hopeful about life.

I want to go to the doctor but I don't know what to say and I don't want to be laughed out of the GP's office.

What are the chances of me being taken seriously and getting some actual help from a doctor?

The GP is there to look after you, and not belittle you and make you feel like crap for trying to turn your life around. They genuinely care about people, most do anyway and they will try as much as they can to put you back on track, and they definitely will not think you're silly for coming to them to talk about it. They'll suggest all sorts of things for you to do and even maybe set up regular check ups to see how everything is going

Go to the GP and the only the you say to him/her is: "I think I'm depressed".

My doc said he wanted to ask me some questions which he scored on the pc and then gave me fluoxetine straight away. And that was it.

Don't spend any longer in limbo.

You know that something is wrong with you, therefore you probably know your concern about doctors not taking you seriously is probably over analysed and exaggerated.

Fyi, I have failed uni twice too and its because I couldn't concentrate on studying because I was too busy worrying about how I cant socialise, how everyone else is having a better time than me, how I just cant seem to have fun anymore without resorting to playing games and eating dominos. It really made me angry and I turned into someone who hated everything and everyone.

After I admitted I had a problem (nothing wrong with humility and admitting you need help and aren't some sort of robot humanoid) to the doc my life started to improve, I was able to open up and talk to councillors about my problems and after a referral to the mental health care team I have been diagnosed with not only depression but general anxiety disorder. I thought I had had things like ADHD because I couldnt concentrate and do work, and Borderline Personality Disorder because of my hatred, but GAD explains the irritability, agitation and frustration completely.

Now I can get tailored treatment and get my life back on track.

Have the best of luck on your journey.

Thank you so much for this, you've just written exactly how I feel! I thought I had ADHD too because I can't concentrate at all and just can't do my work.

Have you gone back to uni since or have plans too?

You're not the only one suffering .

I do plan to go back to uni. I just left a couple of months ago because I couldn't keep up with first year and just left to claim job seekers allowance, and had to move back in with parents who were thankfully understanding and supportive (one of them deals with depression and the other deals with anxiety).

Still not 100% ready to return to study yet my fluoxetine seems to be wearing off, so I might need to change antidepressants or change dose. I also have another assessment with a primary mental health care team member and will probably get CBT organised and can't wait for it (which is strange because I would usually dread talking things out! It's also one of the benefits of seeking treatment, you learn what is going on with you and how to talk about it and make it into sense )

Ye the ADHD thing bothered me I thought I had it because not only could I not concentrate at uni and was agitated and irritated for no reason. The concentration problem is typical of anxiety related problems and depression. Your brain is too busy dealing with stress of distorted thoughts and symptoms of depression and all the anxious thoughts to make sense of things. Even though adult ADHD can usually be described as a feeling of inner restlessness, anxiety can also get you agitated, especially if its general anxiety disorder because nothing specifically seems to be making you anxious.

Since all of my thoughts about myself over the past years of failing uni and feeling like I failed socially and at life in general have cluttered my mind like poison, CBT should help me change them. Medication should help manage the symptoms too.