Free help / diagnosis steps
Hey, I need psychotherapy badly, but the cheapest one is the cost of my rent (and as a financially self-dependent student I have trouble even paying for the apartment), so despite all my heart, I can't afford psychotherapy as long as I'm not financially stable. My university (no, no foundations either) does not offer psychological help and the waiting time for psychotherapy covered by the National Health Fund is about 2 years. I think I may suffer from depression and I wanted to ask what can I do in this situation? Is it worth going to a psychiatrist right away (it would be relatively easy to get an appointment and probably shorter waiting time) if you are not diagnosed and do not know if pharmacotherapy is necessary?
@magdalened I'm not an expert, but as far as I know, in general, if you go to a doctor (a general physician, GP) and you appear to have depression, or something similar, then the doctor will probably prescribe antidepressant medication to see whether it works. There are several types worth trying, and they are mostly cheap (if you're paying).
If you have to pay to see a psychiatrist, that's generally more expensive than seeing a GP. So you can sometimes save money by seeing a GP first. But the GP might refer you to a psychiatrist anyway, so it doesn't always work out the way you expect.
If you can get to see a psychiatrist cheaply, then you'd probably get a more definite diagnosis and that might mean less trial and error to get appropriate medication. But some trial and error is almost always required to get medication right.
Feel free to click on my profile picture and message me if you'd ever like to discuss your situation some more.
Charlie
@RarelyCharlie
I can go to a psychiatrist for free and without a referral. What I mean is: should I go to a psychiatrist being not sure if I need medication and not having been in psychotherapy before?
@magdalened Seems to me a psychiatrist's opinion might be valuable to help you decide what to do next. If it's free, there don't seem to be any disadvantages at all.
Charlie
There is a site called open path collective that has therapy for 30-60 a session, if you haven't found help yet. I do that and cerebral and it's so much cheaper, you can get meds and therapy through cerebral in certain states. Others just med