Can I Go To A Walk In Clinic For Depression

Anxiety And Depression Association Of America

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America is an international organization that works to improve the quality of life of people living with anxiety and depression disorders. They provide a therapist directory, support group listings, and information about the disorders and self-help strategies. You can reach them through their website or by calling 240-485-1035.

How Do I Talk To Someone Right Now

If youre a Veteran in crisis or concerned about one, connect with our caring, qualified Veterans Crisis Line responders for confidential help. Many of them are Veterans themselves. This service is private, free, and available 24/7.

To connect with a Veterans Crisis Line responder anytime day or night:

• Call , then select 1.
• If you have hearing loss, call TTY: .

You can also:

• Call .
• Go to the nearest emergency room.
• Go directly to your nearest VA medical center. It doesnt matter what your discharge status is or if youre enrolled in VA health care.

Its Hard For Me To Get To A Va Facility In Person Can I Get Mental Health Services Online

Yes. You may be able to use one or more of the care options listed below.

• The Veteran Training online self-help portal for overcoming everyday challenges: You can use this portals tools to help manage your anger, develop parenting and problem-solving skills, and more. The tools are based on proven mental health practices that have successfully helped other Veterans and families. The portal is free, and you dont have to sign in or provide any personal information to use the tools.Visit the Veteran Training portal

• Smartphone apps for Veterans: Weve partnered with the Department of Defense to create free smartphone applications you can use to help manage your physical and mental health. These include apps to help you deal with stress, quit smoking, and more.Learn more about apps for Veterans

• The VA telemental health program: You can connect with a VA mental health provider through a computer or mobile device in your home or at your nearest VA health facility. If youre enrolled in VA health care, ask any of your providers to help connect you with our telemental health program.

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What Your Physician Looks For

Your primary care physician can evaluate your physical health to help you understand your symptoms. Theres no lab test to diagnose depression, but physical exams and blood tests can help your doctor better understand whats causing your symptoms.

Your doctor will likely want to do several tests to rules out other causes of depressive feelings, such as:

• Hormonal changes
• Thyroid conditions
• Vitamin and mineral deficiencies

To treat your depression, your doctor may prescribe you medications to help or refer you to a licensed mental health professional, like a therapist, for more in-depth evaluation and treatment.

What Is A Crisis Stabilization Unit

Crisis units are located in emergency rooms and other medical health centers. They provide fast support in a desperate situation. These crisis centers, whether theyre a component of a medical facility or a stand-alone unit, work to provide mental health support right away, helping an individual to get care immediately to prevent a condition from getting worse.

As noted, walking into any ER can offer this assistance. However, some hospitals and medical facilities have specially designed crisis stabilization units that can provide a better level of immediate help.

These centers typically have skilled mental health professionals available more readily than a typical ER may have. Walk-in crisis services may be best for those who have an established mental health problem, a high-risk of a mental breakdown, are a suicide risk or suffer from severe depression.

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Sticking With Your Treatment Plan

Once you’ve arrived at a treatment plan that works, it’s important to stick with it. For many treatments, this means continuing treatment even when you start to feel better.

Suddenly stopping a medication like an antidepressant can cause uncomfortable side effects. If you want to stop taking the medication, your doctor can help you taper your doses slowly to make sure you continue to feel well.

If your treatment plan no longer works for you, have an honest discussion with your health care professional. Your doctor can help you re-evaluate your treatment plan and move to a different strategy safely.

Are There Physical Signs Of Depression

Yes. In fact, a great many people with depression come to their doctor first with only physical issues. You might notice:

• Back pain
• Gut problems
• Constant tiredness
• Sleep problems
• Slowing of physical movement and thinking

You might notice these symptoms and signs even before you notice the mental health symptoms of depression, or you might notice them at the same time. Your doctor can help you figure out the source of your symptoms.

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You Feel Sad Empty Or Hopeless Most Of The Time

Your emotional life changes significantly when you have depression. Typical symptoms include the inability to anticipate happiness or pleasure, and an overarching feeling of emptiness.

However, irritability or increased anger can also be signs of depression. Your self-esteem might be low, too, with feelings of worthlessness or misplaced guilt creeping into your everyday life.

You Called A Mental Health Professionalnow What

Spend a few minutes talking with him or her on the phone ask about their approach to working with patients, their philosophy, whether or not they have a specialty or concentration. If you feel comfortable talking to the counselor or doctor, the next step is to make an appointment.

On your first visit, the therapist or doctor will want to get to know you and why you called him or her. The therapist will want to knowwhat you think the problem is about your life what you do where you live and with whom you live. It is also common to be asked about your family and friends. This information helps the professional to assess your situation and develop a plan for treatment.

As you progress through the therapeutic process, you should begin to feel gradual relief from your distress, to develop self-assurance and have a greater ability to make decisions and increased comfort in your relationship with others. Therapy may be painful and uncomfortable at times but episodes of discomfort occur during the most successful therapy sessions. Mental health treatment should help you cope with your feelings more effectively.

The following are a few common types of therapy:

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The Ultimate Guide To Walk

Navigating the walk-in clinics in Canada can be challenging and confusing at times. Medical clinics are often necessary whether or not you have a family doctor.

When you need medical care and dont have a general practitioner or they arent available, where do you turn? The answer is Find nearby walk-in clinics. These doctors perform similar services as your family practitioner, but you dont need an appointment.

Before going to a walk-in clinic, you might wonder what services are covered, which will cost out-of-pocket, and how to avoid long wait times.Weve created this guide to help answer some of the common questions people have when it comes to walk-in clinics.

Mental Health And Urgent Care

Anxiety, depression, and panic attacks are common mental health issues that affect millions of Americans. Many people think these mental health symptoms can only be treated by therapists. However, mental health concerns like these can actually be effectively addressed at an urgent care center, especially if you need after-hours care or arent sure what your symptoms could mean.

If youre having an anxiety attack or suffering from depression, an urgent care center can treat you right away. Knowing which mental health symptoms can be treated with urgent care can bring you one step closer to feeling better and avoiding the onset of other serious health concerns.

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Finding Help: When To Get It And Where To Go

Mental health disorders are real, common and often treatable. It is estimated that approximately 1 in 5 American adults1 and 13-20% of children2 living in the United States will experience a diagnosable mental health disorder in a given year. The following are signs that your loved one may want to speak to a medical or mental health professional.

Questions Your Doctor May Ask

• Are you sleeping more than usual or having difficulty sleeping?
• Are you having trouble concentrating or making decisions?
• Do you think of death or have thoughts of suicide?
• How long have you been feeling sad or down?
• How is your appetite? Have you lost weight or gained weight?
• How is your energy level?

Your answers to these questions will help your doctor pinpoint whether or not you have major depressive disorder, often referred to simply as depression. Before confirming a diagnosis, however, your doctor will need to rule out other health problems.

Symptoms of several medical conditions can mimic those of depression. This is especially true in older adults with new-onset depression. These conditions include:

• Anemia
• Kidney or liver problems
• Vitamin deficiencies

While blood tests cannot be used to diagnose depression, they can rule out some of these above conditions. Less commonly, your doctor may order an imaging test, like a brain MRI. This can rule out structural brain diseases, like stroke, especially if the doctor notices evidence of cognitive problems or neurological signs upon physical examination.

Some medications may also cause symptoms of depression as a side effect. Be sure to tell your doctor all of the medications you are taking, including both prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

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What A Therapist Looks For

An evaluation with a mental health professional can give you more answers about your mental health, including a formal diagnosis.

To understand your symptoms and see whether theyre indicative of depression, a therapist will want to know how long your symptoms have lasted and how severely they impact your daily life. A major depressive episode must have lasted for at least two weeks for a therapist to make a diagnosis of a mental health condition.

To make an accurate and informed diagnosis, your therapist will also want to rule out other causes of your symptoms. They will likely ask you about:

• Grief from a recent loss
• Past or recent trauma, including physical or psychological abuse or injury
• Recent life changes, like pregnancy or divorce
• Substance abuse problems
• Your mental health history

Emergency Room Visits For Mental Health Are On The Risebut The Er May Not Be The Best Recourse For Your Situation

The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in the number of Americans arriving at emergency rooms with mental health concerns. A report by the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project found that ER visits for depression, anxiety and stress jumped 55 percent between 2006 and 2013. Visits by people with psychosis and bipolar disorder increased 52 percent.

Why the rise in ER visits for mental health? While some research has indicated that the overall rates of mental illness in the United States may have increased, some patients just may not know where else to go when they are feeling depressed or anxiousand they often dont start treatment until a crisis sends them to the ER, says Amy Faith Ho, MD, an emergency medicine doctor and assistant medical director at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas.

A lot of resourcessuch as therapy, community psychiatrists and mental health clinicsare simply not available in a lot of places, and as a result there is not a lot of prevention for mental health issues, Dr. Ho explains. Instead, we end up having to wait until the patients act out in a way that puts them into acute harm, and only then is the health community able to intervene.

When the ER is ill-equipped to help mental health patients The problem with this wait until it gets really bad strategy, according to Ho, is that many ERs dont have the resources to handle mental health emergencies.

mental-health-behavior

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Signs You Should Talk With Your Doctor About Depression

Havent felt like yourself lately or longer than just lately? When you feel tired all the time, disinterested in the people, places and activities you love and altogether fatigued in body and mind, you might be facing depression. But you dont have to struggle with it alone, and you can receive help.

Depression isnt a dirty word. Its an extremely common mental health condition almost 17 million Americans have major depressive disorder and most importantly, you can overcome it. Depression might come and go during your lifetime, but its nothing to be ashamed of, and its fully treatable.

If you feel like you might have depression, its normal to feel nervous talking about it. However, your health care team wants to help you feel like yourself again. Your physician, as well as the whole team of compassionate people at the AdventHealth Neuroscience Institute, are here to talk through your symptoms with you non-judgmentally and help you get the treatment that works.

Should You Go To The Er

When faced with an issue that requires medical attention, its tough to decide what to do next. Here, an emergency room doctor gives his advice to help you decide if an ER visit is necessary

Its Monday morning and youre rushing to start your day. Suddenly, a busy moment turns frantic by the sound of your four-year-old son cryinga plaintive sound that tells you instantly hes coming down with something that needs medical attention.

You have a maze of options: family doctor, urgent care centre or walk-in clinic, or the ER. But where should you go to get the best and most timely advice? The right answer depends on a number of factorseverything from whether or not your family doctor double-books appointments to how serious little Johnnys symptoms are. Here is some medical wisdom that can help you decide if you should go to the ER.

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Online Therapists For Immediate Help

A mental health hotline is one way that people can reach out for help at home. Organizations have offered this type of care, a phone-call-away, for many years.

Over the last few years, though, online therapists have emerged to provide a new level of support through the internet and apps. Services like BetterHelp and Talkspace allow people to download an app, connect with a therapist and communicate instantly via text, chat or phone call.

This type of assistance has its place in the mental health care industry, but its not the ideal, long-term solution. It may also not provide the highest level of support for some patients, especially those who need residential care. This level of service wont be able to prescribe you medication if needed and is likely not as thorough as a face-to-face session.

Yet, like walk-in clinics, it opens the door to the concept of mental health support. In that way, it encourages people to seek out the help that is readily available to them.

What Are Walk In Clinics And Who Are They For

Walk in clinics are designed to give people access to medical care without an appointment, whether or not they have a family doctor. They provide the same services as a family doctor and can diagnose, treat, and prescribe medication.

Walk in clinics are for everyone. If you have a health card, you can visit a walk in clinic, typically free of charge. If you dont have a health card, you may have to pay a fee out of pocket.

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Can I Go To A Walk In Clinic For Help With My Depression

Or went they send me to the dreaded mental health clinic?

The answer is yes. I did, and it probably saved my life.

I’m saying this through a throwaway account here, because I don’t like to share this with people who might know my real account, but I went through a major depressive episode a few years ago, was seriously contemplating suicide, and was at the end of my rope. Maybe you’re not that far along, but you should get help before you get to the stage I was at, and without knowing anything more about your situation, I’m going to assume the worst-case scenario.

I went to my family doctor, told him the story, and when I told him I had been contemplating suicide they immediately took it very seriously, and got me help. They won’t toss you in the mental health facility what they’ll probably do if they think you’re “at risk” is get you to sign a confidential piece of paper saying something like “I agree I won’t do anything to hurt myself in the immediate future.”, then you’ll sign it , and you’ll walk out with an appointment for counselling. They’re not there to trap you or arrest you -they want to help.