Reader’s Question

I’m really in need of some help. In February 2007, I had a terrible reaction to some cannabis I had smoked to try and help me recover from a traumatic time I was having. I haven’t smoked since, and it wasn’t hard to give up as I wasn’t exactly a recreational user. I have probably tried it approximately 8 or 10 times. Since this experience, I have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety and OCD. I have been to numerous counselling sessions and other agencies but all efforts were in vain.

I’m now desperate for help as I’m so concerned I’m losing my mind. I often get scared thinking that I am going schizophrenic and this feeling has intensified since seeing a story line on a TV programme about the disease. I even sometimes wonder if I am experiencing symptoms. It has even affected my sleeping pattern. I am now also having some unreal and disturbing ideas like being sexually abused, including an experience of this myself by my estranged father, although I am quite sure this never happened. I think I’ve lost my mind. I have even contemplated suicide at times. I also have many other issues surrounding my childhood and bereavement, feelings of rejection and being unloved.

I really need your help. I have also become very involved in religion to try and save me from this dark time and I am becoming increasingly worried that the world is going to end and I will be sent to an eternity in hell. The state of the world scares me greatly also.

Am I going crazy? What’s wrong with me? Is there any hope? Please, please help. I’m begging as I am at the end of my thether.

Our Clinical Psychologist’s Reply

Q: Your symptoms fit your current diagnosis of Depression, Anxiety and OCD. With these conditions, the brain creates very distressing traumatic thoughts (sexual abuse, schizophrenia, the end of the world, burning in hell, etc.) and then obsessively thinks about them. The more depressed we become, the stronger the tormenting thoughts. As you discovered related to sexual abuse, the brain will even create traumatic situations that might have happened — then worry and fret about them.

You mentioned that counseling didn’t help. What you are describing is a severe depression — a condition that involves changes in the brain’s chemistry. That’s why sleep, energy level, brain speed, and other factors are out of the normal range. The recommended treatment for this level of depression is a combination of antidepressant medications and counseling. We have a variety of medications available now that target depression, anxiety and OCD symptoms.

I’d recommend reading ‘Chemical Imbalance’ on my website at www.drjoecarver.com. I’d also read articles on depression on this website. For treatment, I recommend consultation with a psychiatrist as well as a return to counseling/therapy. As you accurately describe in your question, untreated depression can amplify in symptoms to include worries about the world, eternity, and even scientific or philosophical issues. With proper treatment, your distress level will subside as will the worries about various concerns. This is a dark time in your life, but mental health professionals are familiar with this situation and have excellent treatments available.