Additional help: therapy
Iāve read a lot of stories of people with MD Ā who are hesitant to seek professional help because it is not yet a recognised condition or theyāve had bad experiences with trying to explain it.Ā
Iāve been extremely fortunate to be able to get therapy/counselling, thanks to the NHS, and it has been very helpful in getting over the worse of my depression and in just expressing myself, which is a huge part of MD recovery.Ā
You see, to get to the point where you can express your feelings in real life, you need to learn how to redirect them from your daydreaming world to your own self.Ā
Personally, it helped because explaining things gave me more confidence. I MD a lot about expressing my opinions, my feelings and my knowledge because it brings me confidence. As a result, I stutter much less than I used to, because it was caused by lack of self esteem.Ā
I had a first series of appointments (around ten I believe) where I talked about my depression, because I didnāt know that I had MD yet. I just knew something was wrong, I was always numb and zombie like and it was making me suicidal.Ā
Therapy helped me get rid of theĀ ādepression cloudā but not of MD per say. So I guess it was a temporary solution because I didnāt dig deep enough.Ā
At the same time, I was getting separate counselling to deal withĀ ālighterā issues, like being anxious of going outside with a lot of people. Overall, this helped me to get out more often and not be so isolated and also improved my confidence by talking about my problems.Ā
I went back for a second round of therapy because I really was not going well, I had relapsed during the summer (even through I didnāt know/realise what a relapse was).Ā
These were the most helpful because I was directly tackling the root of the problem. There were not straightforward because my therapist did not know what MD was precisely but that helped because I was standing up for my myself by directing her in the right direction.Ā
The way I advise you to talk about MD to a therapist is by focusing on how debilitating it is, the many hours you lose by engaging in MD and also by focusing on how itās a coping mechanism for deeper issues you may not be aware of.Ā
Even though I relapsed shortly after stopping that second round of sessions, I am now more determined that ever to keep going.Ā
I have good days and bad days and Iām proud to say that I havenāt relapsed in a bit more than 2 months.Ā
Therapy definitely encouraged me to keep going because I was accountable for my progress. This blog is another way to keep me accountable.Ā
Although I think that MD is a personal battle, getting help and reaching out is extremely beneficial because you need to let out everything that youāve accumulated there. Talking to a stranger will be weird and will feel totally useless at first, but it gets better. Itās gonna take quite some time but you need to consistent and do your best xĀ
