"Depression and anxiety - inpatient to back home"

My story started at the beginning of November 2024 when I met the new consultant at the outpatient clinic. I was instructed to stop taking my medication cold turkey without tapering dosages as you are supposed to do. I thought nothing of it at the time. Come March I became quite unwell and was unable to fulfil my duties at work.

My anxiety was through the roof and was very suicidal. I was hospitalised twice under this consultant and a family meeting was held with them and my nurse. I was told to 'fake it until you make it' which I found so inappropriate for a health professional to say.

This was my mental health and I was not in a good place. To hear something like this was devastating.  I wanted to tell them about my trauma as a child  and I felt dismissed as their response was we all have trauma and laughed. I was still so anxious  and then I was discharged home.

I attended my GP post discharge with increased anxiety and depressive symptoms and my GP was concerned about my mental state. 

My GP commenced me back on my medication and adjusted some of my other medications.  My third admission to the unit was under a new consultant. My symptoms were getting to severe totally disconnected from reality and imagining things that were not there. My new consultant listened to my story and said I was experiencing dissociation which happens if you have had a lot of trauma in your life. My medication was increased and I was kept in the unit for one week. 

I was discharged with the crisis team to see me at home. I was apprehensive about going home as I felt so safe in the unit but my new consultant felt it was better for me to get back into the community and adjust back to daily living. 

The crisis team called for one week to see how I was getting on but at the end of the day it was up to me to do all the work.