Question by Socially Awkward Answer Guy: should I talk to my school counselor about my depression? are there any consequences?
I’m a 13 year old in the 8th grade. The school guidance counselor(s) already know about me. I mainly would have to talk to one, but recently I talked to another because I was depressed and worried about my grandmother who had abnormal foot bleeding. the one that I mainly would have to talk to, I’ve only been to her three times, but she knows I”m depressed. A lot of my friends hate her. She can be a little rude, and quick to diagnose kids. It’d be like, her:”do you get angry sometimes? student:”yeah, I can be straight up, angry, yeah” her:”I think you have anger-management issues” yeah that’s the kind of stuff that would happen. not good, right? I’m a depressed 13 year old who might have post-paranoia-disorder which pretty much means I think that everyone hates me and is out to get me and I have suspicions of everyone. When I go on the internet, discuss my depression with some online friends on some chat (they’re nice to me… usually… recently I got paranoid about them…) or if I ask a question here about my depression, they say that I should go to therapy or a counselor. I don’t want to not be able to get into a good college or boarding school because I am depressed or paranoid and that some how gets in my record. I really just want to find someone who I feel understands me, that I can trust and cry to. Kind of like a harem anime. But I haven’t found that person yet… but a fortune teller once told me I’ll find a lover once in my life. I don’t know if I should go to the counselor. My mom might be angered if she figures out. I’m afraid of the consequences, will this go down on my record? will I be sent to some loony place? ugh…

Best answer:

Answer by james o
People figured out, quite a few years ago, that it helps to talk to someone else about your troubles. In no time flat that expanded, and you now have a lot of folks who make a living by having others talk to them. Sounds awful, doesn’t it? Well, not so fast! Folks who are counselors have gone to school for training in how to do this sort of thing. Yes, some are not so good at the touchy-feely stuff, like your favorite counselor, but if you look around, and really look hard, I think you will find that there are also some good ones.

I don’t know your parents, so I wouldn’t guess, but in most cases, parents seem to want what’s best for their children, so if you were to tell your parents that you think you ought to see a counselor to help you with some problems, it’s at least possible that they might be receptive. There’s sure one way to find out, and if you don’t ask, you will never get, you know?

If you try to talk to a counselor at school, and they ask you to see Ms. so-and-so, it is absolutely perfectly all right for you to say, “I would rather not involve Ms. so-and-so, and I would rather not discuss my reasons.” If pressed, just say, “It’s personal. Please don’t ask me again.”

It’s a very, very basic right to be able to say you would rather not have a particular person as your counselor. Very, very, very basic.

You can go to a religious institution and ask about “personal counseling.” Avoid the fundamentalist ones, but you may have good luck with Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal and Lutheran churches. They probably don’t offer counseling, but they can point you in the right direction to someone who won’t screw you in any sense of the term.

You can also look under mental health in the yellow pages and pick out a name that sounds good, and ask if they can make a recommendation for personal counseling “on a sliding scale.” If you ask them not to, the clinics cannot legally talk to your parents, although they might not want to see you without parental permission.

DO NOT hold back from seeking help because you fear what your parents might say. If they find out later that you have been sitting on this suffering for years, what do you think they will then say???

Your parents might really take this badly, I suppose. That’s a risk, of course. But you should not be trying to deal with this by yourself, and there’s no need for you to deal with this by yourself when help today is so readily available and at little or no cost. Please talk to your parents.

No, people do not get sent to the loony bin for being depressed. If they did that, they’d have to take us all away at one time or another. The mental hospital is for those who are hopelessly out of control, and you don’t sound like you are anywhere near that point just yet. Take care of business now so further problems are avoided!

Depression really sucks; you don’t need to bear it; there’s stuff that can make it better, so get off yer duff and get going and get some help.

Give your answer to this question below!

 

Cornerstone Family Services, LLC Offering OCD Treatment and Therapy in …

Filed under: ms mental health counseling

Along with her Master of Science degree in Mental Health Counseling from Mercer University, Nicely has received specialized training in exposure and response prevention therapy. “Shala is highly qualified, and we are thrilled she has joined our …
Read more on PR Web (press release)

 

9100 on Staten Island have received counseling in Sandy's wake; help is …

Filed under: ms mental health counseling

"Those people need to get linked to professional mental health services," said Tamar Renaud, the director of New York City's Project Hope, which is conducting the professional outreach. The offer of help has reached more than 76,000 Staten Islanders …
Read more on SILive.com

 

Lawsuit Puts Prison Mental Health in Focus

Filed under: ms mental health counseling

As troubling as the circumstances of Voe's death are, his is just one of dozens of stories of mental-health needs allegedly being ignored at EMCF, which houses the most seriously mentally ill prisoners in Mississippi. Some of the stories are detailed …
Read more on Jackson Free Press