Dina

Dina first experienced symptoms of clinical depression as a postgraduate student in 1991 and was prescribed an antidepressant. She took the antidepressant medication for about a year. For a number of years Dina felt relatively well but in 2008 she experienced a severe depressive episode and felt suicidal. She was eventually admitted to hospital under a section’ because of concerns about risks to her safety. In hospital she took a combination of antidepressants and antipsychotics but her depression persisted. More recently she was she was prescribed lithium, a mood stabiliser. She noticed a dramatic change in her moods, her motivation and her ability to cope with life.

Dina first experienced symptoms of clinical depression when she was a postgraduate student. She explained that it started with an inability to sleep, lack of concentration and feelings of tiredness. She saw her GP who prescribed sleeping tablets to help with the insomnia, but she later realised that the sleep problems were a symptom of depression. After a time she began to experience panic attacks and was feeling generally very unwell and unable to manage day-day. She decided to go back home [another EU country]. There she was prescribed tricyclic antidepressant as well as what she described as a cocktail’ of other medicines although she cannot remember exactly what they were. She explained that by this time her depression had deteriorated as she hadn’t been able to recognise the signs. She also saw a private psychiatrist. The antidepressants worked to some extent and a while later she returned to the UK to finish her studies, but stopped taking the antidepressants when she felt more able to cope again. She felt that antidepressants had helped her to an extent, but that ultimately it had been having therapy that saved my life’.

Having felt well for many years, Dina experienced a second and more severe episode of depression when a number of stressful life events caught up with her. She had recently been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, as well as moving to a completely new area of the country. She had begun to feel distressed and anxious, particularly about her physical health. She became more depressed and her GP prescribed fluoxetine, but she feels it exacerbated her symptoms. She was prescribed sleeping tablets for sleep problems but nothing seemed to work. She saw a psychiatrist on a private basis. She felt that she was deteriorating and had been given various drugs including antipsychotic. At one point she was prescribed mirtazapine in conjunction with fluoxetine as it was thought this might work to combat the depression as well as help with her sleep problems, but her mood dropped to a serious degree and she was referred to the Crisis team. They tried to ensure that she took her medicines but she did not find their intervention helpful. Dina’s mental health deteriorated to a point where she was compulsorily admitted to hospital under a section. There she was given a different antidepressant (venlafaxine) and she stayed for around 3 months, but she felt that the hospital environment was often far from therapeutic.

In the hospital it’s like, you know, there was no interaction there was no interaction with the patients, you know, the only time when there was interaction was when they were administered drugs ‚ the whole environment it was totally un-therapeutic.

After she was discharged from hospital Dina continued taking antidepressants and other medicines. She attended a mental health art project that she felt helped ease the social isolation she experienced through her depression. She found comfort in having a place to go where other people were in a similar situation.

Dina was advised that her depression had been resistant’ to a number of antidepressants. She is now taking lithium, as well as venlafaxine and mirtazapine. When she began taking lithium she noticed a dramatic positive change in her moods, her motivation, and her ability to cope with life. Dina feels that over the time she has experienced depression she has been given a variety of different medicines, but has not always been given enough information or support and feels that doctors should take a more holistic approach rather than focusing solely on prescribing.

Dina described some of the health professionals she has seen…

Age at interview 46

Gender Female

Dina feels strongly about the way in which people’s human…

Age at interview 46

Gender Female

Dina’s antidepressants had been changed several times…

Age at interview 46

Gender Female

Dina found lithium worked really well and feels it’s the one…

Age at interview 46

Gender Female

Eating and food were a problem for Dina and being prescribed…

Age at interview 46

Gender Female