diagnosis of gad, some ocd and reoccurring mdd

[Footloose83]

just finished 2 days of intensive psychiatric evaluations. I get my official diagnosis in a month but the Dr said it sounds like I have GAD (which I knew I had), some ocd behaviors, but never heard of reoccurring mdd. Guess it could be mistaken for bipolar but I don’t have the symptoms it like never going into full mania or being suicidal. Anyone else suffer from reoccurring mdd? When it happens it spikes my gad and ocd. Going through that right now. What helps with it? Mine can last from 1-2 weeks then I can be good for 1-3 months

[Barbloki]

I have GAD and MDD but not OCD. I have ruminating thoughts and I get stuck in a loop of regret for decisions I made that brought me to this point. If only I hadn't.... If only.... If only... Well it's too late now. What's does is done. But I can't seem to let it go. What works for me is seeing a therapist weekly and seeing a psychiatrist occasionally for meds and reading self-help books like Caroline Leaf and Claire Weekes. And if you're a Christian, Sheila Walsh's books are helpful.

[Worrier1960 in reply to Barbloki]

I second the Claire Weekes book "Hope and Help for Your Nerves". It helped me a lot - more than other self-help books.

[cashew78]

ug, welcome to my club; all I can say is that this club suuucks.... 😝 About MDD, and mental health in general I find, just because you have one specific diagnosis doesn't mean you're automatically excluded from having some of the symptoms of other disorders (even if you don't have those other disorders). Think about having the flu and a very mild bacterial infection in your eye at the same time; just because you have the flu and all those obvious symptoms doesn't mean it eclipses everything else in your overall health, no matter how minor. I have MDD and GAD, but I also have OCD and/or OCPD tendencies as well. I could probably develope full-blown OCPD if I don't take proper care of myself, my mental health, and don't manage stress in my life properly; I will, however, always have GAD and MDD as the primary issues in my life/gateways to contextual understanding of most of my issues. I don't understand why Major Depression is described as being 'in remission' either; for me it's something you get and then have to manage for the rest of your life so it doesn't flare up again, but that's just an opinion. I also don't think hyper or hypomania and suicidality is necessarily a given with depression either, but I'm not a doctor. I know I've had episodes that could best be described as mania at times, but not anywhere near the threshold of what could be described as anything like bipolar disorder, mania, rapid cycling, et al. All I can offer as a suggestion to your query is to continue treat yourself as you would when trying to get out of depression and anxiety. If those are the primary issues, addressing them will make clear whatever other issues are present, and then you can treat those more clearly. Good luck, and go easy on yourself; this ain't easy 😑

[Footloose83 in reply to cashew78]

Thank you for the reply. Been dealing with this since my late teens (I’m now 40). Been on meds since. After a while meds just doesn’t fully heal it. Always second guess myself on what’s wrong. The annoying part is I’ll be good for a while, then I start feeling physical symptoms out of nowhere (extreme tired, brain fog, feel off) and then I go into a full blown negative thought and that’s all I can think of. I’ll come back to this site and look for answers and after a week or so it will go away again. Very annoying. I do have my everyday ocd/gad tendencies that are very very mild, but these episodes take it from mild to severe. At least they don’t think it’s bipolar.