How long in advance to book for sessions? Looking to maximise my coverage this year in case I'm not good enough to be retained next year with all my bungle ups.

It's severely crippling my personal life, unable to think critically which resulted in me getting scammed to hell and bearing this guilt on my own. Family members is family members, but I don't want to share anything with my partner until I get something concrete back from the banks. Doesn't help that you are already pointed out as being more useless than trash.

I guess if there are people who have it alone, they feel the crushing weight all the same, but at least they don't bother others.

As long as I have this private coverage, I'll use it to the max before I consider gov hospital. Yeah it's affecting my appetite a lot actually.
Thanks for letting me know.

This post has been edited by TsubakiKira: Aug 30 2025, 11:09 AM

Excluding the referral letter you have to bring, probably up to 1 month waiting? Depends on which hospital you went. I think they did quick checkup on you before deciding if you can wait or need immediate attention.
Sometimes the clinic is so jam packed, they put 3 patients in one consultation room. The doctors looked so overworked feels like I'm not the actual patient in the room. This was my experience in large hospital in KL. Just last month I went to the counter thinking I could change appointment date by 1 week on September, they said the earliest date I could move to will be on mid November.

Back then I went to smaller district hospital, there was like probably 5 people waiting.

go to any nearby Klinik Kesihatan, see any doctor and request for referral letter to Psychiatry dept in a govt hospital

just say you have mental health issues, depression, suicidal thoughts, etc. They will definitely write you a referral letter.

Take the letter to your nearest govt hospital but please check if there is any psychiatry dept in that hospital. Bring the letter to that hospital and make an appointment.

I mean if it's 3 patients who are on the same wavelength, can't fault the gov actually. And yes from my experience, gov hospital will reschedule to next month. But same for private also ya.

Does it work if I get a referral from private hosp for gov hospital?

No

They will definitely ask you to get a letter from a doctor in a Klinik Kesihatan

Then not for me at this juncture, sorry.

I feel bad for you man. Can I DM for more info on this?

You just need to conquer your mind, make it your slave. All of us go through ups and downs. Anxiety and depression are completely normal feelings. OCD, ADD, PTSD and ADHD are completely normal behaviors.

Those who go to physiologist and psychiatrist take the easy way out and get stuck in labels.

Everything you said is completely valid, it's just that it's reached the point where I am in the segment of being "dysfunctional enough" to not function in terms of familial and society's expectations. Can't even remember what i was supposed to do 5 mins ago, consistently failing to cultivate tasks, general lack of motivation and so on so forth.

personally just gave up as i doubt its efficacy for my case. i've come to realize im the oil in water, its not gonna be fixed over a talk. later just waste time like anthony soprano and melfi

Agree with what Arkasi and Steponlego shared and it's great that you've "man up" to see either a psychiatrist or psychologist for it. Honestly, don't listen to those advice that say you need to be more positive, have a walk and it'll be fine, toughen up yourself and own your mind kind of nonsense.

I've had depression and later on anxiety with it for 4 years and even got admitted to hospital when it got too serious. I did see a few psychiatrist and psychologist along the way, but only felt at best 60% through a lot of different med combinations cos different ppl react differently to the side effects. My goal that time was to always try to cut off medications asap once I get better.

Then I switched to another psychiatrist and got diagnosed that it is probably genetics where my brain chemicals cannot generate enough chemicals like the normal person to be happy, manage stress etc so I need meds to boost it to a healthy level. After getting the right combination of meds, I recovered completely in 3 months but I no longer feel the urge to cut my medications off like last time. Cos now I feel as good as I was back in college like as if no worries, I can handle stress and problems much better and with a clearer mind. I just treat the meds like some high cholesterol meds or diabetes medication only.

Depression and anxiety have many types of manifestations and causes. The fact that you acknowledge that you need help and are willing to seek for one is the best decision. People who say why are you so weak etc. probably didn't experience actual depression and anxiety before. When they ask you to be positive or conquer your mind, it's like asking a temporarily handicapped person in the wheelchair to stand and walk straight away. They also need physio before they can stand back up on their own.

Sometimes it's fine to just admit we need help at some point in our lives. No need to worry about ego so much. Ego cannot feed us also. Just be patient with the medications, it's quite trial and error one. For me, psychiatrist work better than psychologist but that's also because I don't like CBT work. When the medications begin to work, you'll see things a lot differently and easier. Cos you can't walk if you can't stand. Take it one step at a time.

This post has been edited by alwy11: Aug 30 2025, 03:58 PM

Meeeeeee I’m seeing psychiatrist in public hospital.

First of all lerh, highly recommend to visit public hospital because psych meds is a long term thing, not something you eat for a day then you feel ‘ok’, so going to public hospital can keep meds cost to minimal.

Second, I think meds are beneficial if CBT is not working or you’re experiencing symptoms that are hugely negatively affecting your life. For example, shaky hands, no focus, excessive ruminating etc etc, meds are there to help take the edge off.

There’s no shame in taking SSRI.
Do you know? SSRI can be used to treat premature ejaculation too! Therefore you shouldn’t think that psych meds are for mental people only, you should see that meds are for treating symptoms, not the illness.

And yea this as well ^. Toxic positivity is a thing too.

*ps: not medical advice Kek, just from my experience*

This post has been edited by KekTart: Aug 30 2025, 04:15 PM

I'm actually tired of being told that I can do it, I'm still young, I can learn, etc. To me it has always been about finding that elusive motivation to actually get anything done. Intrinsic motivation is insanely difficult for me to picture, what more work towards. Everything that I have ever worked for is either tied to money, or dopamine and that is the truth about myself, which makes me suspect of who I truly am as a human being in turn.

From experience, caffeine makes my mind clear up for a bit. With chicken essence it is a few hours. Relating this to my psych, he told me that taking medication would be like switching to another OS altogether.

There is always that stigma of having to disclose your psych history to your employers in Malaysia, and unfortunately I was in a damned if I do and damned if I don't thing. I told them, you can see that with structure in place, I can do a lot better. I can actually perform well at work, and keep myself up with the tasks at hand. Let's just hope that is how they choose to see it.

I will not discount CBT but I am in a place where I am too far down in terms of self esteem to even think that I can start correcting my own thoughts in that manner, I would rather stick to the grounding methods to prevent myself from spiralling for now.

Thank you so much for hearing me out.

When I do stop getting the coverage from private, then gov hospital is the only option for me haha. There is a lot of impulsivity and reactionary behaviors from my end that have come across as rude to many people, including my own family. You can say that it really does affect how they perceive you, and in turn how they choose to treat or even acknowledge you.

Any meds are go for me but I'm holding off for personal reasons for now, thanks. Yeah my family is very much in that category but I don't fault them. I can't because it's not in my control. Better to just do what needs to be done.

Ts, please ignore that fellow advice of it's all in your mind rubbish. He clearly hasn't experience mental health problems before & is the old you are a man so tough it out,.man cannot cry mentality.

Otherwise he wouldn't have said going to see a shrink is the easy way out. That is pure bullshit. Fellow clearly doesn't know for quite a number of people it takes a lot of courage to openly admit they need to see a psychiatrist and thededication to make it work.

I have ocd & believe me it does not go away over time. If I didn't see a psychiatrist. It would.have spiral out of control. When it started getting worse & I didn't know what was ocd. I thought it's all a matter of.being strong willed & not.controlling it.

Believe me it does not work that way. I have to take medication so that I can get it under control. The mind like I said is a complex thing & sometimes you need professional counselling, other times u need medication to help your keep.your brain chemistry in balance.

Saying don't need to see a shrink is frankly irresponsible. It's like saying I got a fever but I don't even need panadol even though i have it at.home. Just toughen it out & the fever will subside on its own. Imagine the potential brain damage the.fever can cause.all because want to be macho

Bruh I'm a lady and I think we don't give enough credit to ourselves to not admit. Like how women are expected to be 100% experts at juggling tasks, responsibilities, all while remaining fashionable enough to get a guy and so on and so forth. Just like how men are supposed to be stoic without having any emotional outbursts.

Sorry for the fact that you have OCD, but thankfully you know how to recognize that you need help. It took a lot of undoing my gaslighting by the people around me that I do have a serious issue. Even more so now, when it is my default to deny that I need help. Patterns are to be established, and support is very much needed (which I know I won't get much of).

I mean it is up to the naysayers what they want to preach, all I can do is justify my own path and my own way of dealing, since everyone else is either too busy judging to understand, or too busy for empathy.

Just use your private coverage as long as you are able to. At this stage, it's important that you get to see your psychiatrist on fix regular basic.

One thing bad about public hospital is if you need to reschedule like Steponlego wrote. Next available slot can easily be 2 months away from your original schedule & that is a big no when you are just starting out.

Private hospitals normally won't have any problem reschedule to next day or next week. There are a few times when I had to reschedule & there's no problem with the new date that I wanted.

Later on when you have seen improvement in your treatment & you need less visits. You can consider public hospitals to minimise cost

Based on my experience during my ordeal, motivation was a big issue as your motivation levels drop when you have depression and like you, I was motivated by success by climbing the corporate ladder and dopamine. Actually, it's a common thing for a lot of us to think and behave that way. Especially our generation cos we are so wired through our gadgets that we chase dopamine through it as well. Over time, our brains adapt to needing to have these videos, shorts, stories to fill the gap or silence. So we chase these kind of things more. It's just one downside of technology advancement. You might want to watch this video on Youtube - "You Need to Be Bored. Here's Why." by Harvard Business Review. Just a quick 6 minutes video.

Regarding caffeine, it's not bad but you need to be careful with that consumption if you have anxiety. If not, it's ok but if you have anxiety, it can make it worse. You might feel more nervous or jittery cos of it. Well, in terms of taking medications, I told my psychiatrist when I was getting better mood wise, that I lacked motivation and I also had low self esteem as I had to quit my job due to depression. However, after her change of meds, my motivation levels drastically improved and you would be surprised, I was very risk adverse previously but now I'm about to start a business myself. So sometimes, it could be the chemical imbalance that we have in our brains, which is very complex that affects this part of us at THIS POINT IN TIME only. You may feel demotivated and have low self esteem now, but that may not define who you are when you are better.

CBT works for some people and it's good that you are open to it especially if you have trauma related or negative behaviour thought process being reinforced. However, based on my experience having a good combination of medication helps provide a solid foundation to recovery and then when you supplement it with CBT, it can be the total package/ gold standard. So the right medications can really help prevent you from spiraling down, as for my case it did. I was suicidal at one point and had to undergo Spravato treatment in UMMC to negate those thoughts. When I was admitted there, I befriended a lot of people with different backgrounds and there are so many successful people there like Ivy League C-Suite patients there. So depression and anxiety can happen to anyone regardless of how successful they, or in K terms, RM20k salary or not. That guy was probably earning RM60-80k per month based on his position, making big decisions in his company but it still happened to him. It could be genetics, upbringing, trauma or environment that cause this.

Your colleagues or boss may or may not understand depression or provide you the support you need but that's understandable as I was probably like them too before I had depression. So I choose to be open about it and share my experience when I need to, due to the stigma around it. Grounding techniques may help and I did try that out, but for me, it helped sustain my depression for a bit, but not improve the situation. It helps more for anxiety symptoms but depression not so. If you can afford a private clinic, I would recommend Introspect Clinic at Sri Petaling. The doctor there was a former lecturer and her medicine prescription method was very helpful for me. Also her method of documentation helps save time during consultation as she knows what to follow up on straight away during each visit. I have tried other doctors, and their dosing and medication choice didn't work that well for me. Maybe I got lucky but I sort of owe it to her for my drastic recovery after 4 years of drifting in and out. I take about 3 medications now (1 for depression, 1 for sleep/ mood stabiliser (not sleeping pill) and 1 for motivation/ energy-ish) and I pay about RM600+ per month but if cost is a concern, you can try UMMC out. It's just that their method may take a bit more time as they are a bit more prudent in dosing style i.e. they give you one med by one med.

Anyway, if you need anyone to talk to, feel free to PM me or just continue in this thread. I'm sure the others here are happy to help provide a listening ear.

This post has been edited by alwy11: Aug 30 2025, 09:08 PM