

Ask HN: Mental health clinic near Seattle? - mannicken

I might be suffering from depression and would like to consult a doctor. Nothing serious, no suicide attempts yet but I'd like to be on the safe side.<p>Anyone can give recommendations for a clinic near Seattle area?
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joshuarr
Are you physically active? If no do yourself a favor and exercise. In my
opinion it's the first thing to rule out before taking medicinal measures.

I would also recommend visiting a therapist instead of a GP. Your primary care
physician likely knows everything they know about depression from the
pamphlets and samples the pharmaceutical companies provide. Your GP will have
you fill out a 6 question form asking how sad you feel and then put you on
Zoloft. It's worth eliminating social and environmental issues with a
psychologist before altering your brain chemistry.

[http://therapists.psychologytoday.com/rms/state/WA/Seattle.h...](http://therapists.psychologytoday.com/rms/state/WA/Seattle.html)

Good luck. It's a really easily treatable problem.

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_delirium
Apart from physical activity, regularly seeing some sunshine (i.e. more than
the 2 minutes it takes to walk to a car) is one of the other lifestyle-change
options that can sometimes have surprisingly large effects. It's pretty easy
to try, at least.

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jacquesm
Wouldn't your GP be the right person to ask? Or the psychiatry department of a
hospital?

The chances that someone on HN has this information are relatively small. It
may work though, who knows!

~~~
joshuarr
It's a big internet, and sometimes you gotta seek help where you're
comfortable.

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ddemchuk
If you're cognizant of the fact that you aren't at risk immediately but could
be, schedule an appointment with your General Practitioner as soon as you can.

Take some time to try and narrow down what is bringing you down and try to
isolate those stressors for the time being. Go spend some time with those
people who won't ask you questions and will just get it. We all have friends
like that.

Most of all, hang in there.

