See Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, at http://www.ezy-build.net.nz/~shaneris on pages 33 - 34, and examine the http://1-800-therapist.com/ website, and use the locators in section 1, and phone book, and/or various associations for psychiatrists and psychologists, to find the nearest one using EMDR therapy. If unable to afford it, or to locate one nearby, contact the county/local mental health agency: any therapy on offer may prove helpful, particularly if combined with appropriate medication. (The following is a variant of EMDR therapy, which has been used successfully for those people suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, insomnia, and anxiety: it is easily learned, quick to use, yet can be very effective. It is easy to be dismissive of it, because it may seem a little strange, but is well worth trying, for at least a few weeks, to see how it effective it is in your case). First, sit comfortably, and take a deep breath. Then, without moving your head, move your eyes from the left, to the right, and back again, taking around a second to do so (say: "a thousand and one": this takes approximately a second). Repeat this procedure (without the words, although you can count, subvocally if you like) 20 times. Then close your eyes and relax. Become aware of any tension or discomfort you feel. Then open your eyes, and take another deep breath, and repeat step one, closing your eyes, and relaxing afterwards, in the same manner. Then, repeat the procedure one last time. Some people may find that this is all they need do: others find that they need 2 sessions in quick succession, but professional treatment is the best option, if you can access it. With practice, you may find that you can employ this technique with your eyes closed, thereby enabling a much wider window of opportunity to use in public, without attracting unwanted attention. Professional EMDR is preferable. ~~~ I checked out elavil at www.drugs.com and i suggest you do, as well. Without knowing your medical history, your doctor is very probably doing the wise thing, here. A previous post: There is advice on recurring dreams & nightmares in section 3. Try calling for assistance from a dream figure, like a hippopotamus (even a big Nile crocodile won't tackle a hippo, and gators are pussycats, compared with crocs, which, in Australia, grow to 36'). Call for aid from a figure like Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter (watch re-runs/DVD's as he lassoed it, and his mate helped subdue it): visualise, as vividly as possible, yourself doing the same thing. Even your favorite superhero is available to provide assistance, in the dreamstate. "Tonight, in my dreams, I want to confront the alligator/call on a dream ally for help". Write down your chosen form, 3 times, and repeat 3 times aloud, after lights out, and visualise yourself doing it, as vividly as you can, and WANT TO DO IT, with all the desire you can muster, to communicate this concept to your subconscious mind, through imagery. If I chose the lasso, I'd get one (or a rope) and practise before bedtime, (you could get an inflatable alligator, to practise on, or to wrestle with) to convey the muscular memory. Remember, your subconscious existed before you could walk, or talk. It knows images, muscles, and emotions: communicate with it in terms it can understand. Try this for 2 - 3 weeks; I believe there is a good chance it will work. More expensive solutions, for later, are hypnotherapy (see www.hypnosisdownloads.com :- a choice of 400) or professional hypnotherapy, or Neuro Linguistic Programming NLP therapy.
~~~ Depression: I suggest: (1.) Take 4 Omega 3 fish oil supplements, daily, (certified free of mercury) with an antioxidant, such as an orange, or grapefruit, or their freshly squeezed juice. If vitamin E is used, it should be certified as being 100% from natural sources, or it may be synthetic: avoid it. (2.) Work up slowly to 30 - 60 minutes of exercise, daily. (3.) Occupational therapy (keeping busy allows little time for unproductive introspection, and keeps mental activity out of less desirable areas of the brain). (4.) Use daily, one of the relaxation methods in sections 2, 2.c, 2.i, or 11, and/or yoga, Tai Chi, and/or the EFT, in sections 2.q, 2.o, and section 53, at http://www.ezy-build.net.nz/~shaneris whichever works best for you. (5.) Initially, at least, some form of counselling, preferably either Cognitive Behavio(u)ral Therapy, or Rational Emotive Behavio(u)ral Therapy. (6.) As options, if desired, either a known, effective herbal remedy, such as St. John's wort, or a supplement, such as SAMe, taken with a vitamin B complex which is certified as being 100% of natural origin, or Inositol (from vitamin and health food stores, some supermarkets, or mail order: view section 55).
Read: "Lift your mood now." by John D Preston, Psy.D. 2001, New Harbinger Publications, Inc., 5674 Shattuck Avenue, Oakland. CA 94609 http://www.amazon.com/ may be worth trying for this. I have read many books on depression, but if there is a better, more easily read, and quickly implementable one, I have yet to encounter it. If the amount of daylight you have been exposed to recently has reduced, perhaps due to the change of seasons, see Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) in section 2, at http://www.ezy-build.net.nz/~shaneris and, instead of taking around 4 Omega 3 fish oil supplements, daily; replace 2 of them with cod liver oil supplements for the winter months only! (or, as probably a better alternative to the 2 cod liver oil supplements: 1 teaspoonful of cod liver oil, with a little butter, to ensure its use; I take mine on sourdough rye bread, or toast, covered with fishpaste, and pepper, to mask the strong taste). Optimal levels are 50 - 55 ng/ml (115 - 125 nmol / L). It should be above 32 ng/ml.
Don't use medications and supplements together, without medical advice, except for Omega 3, which is safe, anytime. Omega 3 fish oil supplements: EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid (omega 3) ----360 mg.DHA (docosahexaenoic acid (omega 3)-----240 mg
Take enough supplements to attain, or exceed the levels (no possibility of overdose) of those every day, with an orange, or the juice of a freshly squeezed orange, grapefruit, or other antioxidant.
(make sure the epa is higher then the dha) important for adults... kids need the opposite levels: more dha than epa, but all are beneficial, if you can't achieve the recommended proportions.
Consider having your doctor test your vitamin D levels, (60% of depressed people have low vitamin D levels!) using the 25 Hydroxyvitamin D test. Those people who receive adequate exposure to sunlight, daily, won't need the vitamin D from cod liver oil, but many people, particularly those in latitudes far from the equator, find this difficult to achieve.
If the above is insufficient for you, after several months, (unlikely) try one of the alternatives, such as the neurofeedback, magnetic, or low current electrical stimulation, or EMDR therapy, (see section 33, at ezy build) keeping ECT back, as a last resort. There is a quiz about depression, through sections 1, and 2, at ezy build, below: print the result, and take along to your primary mental health care provider. With depression, there is a choice of possible treatment types which needs to be made, and you can decide to use either allopathy, (modern Western medicine) with its reliance on antidepressants and therapy, or alternative treatments, which I advise trying first. This is because antidepressants are known to increase the rates of suicide, homicide, and aberrent behavio(u)r, particularly with young people, and often have unwanted side effects, such as sexual dysfunction, and/or weight gain.
Tests have shown that apart from clinical (major) depression, their results were not significantly superior to those taking a placebo (inert, or "sugar pill"). Antidepressants retain a degree of long term effectiveness for only around 30% of people. There is a saying in the mental health field: "If the only tool you have in your kit is a hammer, you tend to treat everything as a nail". So it goes with doctors, and their prescription pads: handy, quick, and convenient, when trying to manage their large list of patients, and often allocating only several minutes to each.
Most of them are only trained to provide antidepressants and referrals for therapy, with those whose depression is resistant to those treatments being advised to have ElectroConvulsive Therapy, (ECT) with its risk of permanent, partial memory loss. Therapy, while often effective at first, becomes "same old, same old" after a while, for many people