I feel very depressed. What will happen if I go to the GP about it?

So for a moderate case of depression a GP can really do one of two potentially helpful things. They can prescribe medication (of the basic antidepressant variety), or they can refer you on to further mental health services to receive some form of counselling or psychotherapy or something like cognitive behavioural therapy.  I had complex PTSD for many years after a serious traumatic event, combined with depression/anxiety. Counselling or targeted psychotherapy in my experience was the most helpful. But, services are oversubscribed and waitlists can be very long. Some doctors may also try and tell you that your problems aren't bad enough and you don’t “deserve” therapy. It took me 9 years of severe mental illness to access it.  Bearing all that in mind, a simpler, cheaper option is to offer you pills that can help you quite a bit for a cost of a few ££ monthly to the healthcare system without clogging up waiting lists. I would also not be alive if I had not been prescribed medication during the 9 years where I was not receiving talking therapy. They can be life changing. But it depends on a lot of things. For me they were very effective for dealing with the physical symptoms (lack of appetite, anxiety, insomnia) and mentally some were helpful, some made things worse, some made things worse then better, some made me able to feel nothing at all which it turns out isn’t an improvement. Unfortunately antidepressants are prescribed to get people out of the medical practices and not clog up waiting lists for little cost more than they are because they’ll genuinely help people. You may hear metaphors that psychiatric medication is like a crutch and I 100% agree.  Not having to bear weight on that limb for a bit can be such a relief, but you won’t walk again normally unless you align the fracture, stabilise it, and retrain the limb using physiotherapy. Medication would be so much more helpful with therapy and proper support and check ins but that’s not the reality for most.  I want to reassure you that even if the help you can receive from a GP is often lacklustre, there are things you can do for yourself that are worth trying and can make a change:  1. Honestly probably go to the GP anyway and see what they say. You may get lucky and get put on a waitlist for therapy. They may suggest some resources. They may suggest meds. They sound scary but like 20%+ of people are on them I swear, and they can offer huge relief relatively quickly 2. If you can afford it, you can get therapy privately and skip (some of the) waitlists. It can be expensive and it can take trial and error to find someone who is helpful and a good match. You could seek out someone who is maybe familiar with health trauma, or family trauma.  3. There are volunteer services for talking to people. I used to go to the counselling service at my uni, social orgs in my city, etc. you’ve also likely heard of Samaritans but there are others. There are versions you can text or email too if that’s better. I’d recommend talking to someone from these types of things regularly if you can, isolation and rumination and having to hold onto this weight alone will only make things worse. Open up to friends too if you trust them. Not a whole trauma dump session, maybe just a mention that you’ve been struggling and could you do more things together 4. If your environment has things that make things worse, maybe think about how to change them. Whether it’s career, school, home life, geographical location, physical health, appearance etc making things worse, sometimes thinking of practical steps you can take to change that variable are helpful. Looking towards the future is also usually beneficial  5. Look up advice on sites like mind, the NHS etc. Some of the advice sounds like bullshit, and some of it is, but some stuff genuinely helps. Like get rest, hydration, nutrition. Get fresh air, do some exercise (it REALLY helps like no kidding). Do guided meditation, breathing exercises, journaling, etc. Some of it actually helps a lot I swear 6. Seriously just try and push yourself to do things you enjoy, spend your time a way that brings you joy, and find things to look forward to. That would make a lot of difference