Depressed, Anxious And Dead Inside…Please Help!
Question
I’m a 23 yr old female. I’ve been housebound since May 2011. I have been seeing a therapist since September but haven’t noticed any improvement. I am not on any medication. I feel dead inside and out of touch with my feelings. I don’t know what my priorities or goals are or what direction I should give to my life and relationships. I suffer from issues of codependency and have been physically, sexually and emotionally abused in the past. I live alone and spend 14 hours a day in front of the TV. Please help! I want to have a life but I don’t know what I can do. Help me.
- Dr. Schwartz responds to questions about psychotherapy and mental health problems, from the perspective of his training in clinical psychology.
- Dr. Schwartz intends his responses to provide general educational information to the readership of this website; answers should not be understood to be specific advice intended for any particular individual(s).
- Questions submitted to this column are not guaranteed to receive responses.
- No correspondence takes place.
- No ongoing relationship of any sort (including but not limited to any form of professional relationship) is implied or offered by Dr. Schwartz to people submitting questions.
- Dr. Schwartz, MentalHealth.com, LLC make no warranties, express or implied, about the information presented in this column. Dr. Schwartz and Mental Help Net disclaim any and all merchantability or warranty of fitness for a particular purpose or liability in connection with the use or misuse of this service.
- Always consult with your psychotherapist, physician, or psychiatrist first before changing any aspect of your treatment regimen. Do not stop your medication or change the dose of your medication without first consulting with your physician.
Answer
In my experience certain types of behavioral disorders require are more directly involved behavioral intervention than “talking therapy” offers.
Essentially, this is the reason for such treatments as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) as well as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). Note the emphasis on the term “Behavioral.”
Therefore, I want to suggest a type of therapy in which the therapist goes to your home,(or sends a paraprofessional) and helps you leave the house and begin to interact with people. This is done not instead in conjunction with CBT or DBT. In fact, this is the type of intervention that is done with those who suffer from the types of phobias that keep them hiding at home for fear of having panic attacks.
The benefit for you of DBT is that it offers a way for you to reduce the tensions and emotions that interfere with your life and thinking. I believe both approaches are best for you. It is also possible that you would benefit from medication, but only your treatment specialists working with you could decide that along with you.
So, to sum up, you will begin to make real progress when you are helped to leave the house but you will need help for that.
Best of Luck
The content on this page was originally from MentalHelp.net, a website we acquired and moved to MentalHealth.com in September 2024. This content has not yet been fully updated to meet our content standards and may be incomplete. We are committed to editing, enhancing, and medically reviewing all content by March 31, 2025. Please check back soon, and thank you for visiting MentalHealth.com. Learn more about our content standards here.
We take mental health content seriously, which is why we follow strict content guidelines to deliver the highest quality information possible. All editorial decisions regarding the content published on this site are made by the MentalHealth.com Editorial Team, under the guidance of our Medical Affairs Team.