Stephen

Age at interview: 48

Age at diagnosis: 44

Brief Outline:

Stephen thinks he had been depressed for quite a while but hadn’t admitted anything was wrong until a work colleague suggested that he might consider seeing the GP as he had been taking a lot of time off work over the past few months. Once he was diagnosed with depression Stephen found it easier to accept and was reassured that antidepressants could help him to feel more himself. He has taken them for four years now, and feels that they work well to keep his mood stable.

Background:

Stephen is single and recently moved to a new area of the country for his job testing computer software. Ethnic background: White British

For more clips from this interview click here.

Stephen is fully involved in decisions about his treatment

And have you always felt that you’ve been involved in the decisions about your treatment?
 
Yes because it’s usually me that does most of the talking.
 
Okay.
 
They come up with the prescription or the solution whatever but it’s me that’s telling them what the problem is and what I think I need etc. and then as I said we might discuss about going on to a higher dose so it’s often down to me. She might say ‘Oh I think you should double it,’ and I’ll be saying ‘Maybe not ....but if that’s what you thinks’ best I’ll do what you thinks’ best.’ Or I might say to her as happened in the last one, ‘I’m feeling a lot worse than I had done because of the extra pressure, could we discuss increasing the dose?’ and then she’ll say ‘yes’, so. I do think I’m very involved in it.