Hi all,
I'm glad there's a forum for this for LCers because I think diet has a lot to do with mood and sometimes I don't know what is due to what!

Some background - I've suffered from a low chronic depression for many years (no meds) but the past 6 months have been piling on a lot of family and personal stress. I had a traumatic (to me) family issue in August and even though I thought I handled it pretty well emotionally, I'm a little scared that now it's beginning to hit me. I say this because for the past few weeks I have had absolutely no appetite. I restarted GO diet a month ago and granted my carb cravings went down a lot (as expected with LCing) it did not kill my appetite. The thing that's alarming me is that I know I've had an increase in stress since the start of the new year and in the past stress has had the opposite effect on me - I'm a compulsive eater so stress always puts me on a binge, even when I'm LCing (just binge on LC stuff ). Physiologically, I'm hungry, that is, I get the hunger pangs telling me it's time to eat. But I don't want or crave anything. Does that make sense?

I guess what I'm looking for is some opinions from people who suffer from depression because I know one of the first signs of a more severe depression is loss of appetite and loss of interest in things, including food (can you tell I'm a psych grad student ).

Any thoughts would be helpful. I'm not seeing a therapist right now (I just switched jobs in Jan and I can't afford a therapist until my benefits kick in) but I'm looking to find one in a few months.

Thanks,
Tam

Tammay,
I think the fact that you are aware of your situation and can recognize what may be depresion is half your battle. I have suffered from depression for most of my life so I can relate somewhat to your situation. I really think the best thing for you is to try and find a theripist.
It is hard to wait for your benifits to kick in when you start a new job, and it's sad how expensive therepy can be, but I think it could help. Being that you are a grad student you most likely know that you may have situational depression and this could be the cause for change in appetite. When I go through hard times with my family it tends to effect my deppression in different ways (like not being hungry). Only my thoughts. Hang in there, I used to hate hearing this, but it will get better

If you are a grad student, is there an on-campus counseling center where you can see someone for free? Most colleges and universities have counselors on their staffs who will see you for at least a few visits without charging.

Also, I haven't lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for almost 20 years, but at the time I lived there I remember there being a lot of free health care resources in the area. There were free clinics in Berkeley and Haight-Ashbury and there was also the Berkeley Women's Health Center. If anything like that is still around, they should be able to refer you to free or low cost counseling. Churches, synagogues, etc. also are often a good source of referrals for free or low cost counseling. There is a Catholic Charities in most major cities and they should operate on a sliding scale. A friend of mine (who is not Catholic) has received counseling through Catholic Charities and found it very helpful.