Brief Answer: Proper medications need to be taken Detailed Answer: Hello, Thanks for choosing health care magic for posting your query. I have gone through your question in detail and I can understand what you are going through. You have stated that you have both depression and anxiety and when you state that its been present since childhood, it seems to be very resistant. Taking only rivotril may not help you. Depression can occur with regular stress and it can also occur biologically without any stress as well. You need proper treatment for the same. There are various effective therapies for depression like fluoxetine, venlafaxine, bupropion, mirtazapine or escitalopram and they are all very effective and mostly safe. You may also require some benzodiazepines like clonazepam or lorazepam for a short period like 2-3 weeks to reduce the anxiety and help with your sleep. If you are averse to the drug therapies then there is also an option of cognitive behavioural therapy. This therapy is taken by either a psychologist or a psychiatrist in which the therapist identifies impaired cognitions (Thoughts) and try to correct them. They are 15-20 min weekly session and there should be around 8-10 sessions to help you with your illness. Your symptom of increased respiratory distress after climbing stairs may not be a symptom of depression and I would advice you to take a stress test or echocardiography done. Hope I am able to answer your concerns. If you have any further query, I would be glad to help you. If not, you may close the discussion and if possible you may rate the answer for me, so that I get a good feedback. In future if you wish to contact me directly, you can use the below mentioned link: bit.ly/dr-srikanth-reddy Wish you good health, Kind regards Dr. Srikanth Reddy M.D.

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Brief Answer: No its not mandatory Detailed Answer: Hello Thanks for the additional questions. Sorry for the delay from my side cause of the technical reasons. If you are doing well and your depression and anxiety is being controlled with your exercise, yoga and pranayam, then it is not mandatory to see a psychiatrist or a psychologist. However if the symptoms are not yet controlled then you should seriously consider getting an appointment. No therapy is the best. The allopathic drugs used by psychiatrist like me are all well researched and are effective. But it doesnt mean that others are useless. If you are benefiting from a therapy, you should continue taking it. Regarding the breathlessness, yes you need to see a cardiologist. Regards Dr. Srikanth Reddy MD

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